Eat, Pray, Love

So finally I finished reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love. I loved it. It’s one book I’m sure I’ll read over and over again. Chai lent it to me more than a year ago, and now that I’m done with it, it’s time to pass it on to Ta. I’m getting my own copy so I can highlight and mark favorite lines. I feel like I’ve become friends with Liz (yes, first name basis) already after my journey with her to the three I’s (Italy, India, and Indonesia). I love how she writes. I love her candidness, her wit, her sincerity, and how she makes everything sound so uncomplicated.  Many times I find myself reciting her life mantras in my head. I was, and I am inspired to say the least.




I have always wanted to go to Italy. In fact, it’s on my bucket list. But now, I have a renewed conviction to make it happen in this lifetime.  Chai and I talk about going there together and staying there for two or three weeks (minimum). No, we don’t want any of those European tour packages where you’re dragged from one city/country to another, supposedly enjoying the views and sights on a bus.  No, we don’t want to have to wake up early every single day to catch a guided tour where we can only stay in one tourist destination for as long as our guide says so. No, we don’t want to have to drink and dine when and where we are told. We want to savor each and every second we spend in that country of all things beautiful and lovely--- the food, the wine, the clothes, the shoes, the people, the language, the music, the artwork, the architecture, history, and culture. We want to own our time there, and spend it just the way we want it.

Almost a decade ago I fell in love with yoga, but I was never really a devout “yogini”. I shifted from one type of yoga to another, trying to figure out which one I like best only to realize that really, it doesn’t matter, because I love yoga period (whether it be hatha, ashtanga, vinyasa, or bikram).  But now, more than practicing asanas and focusing on pranayama, I want to be able to meditate like any other good yogini can. I want to be able to meditate like Liz. I want yoga for my soul the way food is for my body. As the words on the walls at the BYManila studio say, I want to “Know yoga. Know peace.”

I wish to someday meet someone like Ketut, Liz’s spiritual and meditation adviser in Indonesia.  I dunno, I just think it’s nice to know somebody like him, somebody who has lived and continues to live his life exactly the way he thinks it should be lived--- certain amidst all the uncertainties. 

I did try the four brothers meditation that he taught Liz. I just found it amusing :)

I have a lot of favorite quotes form the book, but this one just jumped right off the page…

"Happiness is the consequence of personal effort.  You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it.  You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings.  And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it, you must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it.  If you don't, you will leak away your innate contentment.  It's easy enough to pray when you're in distress, but continuing to pray even when your crisis has passed is like a sealing process, helping your soul hold tight to its good attainments."

I can’t wait to get my hands on Committed, Liz’s latest book, and find out what happens after Italy, India, and Indonesia :)