•7:58 PM
For as long as I can remember, my Mom has always told me that she likes to savour a book. And I have always thought that was one of the craziest things I had ever heard. Savour a book? Who savours a book? One should savour food, not a book.
I finally understand what all this savouring in my Mother's (reading) life has been about. Usually, I am one to plow through a book that has captured my attention ... reading while cooking, reading while supervising children outside, reading whenever I can.
I have finally finished savouring Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I am not the kind of person who gets involved with fads and the mainstream cutting edge populace. I am more of a traditionalist, who does what she wants because she wants to. So, when I tell you that I absolutely loved this book, it is because I absolutely do. Not because lots of other people do. If I could eat this book, I would ... that's how much I love it. And I would savour it.
I feel like I endured some therapy after having read this story, and that Liz and I each made transformations of our own because we are both different people when the story is finished. She made me realize things about myself and taught me the importance of balance in my life. You cannot just focus all your energy into one thing and be fulfilled.
Eat Pray Love has been on the New York Times Best Sellers List for 158 consecutive weeks, so I am willing to bet that you have (at least) heard of this book. It is the true story of "one woman's search for everything." She is looking to find balance in her life and to find balance within herself.
Gilbert is probably the opposite of a momoholic ... she is a momophobe. She doesn't want to have children and this realization is the catalyst for all the changes she makes in her life. She divorces her husband and leaves her rebound man to set out on a journey of self-discovery.
Gilbert first goes to Italy in search of pleasure ... and since she has taken a one-year vow of celibacy, she finds pleasure in food. She truly enjoys the regional food of Rome and the cultural traditions associated with food. For instance, in Italy, after watching a soccer match, the fans go out for ... get ready for it ... cream puffs. That's right, they all crowd into their favourite bakeries and celebrate (or drown their sorrows) with cream puffs. I am trying to imagine Jonesy and his buddies going out for cream puffs after a Michigan Wolverine's football game, and I'll be honest, I just can't see it.
The idea of four months in Italy is a dream for me. I would love to go and experience the life there. Not for just a two week vacation ... but live there in a small apartment, and wander along the cobblestone streets, down to the local market for fresh produce, followed by a stop at the Butchers for local meat and cheese. Roaming the countryside in search of new people and foods. Have you ever taken the time to really enjoy food? Appreciate it for its flavours? The idea of truly enjoying food was introduced to me in Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food. He talks about eating seasonal, locally-produced food and taking the time to sit at the table and truly appreciate its flavour. Gilbert lives in Italy for four months learning to speak Italian and enjoying food. She begins each day by asking herself what she would enjoy doing.
What would you like to do today? Take every obligation and person you know and shove them out of your life - just for a minute - and ask yourself what you would enjoy doing. I think she began each day with a cappuccino and a newspaper, which she read leisurely. Like, with no one asking her for juice or toast or anything. Bliss ...
But I would miss them by lunch time.
Gilbert talks about her failed relationships with men a lot. She put it into terms that I could really relate to ... in a totally different way. She identifies her biggest problem to be that she doesn't understand boundaries, nor does she respect them. When dating a man, she was utterly, head-over-heels in love and she lost herself in her man. She wrote about friends telling her that she actually looked like whomever she was dating. She would become that person.
Sound familiar? The idea of not having boundaries describes my relationship with my children. I became them ... I lost myself in them and their needs. I honestly could not separate myself from them at times.
Does this mean that I get to go to Italy for four months and read and eat the best pizza in the world and try gelatto for the first time? I didn't think so...
Gilbert leaves Italy and moves to India, where she lives in an ashram for four months. An ashram is a secluded residence used for religious retreat. She uses the time to master meditation and to find her spirituality in pursuit of devotion. She studies under her Guru.
I have mentioned in the past that I am not a religious person ... I have too many questions. However, I do not think that meditation is solely for the purpose of finding God ... I think it is about quietening your brain ... letting your brain rest. Then, I believe you can find peace within yourself and perhaps understand your own spirituality.
Spirituality does not equal religion or God. I think there are many people who believe that if you are a spiritual person, you have a deep faith in God. I do not. For me, spirituality is more of an energy ... an energy that eminates through our bodies connecting our physical selves with our souls. According to Dictionary.com a soul is the principle of life, feeling, thought, and action in humans, regarded as a distinct entity separate from the body, and commonly held to be separable in existence from the body.
Okay, this is gettin' heavy.
Suffice it to say that I would be very excited to visit the ashram, and try to centre myself through meditation. I'll let you in on a little secret ... I tried to meditate a few times. I actually bought a book to learn more about it back in the days of infertility. I thought that if I could quiet my body and reduce the stress that I was feeling, then perhaps all systems would work as they should. Meditation can be rejuvenating ... this was the theory I worked from. I can say that meditation is not something that you just decide to do. It's hard to sit quietly ... in fact, these days, I can hardly imagine sitting quietly for more than three minutes.
I think that it was during her time at the ashram that Gilbert made the most strides toward centering herself and finding some peace. You could almost feel the calm descend over her.
For her final four months, Gilbert travelled to Indonesia in search of balance. She wants to learn from a Medicine Man, Ketut Liyer.
You know, I wasn't even sure where Indonesia was on the globe ... I have rectified that problem. Of course I had heard of Bali ... but I didn't know that it was in Indonesia. I guess I should have paid more attention in Geography class. Ugh.
I think that I would travel all the way to Indonesia just to meet the Medicine Man, Ketut Liyer ... and judging by the videos on YouTube, there are women who have actually done so. The Medicine Man agrees to teach "Liss" (as he calls her) about Balinese meditation in exchange for her teaching him to speak better English. And so their friendship begins.
Liss spends her four months in Bali making new friends, helping them with their struggles, learning some of the customs and eventually, finding love once again. And yes, she practices Balinese meditation.
For a woman like me, who feels as though she has lost a little bit of herself ... perhaps a little bit of her spirit ... this book was just what I needed. And, I can imagine myself re-reading parts of it when I am feeling like I have wandered off my path.
There is a movie coming out in the summer, starring Julia Roberts. I'm sure it will be fabulous ... but will it be better than the book? Absolutely no way!!!! I'll see you there ...
I finally understand what all this savouring in my Mother's (reading) life has been about. Usually, I am one to plow through a book that has captured my attention ... reading while cooking, reading while supervising children outside, reading whenever I can.
I have finally finished savouring Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I am not the kind of person who gets involved with fads and the mainstream cutting edge populace. I am more of a traditionalist, who does what she wants because she wants to. So, when I tell you that I absolutely loved this book, it is because I absolutely do. Not because lots of other people do. If I could eat this book, I would ... that's how much I love it. And I would savour it.
I feel like I endured some therapy after having read this story, and that Liz and I each made transformations of our own because we are both different people when the story is finished. She made me realize things about myself and taught me the importance of balance in my life. You cannot just focus all your energy into one thing and be fulfilled.
Eat Pray Love has been on the New York Times Best Sellers List for 158 consecutive weeks, so I am willing to bet that you have (at least) heard of this book. It is the true story of "one woman's search for everything." She is looking to find balance in her life and to find balance within herself.
Gilbert is probably the opposite of a momoholic ... she is a momophobe. She doesn't want to have children and this realization is the catalyst for all the changes she makes in her life. She divorces her husband and leaves her rebound man to set out on a journey of self-discovery.
Gilbert first goes to Italy in search of pleasure ... and since she has taken a one-year vow of celibacy, she finds pleasure in food. She truly enjoys the regional food of Rome and the cultural traditions associated with food. For instance, in Italy, after watching a soccer match, the fans go out for ... get ready for it ... cream puffs. That's right, they all crowd into their favourite bakeries and celebrate (or drown their sorrows) with cream puffs. I am trying to imagine Jonesy and his buddies going out for cream puffs after a Michigan Wolverine's football game, and I'll be honest, I just can't see it.
The idea of four months in Italy is a dream for me. I would love to go and experience the life there. Not for just a two week vacation ... but live there in a small apartment, and wander along the cobblestone streets, down to the local market for fresh produce, followed by a stop at the Butchers for local meat and cheese. Roaming the countryside in search of new people and foods. Have you ever taken the time to really enjoy food? Appreciate it for its flavours? The idea of truly enjoying food was introduced to me in Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food. He talks about eating seasonal, locally-produced food and taking the time to sit at the table and truly appreciate its flavour. Gilbert lives in Italy for four months learning to speak Italian and enjoying food. She begins each day by asking herself what she would enjoy doing.
What would you like to do today? Take every obligation and person you know and shove them out of your life - just for a minute - and ask yourself what you would enjoy doing. I think she began each day with a cappuccino and a newspaper, which she read leisurely. Like, with no one asking her for juice or toast or anything. Bliss ...
But I would miss them by lunch time.
Gilbert talks about her failed relationships with men a lot. She put it into terms that I could really relate to ... in a totally different way. She identifies her biggest problem to be that she doesn't understand boundaries, nor does she respect them. When dating a man, she was utterly, head-over-heels in love and she lost herself in her man. She wrote about friends telling her that she actually looked like whomever she was dating. She would become that person.
Sound familiar? The idea of not having boundaries describes my relationship with my children. I became them ... I lost myself in them and their needs. I honestly could not separate myself from them at times.
Does this mean that I get to go to Italy for four months and read and eat the best pizza in the world and try gelatto for the first time? I didn't think so...
Gilbert leaves Italy and moves to India, where she lives in an ashram for four months. An ashram is a secluded residence used for religious retreat. She uses the time to master meditation and to find her spirituality in pursuit of devotion. She studies under her Guru.
I have mentioned in the past that I am not a religious person ... I have too many questions. However, I do not think that meditation is solely for the purpose of finding God ... I think it is about quietening your brain ... letting your brain rest. Then, I believe you can find peace within yourself and perhaps understand your own spirituality.
Spirituality does not equal religion or God. I think there are many people who believe that if you are a spiritual person, you have a deep faith in God. I do not. For me, spirituality is more of an energy ... an energy that eminates through our bodies connecting our physical selves with our souls. According to Dictionary.com a soul is the principle of life, feeling, thought, and action in humans, regarded as a distinct entity separate from the body, and commonly held to be separable in existence from the body.
Okay, this is gettin' heavy.
Suffice it to say that I would be very excited to visit the ashram, and try to centre myself through meditation. I'll let you in on a little secret ... I tried to meditate a few times. I actually bought a book to learn more about it back in the days of infertility. I thought that if I could quiet my body and reduce the stress that I was feeling, then perhaps all systems would work as they should. Meditation can be rejuvenating ... this was the theory I worked from. I can say that meditation is not something that you just decide to do. It's hard to sit quietly ... in fact, these days, I can hardly imagine sitting quietly for more than three minutes.
I think that it was during her time at the ashram that Gilbert made the most strides toward centering herself and finding some peace. You could almost feel the calm descend over her.
For her final four months, Gilbert travelled to Indonesia in search of balance. She wants to learn from a Medicine Man, Ketut Liyer.
You know, I wasn't even sure where Indonesia was on the globe ... I have rectified that problem. Of course I had heard of Bali ... but I didn't know that it was in Indonesia. I guess I should have paid more attention in Geography class. Ugh.
I think that I would travel all the way to Indonesia just to meet the Medicine Man, Ketut Liyer ... and judging by the videos on YouTube, there are women who have actually done so. The Medicine Man agrees to teach "Liss" (as he calls her) about Balinese meditation in exchange for her teaching him to speak better English. And so their friendship begins.
Liss spends her four months in Bali making new friends, helping them with their struggles, learning some of the customs and eventually, finding love once again. And yes, she practices Balinese meditation.
For a woman like me, who feels as though she has lost a little bit of herself ... perhaps a little bit of her spirit ... this book was just what I needed. And, I can imagine myself re-reading parts of it when I am feeling like I have wandered off my path.
There is a movie coming out in the summer, starring Julia Roberts. I'm sure it will be fabulous ... but will it be better than the book? Absolutely no way!!!! I'll see you there ...
