It’s a short, easy read, getting a short, easy-to-read review.
The author is Margareta Magnusson, she’s between 80 and 100 years old, and she says she’ll likely die before you. You probably know her as the author of the very popular book The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning.
While the Swedish Death Cleaning book focused on a very specific aspect of getting older, this book is a more general book about approaches to aging. It includes chapters on some of my favorite things: chocolate, open minds, multigenerational connections, and keeping moving.
Here is the author on aging well: “..the secrets of aging well and happily are in finding ways to make your routines dear to you. I may not have a choice in how long they will take me to do or whether I will even be alive a few weeks from now, but I do have a choice to decide how to approach my daily life.” p. 126
While the book is aimed at those of us getting older– since I’m turning 60 this summer I think I’m in that group– but most of it is valuable life advice for all ages. The author doesn’t believe in an afterlife and so as approaches death in very practical terms.
It’s worth noting she’s led a privileged life, raising five children around the world and I sometimes found myself wondering how this book would read to someone who is working in old age for reasons of financial necessity and who can’t make the same choices as Magnusson.
For me, the bit that hit home was the call for minimalism and preparing our homes so that we die, others can easily sort through our belongings. Living lightly appeals even though I’m terrible at it. I’ve loved my sabbatical years where I’ve traveled with a laptop, a bike, cycling gear, and a couple of suitcases and didn’t miss a thing.
Here’s Magnusson: “If we have done our death cleaning, we will know that our kids and our loved ones have a few nice things from us and can spend nice evenings in the park instead of spending them sorting through my cupboards and closets.”
It’s a light and easy book to read. I recommend it for the beach or an airplane flight. Enjoy!
I loved the death cleaning book (recommended to me by my mother, who did not really take it on board, oh well, she was still a great mother). This looks like a great next audio book for my runs.
I hope this book will be as popular as her last one. The piece about routines is welcome. This is how we convert general guidelines into something we love and repeat daily.
The idea that we can choose how we approach our days is such good advice!
I’ve always been a fan of P. G. Wodehouse. One of my favorite bits is the one described here: “One’s attitude towards Life’s Little Difficulties should be that of the gentleman in the fable, who sat down on an acorn one day and happened to doze. The warmth of his body caused the acorn to germinate, and it grew so rapidly that, when he awoke, he found himself sitting in the fork of an oak sixty feet from the ground. He thought he would go home, but, finding this impossible, he altered his plans. “Well, well,” he said, “if I cannot compel circumstances to my will, I can at least adapt my will to circumstances. I decide to remain here.” Which he did, and had a not unpleasant time. The oak lacked some of the comforts of home, but the air was splendid and the view excellent.”
Choosing what we make of our days, whatever they present us with, at any age can really make a difference. Ever since I first read this, I have tried to keep it in mind. Sure, it was written to cause a laugh, or at least a grin, but when I stop laughing, I still find the message useful.