Lessons From Eat Pray Love
Things You Can Learn From Reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s Life Journey
In 'Eat Pray Love', Elizabeth Gilbert goes on a spiritual journey to redefine herself. What can you learn from her book and experience to better your life?
Life has a strange way of kicking you in the pants. Like Elizabeth Gilbert, author of ‘Eat Pray Love’ maybe you’ve acquired the American Dream of owning a beautiful house, a wonderful mate and wealth of other kinds, yet feel like a black hole has bored itself into your chest.
Gilbert’s book describes her journey through India, Italy and Indonesia for self-discovery. But you need not travel half way round the world to find your true self. Some truths surround us for so long we cannot see them anymore. Maybe your relationship has disappointed you, or you feel insecure or hate the path you’re traveling. Finding inner peace not only helps you live a better life, but opens possibilities for a different, more fulfilling life.
Lessons from Eat Pray Love
- You’re Not Alone – Though at times you may feel you’ve entered a long dark tunnel - population one – when you take time to look around, hundreds of people wish you well and do all they can to ensure your happiness and security. Sitting in that dark tunnel brooding over past mistakes and judgements solves nothing. Talking with friends and family, or even a professional can go a long way to help your emotional healing. Make a list of all your friends and keep it open, adding to it daily. Focus on the good things in your life and force yourself to write down at least one a day. You’ll soon see that life balances the good with the bad. Stop focusing on the bad.
- You Can Change Your Life – If you’ve ever driven down a busy highway on the wrong side of the road, it won’t take long before you realise you’re headed towards a nasty collision. You’ll feel it instantly and swerve to avoid crashing. Other drivers will honk at you and scream profanities to let you know your error. Life acts in the exact same way. If you lead your life yet feel like something is not right, listen to that inner voice and become aware of the ‘collisions’ in your workplace and home. Only when you begin to recognise the signs can you begin to turn your car around and start driving in the right lane.
- There Are Worse Things Than Being Alone – Being in a dead-end relationship or one that leaves you feeling battered and abused (whether emotionally or physically) signals danger. Heed relationship don’ts and get out. If, like Gilbert, you spend the middle of the night sobbing on your bathroom floor, you must realise that something is wrong. Find the source of your pain. Do you want to remain in the relationship? Or is it time to move on. Thoughts of being single at any age conjure fear and uneasiness, but nothing kills your self image and worth faster than remaining in an unhealthy relationship. Fix the relationship with yourself first, then find solutions to your other problems. Once you feel better about yourself, everything else will fall into place.
- Let Go Of Control – Trying to control every last detail of your life can make you sicker than you realise. Life is about living. Life is not linear, rather it spins off into many directions. Trying to control everything is like an octopus trying to juggle with all its tentacles at the same time. Eventually it will tangle its arms into a knot and the juggling pins will crash down on its head. Control the things you can and assume the strength and wisdom to cope with those you can’t.
