This year I have been in a bookclub that I have very much loved. For February, we read Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, which I enjoyed. Two things to get out of the way first: yes, I very much envy her ability to travel across the world for a season (especially as I have the travel bug right now) and no, I don't agree with her views on spirituality (but more on this later).
But back to the book. If you don't know, the book is memoir of her travels across Italy, India, and Indonesia to (be short) find herself. As a side note (as a side note of my side note, Gilbert takes lots of rabbit trails in her book so I will do what my first graders do and follow the author's style), I think I could come up with a lot of great places to travel if all I need is alliteration: China, Chile, Czech Republic or Sierra Leone, Switzerland, South Korea... but alas, back to the book.
Three things in particular stuck out to me as I read it (this I judged by the three folded pages I made while reading- Eric shudders). Two I will share now, and one I will save and post on shortly.
In her book, Gilbert has a conversation with a friend in Italy where he claims that each city has a word of the street. This is the word that defines the city, and depending on if it also defines you, helps you understand why you do or do not love living in a place. So in other words, this word of the street explains why some people love living in say a small town in the South and others love living in New York City. Examples of street words in the book were: SEX for Rome, POWER for Vatican City, ACHIEVE for NYC, and SUCCEED for L.A. This idea led me to think on two things: What is Denver's word? and What is my word? I'm still not sure on either, so I'm open to opinions. The reason this has me thinking is that I love living in Denver and am pretty sure I could be content to live here for a long time. So what makes it click... hmm.
The second idea was this quote from the author: Generally speaking, though, Americans have an inability to relax into sheer pleasure. Ours is an entertainment-seeking nation, but not necessarily a pleasure-seeking one. This hit me in the face. I feel this is so true- both about me and our society in general. This statement has definitely caused me to try and to take pleasure, or joy, in each moment I'm blessed with, for after all aren't we supposed to glorify God and enjoy HIM forever. I feel like this has particularly been helpful in leading me towards enjoying my time with Eric. Almost four years of marriage keeps us busy and in the hum of life, and it has been good to think about enjoying that time together, whether engaged in separate or the same activities.
I would recommend this book with the caveat that I do not believe all that the author believes is true. And also with the warning, that it will make you want to travel. Ask my excited husband, I'm finally wanting to take that trip to Europe.
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