I just finished reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert again. I really enjoyed this book the first time I read it, and I enjoyed it even more the second time around. (Perhaps because I am anxiously awaiting my stop in Bali this fall and loved reading that section or maybe because I would love to taste the food and surround myself with history in Italy or maybe because India is a place I long to travel and know...) Anyways, I know lots of friends who have mixed reviews about the book and the author's attitude, but I love her witty sense of humor and heart wrenching honesty. It's refreshing to read about someone else's trials and tribulations and makes me feel more connected to people in general. I also love reading about a modern career woman traveling the world solo. I will embark on my first solo traveling this fall for a bit and it makes me a little less weary knowing that so many amazing experiences open up to you when it's just you. Here are two of my favorite quotes from the book:
"You were given life; it is your duty (and also your entitlement as a human being) to find something beautiful within life, no matter how slight."
"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. 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."
"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. 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."
-Elizabeth Gilbert-
Eat, Pray, Love
After reading through the Italy chapter about finding that one word for a city or a person, I have been trying to think of mine. For those of you who haven't read the book, the author is having a discussion with a friend about how each city and each person has a word. One word that describes the place or person to a 'T'. He tells her that Rome's word is SEX. They discuss the Vatican's word, POWER, and she decides that New York's word is ACHIEVE. The author eventually figures out her own word is ANTEVASIN, Sanskrit for “one who lives at the border.” My mom thinks Valparaiso's word is FAMILY. I think Seoul's word is APPEARANCE.
Namaste
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