Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Eat, Pray, Love

By: Elizabeth Gilbert

     It’s very easy to get overwhelmed by our day to day lives that we forget about ourselves. Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of  Eat, Pray, love was as susceptible to this in her life as any of us. She was overwhelmed by what tradition told her that her she should want in her life. A marriage that had fallen apart and being a successful writer with a very busy lifestyle..  She decided to take a year away from all this, in a way that is not always possible for people. She was able to spend a year traveling to Italy, India and Indonesia. Taking this time to rediscover who she was and what she wanted with her life.

     The book is divided in to three parts, one for each of her four month stay in a country. It has also been divided into 108 tales which is symbolic in its connection to a japa mala ,which is a  spiritual string of beads used all over India to aid in prayerful meditation.  The Structure of the book works very well and I like how the author let the spiritual influences of her journey be reflected in every aspect of the story even just the way it was presented.

     In Italy Elizabeth went to just enjoy herself. When she was going through her divorce she decided to learn Italian for no reason other than she wanted to. It had always been something she wanted to do and she really needed something in her life that was hers and hers alone.  Going to Italy was a dream come true for her, a chance to live and breathe the language that she loved and to explore her freedom and the little things. She calles her trip to Italy and exploration in Passion, it was a place to enjoy life, enjoy the beauty of the world and to enjoy the food.  

     Where Italy was her exploration in passion, India was for devotion. She had found direction through a Guru who she had originally discovered when she was dating a guy during her divorce.  This boyfriend had been both wonderful and troublesome at the same time.  Yet he had led her to her Guru. When she went to India her original plan was to spend one month at her Guru’s Ashram and then explore the country. Looking for herself and strengthening her connection to god.  She ended up feeling that there was more to learn at the Ashram then she expected and spent all her time there instead. Leaving with a freeing feeling. I enjoyed the part of her experiences in the Ashram the most.  It is very interesting place. A place to just completely loose yourself in devotion to your faith. Then come out the other side knowing more about yourself.

     In Indonesia, Bali she looked for Balance. A way to take what she learnt about Passion in Italy and Devotion in India and combine them into a life. A life she could take back home to the US with her and keep once she got back to the real world. It’s all good to find yourself but you don’t want to lose it. She worked with a medicine man, learning his ways. Made friends with a Healer lady who was also divorced, a rarity in Bali. Her new friends brought her back into the real world. The world of having fun and going out dancing. She met a new man in places she didn’t expect who pushed her to let herself love again.  

    All in all the book was very inspiriting. It shows us, even me who isn’t as old and worn out as the author felt,  the importance of knowing who we are. Of keeping ourselves as a priority in our own lives and not living for the people around us.  It makes me want to find a way now, while I am 24, to understand myself and to nether loose myself in the everyday world.  I am very happy for the Author that she was brave enough to take the chance and go on this adventure, all so that she could share it with the world and give us all hope that it is possible for us to understand ourselves too.

(P.S A comment about the movie:  I liked it a lot, I think it’s not really a “movie theatre” movie. Would be much better at home in comfy clothes with a glass of wine.  It also felt very long to me. But is very true to the book.)