Eat, Pray, Love

I just finished a great book by Elizabeth Gilbert titled "Eat, Pray, Love." In summary, Elizabeth was in her mid-thirties when she decided to end her marriage, leave her home and career, and travel throughout the world for one year in search of herself.

Her journey begins in Italy, where she spends four months in the "Pursuit of Pleasure." While there, she learns Italian and slowly finds that she is content with being alone. Oh, and she eats a ton as well, claiming to have found the best pizza in the world.

Next, she goes to India, where she spends four months in the "Pursuit of Devotion." Elizabeth lives, eats, and works in one of India's well-known Ashrams, experiencing divinity through meditation and the act of cleansing her soul. It is in India where she meets one of her best friends, Richard from Texas.

Finally, she finishes her journey in Indonesia, where she spends four months in the "Pursuit of Balance." Her visit to Indonesis is essentially her return to a medicine man, who years prior, said she would return to Bali to live with him. Although she didn't live with him her second time around, she visited him regularly, experiencing the works of a medicine man. She meets wonderful people while in Indonesia, including Felipe, the man she falls in love with and the man she is currently married to.

We may not all have the ability to travel across the world in search of ourselves, but one thing Elizabeth did make clear in her book is that you MUST find yourself, no matter your age and no matter how you do it. Her struggles may not be in line with our own, but she found a way to be happy reagrdless - granted, it was through eating her way through Italy, meeting God through meditation in India, and falling in love in Indonesia.

Talk about a life story...

~Brooke