I finished that book last weekend that I started. Yes, its Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. It really is a great book, and definitely got me thinking on a higher level, and wondering if these things are for me. She spent a third of the book in Italy learning the language and eating and drinking. The next third she spent in India meditating and praying with her Guru at an Ashram. The last third she was in Bali, trying to find the balance between her relationship with God and with still letting herself enjoy the fun in life. In Bali she fell in love, ate great food, drank wine, and continued her meditation and prayers.
So everyone said this book would change my life. I kept reading it, and reading it, and waiting for the big moment. I don't know that it changed my life, but it has left me more aware, and wanting to really reach that personal, inner happiness with myself. I even turned over a corner of a page that had words that hit me:
"...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 travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it, you must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it. If you don't, you will leak away your innate contentment. Its easy to pray when you're in distress but continuing to pray when your crisis has passed is like a sealing process, helping your soul hold tight to its good attainments."
I consider my self a very happy person both personally and professionally. But there are those issues, we all probably have, that we think about everyday. I hate to think about how much time I've spent worrying, thinking, working against these things, only to fall right back into the same patterns again. There's a reason I keep falling back, and I'm working on figuring it out.
The problem is that now I've started to read a new book, but I think I'll not finish it. Its called Bergdorf Blondes by Plum Sykes. Its about living in New York, and being wealthy and getting you hair colored every thirteen days, and $325 jeans. The polar opposite of the other book, and I'm finding it to be sickening. Does anyone have another book to recommend to get me back on the right path?
NLJ
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3 comments:
Oh boy i'm so excited. i wondered how you would take to this book and i'm so glad you liked it. i think no matter how big or small, it can speak to everyone in some way. you know, just open your eyes to the world and the greatness and the stuff. good stuff. ahhh we're so new-agey. i love it. i do yoga and read books called eat, pray, love. perfect. and i hear you. it's hard to go read something totally shallow after that. you could try The Kite Runner. very intense. very. but good. or you could continue on the path of self discovery and read "the new earth" - one of oprah's new favs. i haven't read it because i'm scared it' s not even remotely going to touch e.p.l...the writing isn't as witty and poignant as elizabeth's. Oohhhh i'm rambling. did you ever read "The Secret Life of Bees"? cause that is a GREAT book. You can always consult Mo, too.
i love ya.
Hi Nicki,
I just recently finished Eat, Pray Love as well. You won't believe me when I tell you this, but the quote from the book you referenced was the exact same one that I had done on my Myspace page back in OCtober!!( yes it did take me that long to finish the book!! life...) Anywhoo, there was so much hype about the book and although I enjoyed it....I can't say that it has changed my life in the huge, grand way that I was hoping it would. I think it is still sinking in! I just started "A New Earth" last week. We shall see how that goes. I read alot and pretty much will pick my books by the look of the cover! ha. But I do like an auther named Alice Sebold...she wrote "The Lovely Bones" and another one called "Lucky". Another good read that I would recommend is called "Blackbird" but for the life of me I can't think of the author...but is kind of autobiographical. I liked the way she wrote. OK, enough babble from me. I am off to strive and fight like he** for my happiness:)
Be well
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