Enjoy my personal review of Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat Pray Love.

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Please note that I try to keep my reviews fairly brief and mainly discuss my opinions. I do not like to reveal plots or spoilers as I wish the reader to experience it themselves. For anyone looking for a discussion about the contents of the book feels free to contact me! I mainly discuss the writing and my thoughts on the quality of the story. At the end, I include my favorite quotes with a quick discussion on why I chose them. If there is anything I can add to make my reviews better please do not hesitate to let me know!

 

Non – Fiction / Autobiography / Travel
4/5 rating

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Review

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Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert is one of the several books on my TBR list for 2020. You will notice several of my books on this reading list discuss the topics of yoga, meditation, and spiritual connections.

Eat Pray Love is Elizabeth’s telling of her spiritual journey where she traveled to Italy to start her new chapter by learning Italian, then traveling to India to build the spiritual connection she desired, and finally ending her journey in Indonesia.

This book is about love, loss, and personal development which is great for anyone feeling lost or stuck on their current path in life. It is very personal and she shares the bad experiences with the good which makes her story even more inspiring because it is realistic.

Many people grow until their comfortable and then stay there for the rest of their lives, but not Elizabeth. She stayed in her comfortable life until she could not stand it anymore and did what many do not have the courage to do.

Taking the first steps towards a goal or dream is always the hardest because it oftentimes means leaving something behind. The “what ifs” that run through your mind will drive you mad, but are they enough to stop you? Elizabeth made her move and preserved through the struggles on her journey and she is an inspiration to all of us.

Her story can inspire you to achieve whatever goal you have in mind, not just taking a spiritual journey of your own. She shares her struggles and her strengths along with memories and friends she will never forget. A beautiful window into her life that can motivate you to open up new doors in yours.

She inspired so many people that she published a book based on the stories of those she inspired. Check out Eat Pray Love Made Me Do It: Life Journeys Inspired by the Bestselling Memoir.

The lessons she learned on her journey and the advice she was given by people she met along the way made for a great collection of favorite quotes. Check them out below!

Quotes from Eat Pray Love

Grief is a very difficult concept to explain and it is even harder to actually deal with.

When I read this metaphor I agreed immediately. Grief knows no boundaries, yet it is very definitive in most people’s lives. The moments of grief are so significant you can almost pinpoint them on a map as the comparison is suggesting.

What a soulmate is and what they mean usually differs from person to person. A lot of people think a soulmate means “the one” or the “love of your life”. While others believe soulmates are not necessarily about love, but about the people that influence significant moments in our lives.

I like this discussion about soulmates because it is neat to think that you have more than one. I am sure we can all think about multiple people who came into our lives and changed it or taught us a lesson about life or ourselves.

Soulmates do not always have to have a happy ending, sometimes they are just meant to be part of the process.

I loved this point in Elizabeth’s story where she describes her struggle with parts of her practice in India. During a moment of weakness, a friend passed along this piece of advice. 

Usually, what we want most comes from overcoming what we want to do the least. Elizabeth thought that since this part of her practice was not agreeing with her that it meant it was not for her, but in reality, it meant that it is working for her.

This is a great quote to motivate you to persevere when your own journey becomes tough.

 

Oftentimes we are told to reach success or your dreams you need to work hard and sacrifice.

On Elizabeth’s journey to finding divinity, she did have to really discipline herself, but she realized to truly find divinity she needed to learn that being flexible is a necessary part.

We can relate this to everyday life because life is unpredictable and what you seek changes. You can make changes to your routine, you can take breaks, and you can change direction as long as you morph this into your plans/practice and stay on the path to your goal.

This is a quote I may put on my next vision board.

Being happy is often confused as an end result of an action, but in reality, happiness is the ongoing journey. You have to work towards being happy every day and when it gets tough you have to fight your hardest to help yourself. 

It can be a positive cycle. Happiness requires effort, and this effort is motivated by the happiness achieved when you put the effort in.

On Elizabeth’s journey, she wants to soul search which means she has to get over past relationships and in doing this she decides to swear off future ones.

She is repeatedly informed by her friends and teachers that this is not necessary or healthy. It is easy to stick to a routine and commit to yourself when you do not have a relationship in the mix, but sometimes to truly be balanced and have all parts of life you need to be willing to shake up your life to give and receive love.

Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert is the first of my reading goal for 2020. I wanted to start my year reading books based on meditation and spiritual journeys because I found myself feeling lost in 2019. In fact, I even booked a backpacking trip to Costa Rica in May from the inspiration found in this book. I cannot wait to share with you all!

 

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