Eat Pray Love

So the one major thing I wanted to blog about from my recent trip to Cleveland is that I had the opportunity to read Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. Without hesitation, I highly recommend this book. First, her writing style is purely enjoyable. I felt like I was sitting having tea and a great conversation with her, rather than reading for hours in an airport! A friend of mine mentioned to me that when she read it, she felt that reading the author was actually like sitting through a conversation with me! What an incredible compliment.

I think what drew me most to this book at first had to be the Italy factor. When I was 26 years old, after my own heartbreaking, devastating break up, I too went to Italy by myself in search of that part I felt I lost. Italy for me was one of the greatest experiences of my life. When people back then asked me what I was going to do there by myself, I would always answer “take a walk around.” That’s what I did–for weeks. And during this journey on foot I met many oracles and sages disguised as other backpackers, locals, and stationary pieces of art that have stood glowing in Italy through millions of heartbreaks and tragedies. For me, I didn’t find a piece of myself, rather I let go of things that did not serve me anymore. I offered up many sorrowful memories in the basilica of churches, threw bittersweet nuggets of my heart into the current of the Arno, and scattered my broken dreams through the ruins in Rome. I left all those parts of myself there, in Italy, where I knew they would be safe. There where I could visit them in my mind, but not carry them in my heart.

I love reading memoirs; travelogues written by women especially. But this book is really special to me. This book ignites that part of myself that really gets excited about life. About the endless possibilities—about discovery. The author’s travels to foreign countries is only the paint, the real landscape masterpiece is in the journey she took getting to know and understand herself. In yoga they call it svadhyaya or self study. It is part of one of the five observances or niyamas. We are put on this earth to be little scientists and journalists of ourselves. All the day-to-day happenings like making lunch, paying bills, driving from Point A to Point B, even taking a shower, sometimes become so routine that they blur the vision of our life. We’re here to really take note of everything. Sometimes, when you travel, and place your being in a different environment, you strip yourself of routines, the common-place, and your comfort zone. The author was blessed with a whole year to do this and to do it in beautiful places, while observing what would bubble to the surface of her soul.

Now with all this said, go to the library and check this book out, buy it at the bookstore, or ask a friend if you can borrow it. Or, if you’d like to swap–email me! This will make for excellent summer reading. Plus, I would love to know what great book I should read next. I’m open to suggestions.

Peace & Love.