Eat, Pray, Love - Part II
The book Eat, Pray, Love has become quite a phenomena. I can't remember deriving so much pleasure from reading anything else in a long time.
Oprah even did a show interviewing Elizabeth Gilbert in October 2007, and I know it was widely watched by fans of the book and many of my friends.
In a yoga magazine recently, I noticed a retreat offering entitled: "Eat, Pray, Love, and Yoga." Sounds like my kind of retreat!
Several months ago, a friend sent me an email where she compared several passages in the book and the invaluable insights it contained to Byron Katie's The Work.
(See my blog entry "Letting Go: Take Two" for a reference and link to The Work)
The first passage she tackled was a discussion on the true purpose of soul mates, involving Richard and Elizabeth at the Ashram.
In the next day or so, I want to share a couple of other passages that I also found elucidating and which speak to the general human condition. Whether or not we have had the same experiences that Elizabeth had is not really relevant. There is truly no human being alive who has not suffered some kind of loss or who at times has not been held captive by limited thinking.
There is no substitute for reading this book however. So do yourself a favor and read it.
On soul mates:
(Richard speaking to Elizabeth)
Listen to me. Someday you're gonna look back on this moment of your life as such a sweet time of grieving. You'll see that you were in mourning and your heart was broken, but your life was changing and you were in the best possible place in the world for it - in a beautiful place of worship, surrounded by grace...
But that love you felt, that's just the beginning. You just got a taste of love...Wait till you see how much more deeply you can love than that...
People think a soul mate is your perfect fit...But a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that's holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life...
They tear down your walls and smack you awake...
They come into your life just to reveal another layer of yourself to you, and then they leave. And thank God for it...
David's purpose was to shake you...tear apart your ego...break your heart open so new light could get in, make you so desperate and out of control that you had to transform your life, then introduce you to your spiritual master and beat it...
So miss him. Send him love and light every time you think about him, and then drop it...
If you clear out all that space in your mind that you're using right now to obsess about this guy, you'll have a vacuum there, an open spot - a doorway.
And guess what the universe will do with that doorway?
It will rush in - God will rush in - and fill you with more love than you ever dreamed...
So stop using David to block that door. Let it go...
I read somewhere before going to sleep last night - that all love is ultimately a search for God's love, and this passage certainly affirms that.
Oprah even did a show interviewing Elizabeth Gilbert in October 2007, and I know it was widely watched by fans of the book and many of my friends.
In a yoga magazine recently, I noticed a retreat offering entitled: "Eat, Pray, Love, and Yoga." Sounds like my kind of retreat!
Several months ago, a friend sent me an email where she compared several passages in the book and the invaluable insights it contained to Byron Katie's The Work.
(See my blog entry "Letting Go: Take Two" for a reference and link to The Work)
The first passage she tackled was a discussion on the true purpose of soul mates, involving Richard and Elizabeth at the Ashram.
In the next day or so, I want to share a couple of other passages that I also found elucidating and which speak to the general human condition. Whether or not we have had the same experiences that Elizabeth had is not really relevant. There is truly no human being alive who has not suffered some kind of loss or who at times has not been held captive by limited thinking.
There is no substitute for reading this book however. So do yourself a favor and read it.
On soul mates:
(Richard speaking to Elizabeth)
Listen to me. Someday you're gonna look back on this moment of your life as such a sweet time of grieving. You'll see that you were in mourning and your heart was broken, but your life was changing and you were in the best possible place in the world for it - in a beautiful place of worship, surrounded by grace...
But that love you felt, that's just the beginning. You just got a taste of love...Wait till you see how much more deeply you can love than that...
People think a soul mate is your perfect fit...But a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that's holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life...
They tear down your walls and smack you awake...
They come into your life just to reveal another layer of yourself to you, and then they leave. And thank God for it...
David's purpose was to shake you...tear apart your ego...break your heart open so new light could get in, make you so desperate and out of control that you had to transform your life, then introduce you to your spiritual master and beat it...
So miss him. Send him love and light every time you think about him, and then drop it...
If you clear out all that space in your mind that you're using right now to obsess about this guy, you'll have a vacuum there, an open spot - a doorway.
And guess what the universe will do with that doorway?
It will rush in - God will rush in - and fill you with more love than you ever dreamed...
So stop using David to block that door. Let it go...
I read somewhere before going to sleep last night - that all love is ultimately a search for God's love, and this passage certainly affirms that.
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