Sunday, August 2, 2009

Eat Pray Love - Elizabeth Gilbert

Have you ever found your "perfect" book? It's an amazing feeling to read the perfect book at the perfect time in your life! This one was mine :-) It's one of the most AMAZING books that I have read so far and something that I'll read it over and over again and treasure it in my bookshelf. I highly recommed this book, especially if you are looking out for some kind of an inspiration in life, or if you are going through a journey of finding your true self! This one might just do the trick for you.

Click here if you want to read my review of the book.

This book is full of anecdotes and pieces of wisdom scattered through out...I absolutely loved them; something that I want to keep reading and reminding myself often..am sure you'll know why, when you read these :)

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“[My guru] says that people universally tend to think that happiness is a stroke of luck, something that will maybe descend upon you like fine weather if you are fortunate enough. But that’s not how happiness works. 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…”


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"You need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you select what clothes you're gonna wear every day. This is a power you can cultivate. If you want to control things in your life so bad, work on the mind. That's the only thing you should be trying to control. Drop everything else but that. Because if you cant learn to master your thinking, you're in deep trouble forever"


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I was full of a hot, power sadness and would have loved to burst into the comfort of tears, but tried hard not to, remembering my Guru once said - "You should never give yourself a chance to fall apart because, when you do, it becomes a tendency and it happens over and over again. You must practice staying strong, instead".


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'Guilt’s just your ego’s way of tricking you into thinking that you’re making moral progress.’


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You are, after all, what you think. Your emotions are the slaves to your thoughts and you are the slave to your emotions


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"In desperate love we always invent the characters of our partners, demanding that they be what we need of them, and then feeling devastated when they refuse to perform the role we create in the first place".


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Ketut said he could answer my question with a picture. He showed me a sketch he'd drawn during meditation. It was an androgynous human figure, standing up, hands clasped in prayer. But this figure had four legs, and no head. There was a small, smiling face drawn over the heart.
"To find the balance you want, this is what you must become. You must keep your feet grounded so firmly on the earth that it's like you have four legs, instead of two. That way, you can stay in the world. But you must stop looking at the world through your head. You must look through your heart, instead. That way, you will know God"



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The other problem with all this swinging through the vines of thought is that you are never where you are. You are always digging in the past or poking at the future, but rarely do you rest in the moment. It's something like the habit of my dear frined Susan who - whenever she sees a beautiful place - exclaims in near panic "It's so beautiful here! I want to come back here someday!" and it takes all of my persuasive powers to try to convince her that she is already here!


Now, give me one good reason why you wouldn't want to pick up this book! :)

2 comments:

Krishna said...

Hmmm.. will definitely try it sometime. But am not sure, i quite agree with the third one. Giving vent to one's emotions thru tears, in my opinion is no weakness. On the contrary, its a way of letting go, and in turn, on the path to becoming strong. Crying, is not all that bad, i say :)...

Unknown said...

@Krishna - Yup I completely agree with u! The way I interpreted it was, crying should not be seen as a helpless sign or the first reaction to every problem or a habit at every hurdle in life...it's definitely a good way to get out the pent up emotions and reduce stress :)