Why We Can't Stop Talking About "Eat, Pray, Love"!

I can hardly wait!

In the last show with Elizabeth Gilbert, she suggested we ask ourselves each day, "What do I really, really, really want?"

That question has stayed with me and helped me to set priorities in my life! A very surprising answer came to me recently.

Read Eat, Love, Pray about six months ago. Funny how life works out. My two year relationship just ended- for good or not, I don't know today... and I have decided to condo swap with a girl in Hawaii for my place in Austin- for two months. I have never felt more excited! The world became a brighter place just withe the excitement of the unknown. It's a great thing to do, a house swap. I look at is just changing the view out my window for a while and being open to new experiences. Can't wait!
Marnie

Lordy...what a boring "new age" woman author Elizabeth Gilbert is.....there must be a lot of boring desperate women out there........to snap at this new age gibberish...actually decide it merits a closer look. ....She's just a sophomoric drama queen looking for excietment and men....Two strangos meet.....Elizabeth and Richard....surprise, surprise....The dumbing down/pablumizing of America....look no further....

Here we go again. The pro-Elizabeth / anti-Elizabeth sharing. This would be a good thread to just add to the other 11-pages already documented on this topic. Like with the Jessicadrama, can we lcombine/limit this to one thread? I enjoy reading other's opinions; but, there's alot of factual info already out there on this author within the first thread that could be useful here as we re-visit her. i am so grateful for this show today...if other's don't get it, turn it off or "take what you need and leave the rest." For me, any place I can remember to pause and connect to any spiritual lifeboat in my current storm of a life, I will gratefully turn...I'm thrilled she's back so soon. Thanks, Oprah.

Another book I can stop writing, hehehe ~ just kidding ~ seems every book I think to write comes out before I can even begin! And instead of feeling envy, I am always thrilled!!! Kudos Oprah, for having these kinds of shows, so needed today more than ever.

I, too, stayed in an ashram in Maharashtra, for three months, back in the seventies. My husband and I sold everything and brought our three month old over there for three months ~ we did everything backwards. While our friends back home were busy working on advanced degrees or a career, gettinng on the property ladder and so forth, we were doing what people often (traditionally) do later in life, when the nest is empty. It was a very fulfilling experience for me, and continued to be, as staff members on a world tour for the next three years with our yoga and meditation teacher. The practices we did and experiences I had have stayed with me in such a way that I have been able for years to fall into a meditative state very easily, 'even on a crowded bus', as the saying goes. That ability has served me well in life, as I went on to begin a career in environmentally interior design, over thirty years before it was 'the thing', and go on to raise three children alone for 23 of my 29 years of parenting. All the ups and downs sine then have been tempered by having this background and the resultant understanding, even though I always was a quiet, spritually minded person anyway, even as a child.

Our teacher used to say that staying in an ashram should be considered like taking a course or going to university ~ we don]t need to live there for life, we are there to take that experience into the world, which is of course what Elisabeth Gilbert found, I'm sure (without reading the book ~ yet!). In the world today, so many cannot find the drive to drop everything and go somewhere to learn to enter this state of oneness that Elisabeth (and I) found in a moment of revelation, but we can create the space in our busy lives to bring this about. That's why books like hers are so relevant ~ it just takes hearing of other's experiences, and they become the way-show-ers, marking the path for the rest of us, even tho they are just telling their own story, not intending to show anyone anything at all, other than who they really are, at that moment in time.

I love the power of saying 'no' ~ when Elisabeth mentions that, I felt the 'yes' of what a luxury that has become for me, as well. I am a new empty nester, with two kids pursuing advanced science degrees and one a business degree, and feel like a kid again, with the whole world in front of me ~ I've never been more content, and while I have very little to my name, I feel far richer than most millionaires. The whole idea really is finding out what makes us happy, and I truly wish this for everyone.

What is the name of the book that she mentioned while in her home?

I listed to the show today and found myself going to Zooba and rearranging my book selection to add this book as my next choice. I was impressed by what the author said but more impressive was the testimonies of the readers. I am all for anything that will help a person be a better person. Self inventory is necessary for growth. I can't wait to get the book.

Today is the first time hearing about this book after watching your show and boy would i love to get my hands on the book myself to see if it can help me get my life together. After losing my job it's been very hard for me to feel good about myself i lost alot of my self asteam and could bearly afford to buy anything with my bills. So if you can please help me and tell me how can i get my hands on one of those books so that i can read it myself i would really appreciate it. Love you Oprah

I have not read this book yet, but I want to. I was wondering if it is a good recommendation to a friend of mine who just lost her son (in his twenties). She likes to meditate and is usually inspired spiritually.If you have read the book, do you think it is a good book to give to her in a time of sorrow,
I want to help her through this difficult time.

I read the book two years ago and loved it. I liked it better before I heard her open her mouth on Oprah. She just seems "off" or something. Something doesn't click for me with her. She's a writer, author, not a speaker or spiritual guru. I also think this is too much for her, all this hoopla and thousands of women telling her their stories and asking for advice. It's too much. She was just a regular woman on the bathroom floor. Let's give Elizabeth a break and let her do what she's best at--write.

To me it is so disheartening to hear so many women describe this book as their "Bible." Even if they were just being facetious with their comments, they have no idea what they are saying. Mrs. Gilbert also obviously has not found the TRUE God and Savior, displayed in our Lord Jesus Christ. This book is nothing but a bunch of feel good whipped cream over vomit. God is not "perfection that absorbs" or any other new age mumbo jumbo. He is the Creator of the universe who demands to be honored and loved by His creation, us. We are sinners in need of a Savior. Not until you humble yourself before a holy God will you "find" Him. He gave us His son to die in OUR place because of our Pride which this book obviously encourages and condones. So very sad. As Jesus said, if you do not believe who He said He was (God Himself who took your sin upon Him and paid for it in full!!) you will die in your sins. No amount of trips to Bali or India will ever gain salvation for your soul. I pray for Mrs. Gilbert that she will find the True God and not one created from the figment of her imagination.

I would suggest checking out at the library

I would like to know the name of this book also?

I love, love, love this book & was so excited to hear about the movie. Finally a movie that I will be excited to see.
- but, is anyone else as disappointed as I am about JULIA ROBERTS playing Liz???
I'm so sorry Julia, & Oprah (because I know Oprah loves Julia Roberts) and, I like Julia but not for this!!
Not Julia Roberts AGAIN!!! We see her so much that it's really hard to see her as anyone else.
I'm tired of her!!! I am so very disappointed about this!! Is it too late to consider a more REAL woman?
Please?????

Well where do I begin......this book is absolutely wonderful!!! I read it so fast because I just couldn't get enough of it!!! I felt like I needed to absorb everthing that Elizabeth felt. Although I did not experience the same type of journey as she did I fell that I can definetly relate. After reading the book I feel like the locks on my heart have finally been lifted to allow a little bit of light in. I can honestly say that as of the last page in that book I can finally love myself again. I have been living my life for the last 4yrs in a terrifying waterfall of depression. I couldn't even think to swim, I was just letting myself get pounded by the falling water. To the point where I couldn't breath...

When I was just 19 yrs old I had an Abortion---very scary to admit this, I have let this stay in a grave in my heart. I haven't told anyone, and that is why I haven't been able to forgive myself. I felt that I did not deserve a single breath of happiness. I know it sounds crazy but I felt like I finally had to stop hurting myself for this. I realize now that I was very fearful of everything , my parents and what they thought, the person I was with, and most of all of myself. I didn't trust myself enough to think that I could handle being a parent. I realize now that I have made a huge mistake. A mistake that has cost me all the happiness in the world. I realize now that I can't change what I did, but I can definelty learn from it. I know now that I should always listen to my inner voice carefully allow my soul to take good care of me. I finally hear the voice shouting you did it!!! You allowed yourself to let go of all the pain that you have been harbouring in your heart.

I hope I do not offend anyone but I just needed to let go and what better way than to tell everyone..........

Thanks to this book, I can finally BREATH..........