Morgan Day Cecil

If you could do anything, anything in the world , what would you do? That is the question I kept asking myself. -Elizabeth Gilbert

I first read Eat, Pray, Lovefour years ago to the month. It was August, 2006, I was 8 months pregnant. When I read Elizabeth Gilbert’s soul-searching, globe-trotting odessey, I reflected how strange it was to find myself where I did: I was about to become a single mom. I would no longer be wandering the world, living for stints of time in Italy, like I had in my early 20s. The life I always thought I would live was now contained in somebody else’s book.

One August afternoon, I walked into a bookstore, and picked up the Gilbert’s book. I read the back cover and I decided to buy it because I wanted it to sweep me away to Italy, to India, to Bali. With my ankles swollen, my belly ripe with child, and my spirit quite discontent with the way my future looked, I planned on reading the memoir as I would drink a glass of wine: as temporary liberation from dealing with life, as is.

But I ended up falling in love with the book for not at the escape I intended it for. Instead of escape from my life, Eat, Pray, Love, gave me an entrance back to it. Somehow, despite Elizabeth’s warm detail of the colorful and rich experiences in every locale, by the time I finished reading the book, I knew what she was talking about was much more than the experience of 4 month sojourns in different countries…what she was talking about was the power of self-reflection, and a commitment to not only asking, but following through on, life’s toughest questions.

Every single spiritual journey begins with series of self-interviewing…What is it that I really want? What am I here for? What do I want to do with your one wild and wonderful life? -Elizabeth Gilbert

Four years ago, I read Eat, Pray, Love and realized this: for all the beauty and excitement out in the world, the adventure I was about to embark on with the birth of my son, was odessey enough.

For epic spiritual journey’s to take place, no plane ticket is required. All you must do is give yourself to “the physics of the quest,” as Gilbert calls it, “You must be brave enough to leave behind all your old comforts, see everything as a clue and everyone as a teacher, face and forgive difficult realities about your self.”

All that to say, I went to see the movie last night with a friend, and wanted to share with you 8 little gems I took home from it. These are all lines from the movie that spoke to me for some reason. My thoughts about each are in the italics.

1. “But who for?” “For you, Liz.”. When buying lingerie, you don’t have to buy it for anyone but yourself. Beautiful things can just be for you. It’s okay to enjoy them da sola.

2. “You must select your thoughts for the day like you do your clothes.” Take control of the words you speak to yourself. Choose them as deliberately as you do your pants and shoes.

3. “God dwells within you, as you.”He is not interested in your performance. He would rather you be a second rate version of yourself than a first rate version of somebody else. You do not need to be anything but who you are, for Him to love you.

4. “Even smile in your liver”. Create a practice of happiness deep down into your organs.

5. “The only way to heal is to trust”. And the only way to trust again is to forgive. Forgiveness of self and others is the door through all of our greatest barriers.

6. “Sometimes to loose balance in love is part of living balance in life.” To recite my favorite line from the Moulain Rouge,”The greatest thing we can ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.” And love requires sacrifice. But knowing who is worthy of that kind of sacrifice is true wisdom.

7. “Go ahead. Run away from me. But you are running away from all the great possibilities of your life.” This is not just the words of handsome Javier Bardem in the film… I think God spends a lot of his time saying kind of the same thing to us.

8. “Attraversiamo.” Let’s cross over. It’s time to take the risks that will grow us into the people we are destined to be.

I’m eager to hear your comments on any of these questions:

What are your thoughts about Eat, Pray, Love, the movie or the book?

I’m curious, why do you think Elizabeth Gilbert’s book has struck such a chord among American women?

Did you like the movie? Do you think there is a message in it?

Has it inspired you or made you angry in some way?

(Even if you’ve already seen the movie, I really encourage you to read the book:
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia)

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