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This month I had three good friends recommend me a book, the same book, at the same time! An omen that even I could not ignore. .jpg)
Suddenly the four of us were calling each other as we read and found ourselves holding impromptu book club meetings that involved whiteboard markers and excel spreadsheets! Eat, Pray, Love is a brilliant snap shot of Elizabeth Gilbert’s year of self discovery that every female can relate to. Gilbert shares her methods and ideas for improving one’s life. Her honesty is so contagious that I too found myself wanting to write a pledge, meditate and eat pasta! The book itself has been translated into 30 languages, has sold 5 million copies worldwide and is about to star Julia Roberts in a blockbuster movie. So, you know, it’s doing OK. About the Author Elizabeth Gilbert was born in Connecticut in 1969. Her older sister, Catherine Murdock is also an author (‘Dairy Queen’ and ‘The Off Season’)  . Gilbert’s writings have appeared in popular magazines and were the basis of Disney’s Coyote Ugly. This year she was voted by Time Magazine as one of the ‘100 Most Influential People in the World’. Wow! Her books include: - Pilgrims - New York Times Notable Book, Pushcart Prize Winner, PEN/Hemingway Award Finalist
- Stern Men - New York Times Notable book
- The Last American Man - 2002 The National Book Award Finalist, The National Book Critic’s Circle Award Finalist
 Frankie’s Top 5 Favorite Learnings1: Grow four legs One of Gilbert’s first insights is a story of meeting an Indonesian medicine man. She expresses her desire to have a ‘lasting experience with god’ and he procedures to draw a beautiful picture of a women. The woman in the picture stands with hands ready to pray and four legs. Where the head should be there are wildflowers and ferns and over the heart is a smiling face. I love this image of a woman with her feet firmly placed on the ground but watching the world through her heart. I get excited thinking about women embracing this confident yet faithful way of living! 2: Write a petition In amongst the humor and story telling is Gilbert’s own pain and tough times. She has a moment of clarity on a long drive with a friend. Gilbert is encouraged to ask for what she wants. Not a new idea but one that many women often don’t do. Gilbert writes a petition to the universe asking for her husband to sign the divorce papers. She then lists everyone she thinks would agree to sign this petition. My fellow book club members and I now have lists of petitions and found its amazing how many people want to see you happy. It’s more then you can imagine, literally.  3: Standing stillI often feel I am in a race to ‘get happy’, filling my time with hundreds of pursuits that will supposedly make me feel more deserving, more fulfilled, useful etc. but often make me tired or angry. Gilbert travels across continents to find peace and self acceptance and in India she stays in an Ashram to learn meditation. My favorite Zen master quote she ponders during her stay is, ‘You can not see your reflection in running water, only in still water.’ I know we can’t all disappear to India but for a few minute every day we can practice being still. 4: Be Your Own Best Friend Throughout the book Gilbert talks and writes to herself, lending to a lot of the books charm as readers are allowed to hear her personal dialogue. She begs, laments, sooks and screams at herself but also cares for herself and learns to be more loving. My favorite line in the book is when an exasperated Gilbert tells herself to simply, ‘Go back to bed Liz’. A sensible suggestion a kind friend would advise. 5: Four Brothers For the times you need more then one best friend the book recommends you solicit the help of your four brothers, your guardian angels of sorts. Gilbert learns that Indonesians believe that we are born with family spirits whom we can ask for help. Whether you interpret these spirits to be real or metaphoric, I like the idea that even when you can’t see anyone around you, you’re not alone. Hopefully these tasters have inspired you to read more of ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ and begin, complete or continue on your own journey. And if you do, it might be nice to get a girlfriend in on it to, who knows, you might need someone to sign your petition any day now.  To help inspire you further, here's an extract from Eat, Pray, Love...
I was actually feeling kind of delighted about all the compartments of time and space that were appearing in my days, during which I could ask myself the radical new question: “What do you want to do, Liz?”
Most of the time I didn’t even dare to answer the question, but just thrilled privately to its existence. And when I finally started to answer, I did so cautiously. I would only allow myself to express little baby-step wants. Like: ‘I want to go to a Yoga class.’ ‘I want to leave this party early, so I can go home and read a novel.’ ‘I want to buy myself a new pencil box.’ Then there would always be that one weird answer, same every time: ‘I want to learn how to speak Italian.’ Extracted from page 23 of Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia, by Elizabet Gilbert (published by Bloomsbury).
Frankie
We love Eat, Pray, Love and are sure that you will too! We've got three copies of this fabulous book to give away. To get yourself in the draw simply click on the link below and tell us why you'd love to read this amazing book - easy!
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