on Eat, Pray, Love (part 1)

There has been much hype about this book, "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert. When I first saw and heard the author's journey in an interview by Oprah, I knew I just had to get hold of the book. When friends just couldn't stop talking about it, my curiosity just got all the more piqued by it.

So get hold of the book I did. It usually takes me a day (or two) to finish such novels. But with this book, it's taking me forever! The book is divided in 3 sections, one for each country (and phase) she visited during her self-inquiry - starting with Italy (Eat), then India (Pray) and Indonesia (Love). I started more than a month ago and I'm still reading Italy!

Every page out of her life (at least in Italy) seems to be a page out of mine. I can't help but give in to flashes of pensive reflection on own past as she talks about hers. When she started her story and talked about being on the bathroom floor at 3 am, on her knees, praying, sobbing, I remembered moments when I was down on my knees, on the bathroom floor, sobbing quietly lest anyone hears me. Of course our sobs were for entirely different reasons - her for the death of her marriage; mine for the death of my mom. Many more such pages out of her life seem to mirror some of my own thoughts and adventures (but that's for another post).

Though some of our thoughts and experiences are alike, we cannot be more different people. Take her views on love and men for instance. She writes, "I have a history of making decisions very quickly about men. I have always fallen in love fast and without measuring risks. . . . I have fallen in love more times than I care to count with the highest potential of a man, rather than with the man himself . . . Many times in romance I have been a victim of my own optimism.”

Whereas she is quick to love men, I tend to be a skeptic where men are concerned. I look hard, scrutinize, analyze, pore over and when I finally do decide to take a risk, that man, whoever he is, is long gone. But like her, I’ve had my share of heartaches and what she says about them is appeasing. I so loved it when, speaking of a broken heart, she says, “This is a good sign, having a broken heart. It means we have tried for something.”

As she traveled across the globe in search for answers, I looked back at my own recent travels and the answers I got from them. In retrospect, it seems I can't get passed "Eat, Pray", or more precisely and literally, "Pray, Eat"... as in "Pray" the prayer "Bless us Oh Lord and these thy gifts..." and "Eat" the gifts. I can't seem to get to the "Love" part.

And this thought led me to further introspection and a new dawning of understanding... that this is so NOT true. I've always had the "Love" part in my life. I need not go far to see or to feel it. In fact, I'm surrounded by it. Of course Liz (the author) talked of a different kind of love, but I have it and am surrounded by it, nonetheless. I am here because of and out of love. It's in the smiles and hugs and kisses and tears. It's in the laughter shared. It's in the answered prayers. It's in the unanswered prayers. It's in family and friends. It's in the "I-love-you's" I received in response to my "Blah, blah, blah" post. God's love shines so brightly through them. Need I ask for more?

Well... :-)