Eat Pray Love

I just finished this book.

For the second time.

I read it first,

my freshman year of college.

Because that was at the peak of its hype.

I liked it fine.

But I couldn't relate.

But then I heard about the movie.

And I couldn't really remember anything about the book other than that

The main character, Liz,

Eats alot of pasta

Prays alot

and finds some love.

So I figured I would pick it back up before I saw the movie.

I had no expectations for this book.

I actually thought I wouldn't really enjoy it.

I had heard alot of hub bub from certain sorts of people.

These people tended to say that the book was:

Unrealistic

Vain

and

spiritually inacurate.

SO of course I HAD to read it again.

And you know what?

I Absolutely, Positively, Unequivocally,

LOVED it!

I guess now that I have some life under my belt ( and I know, I know I am still very young, I get it) I just seemed to relate to her description of life and the need for a change in her life more so than when I was 18 going through my first life transition.

I just got it.

And I felt that I took the journey with her through this book.

Maybe it is because were both Cancers,

Or maybe it is because I struggle with much the same things Ms. Gilbert did in the book:

Lonliness

Confusion

Desperation

and

Depression

That I connected so mightly with this book.

And maybe too, I love it so, because she has the uncanny ability to express in words the havoc these above emotions can reap on someones psyche.

I would catch myself at points in her description thinking,

"Yes, yes! That is it! That is how I feel but have never been able to express! Thank you, thank you! and I thank you Lord, I am not the first person to feel all these things!"

And then to be able to take the journey with someone who comes out the other side,

Well, I laughed,

I cried

and I felt giddy.

It is that good.

Below are some of my favorite quotes from the book.

"It is better to live your own destiny imperfectly than to live an imitation of somebody else's life with perfection."

"The philosopher Sufi said that God drew a circle around the exact spot you are standing on. I was never not going to be here. This was never not going to happen."

"My Guru says that people universally tend to think that happiness is a stroke of luck, something that will maybe descend upon you like fine weather if you're fortunate enough. But that's not how happiness works. Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it."

"When you sense a faint potentiality for happiness after such dark times you must grab onto the ankles of that happiness and not let go until it drags you face-first out of the dirt... this is not selfishness, but obligation."

“I’m here. I love you. I don’t care if you need to stay up crying all night long, I will stay with you. If you need the medication again, go ahead and take it – I will love you through that, as well. If you don’t need the medication, I will love you, too. There’s nothing you can ever do to lose my love. I will protect you until you die, and after your death I will still protect you. I am stronger than depression and I am braver than loneliness and noting will ever exhaust me.”

Go get the book.

Peace,