Elizabeth Gilbert's Blog, page 11

ROCK ON WITH YOUR BAD SELVES!

Heart,
LG

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How about it, Dear Ones?

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Love,
LG

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HAPPY THANKSGIVING, DEAR ONES!

Here is your little Italian lesson for the day:

SONO GRATA = I AM GRATEFUL

(Unless you are a boy, of course, in which case it is: SONO GRATO)

Maybe we should all learn how to say I AM GRATEFUL, in all the languages we can? Right? Because isn't that the sum of all human grace — to begin and end by merely giving thanks? How wonderful it would be to be universally fluent in thankfulness all over the world!

So here's an idea:

You guys are clever and global. Whatever languages you all happen to speak, please teach the rest of us today how to say: I AM GRATEFUL in your chosen language.

And if you really want to go crazy, post a selfie here of you holding up a sign saying: I AM GRATEFUL in any language you like — just as I have done. (As you can see from my photo, bed-head and morning-face are totally acceptable on this page.)

I think that would be awesome!

Today I give extra thanks to you all for being part of my life — you beautiful souls, you.

SONO GRATA A TUTTI VOI = I am grateful for all of you.

Love,
LG

ps — I hope you remembered to thaw out the turkey…

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ANOTHER beautiful piece of art from Tracy, a good friend of this page, who always seems to brighten up the joint nicely…

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BE CAREFUL OF YOUR FAMILIES!

Dear Ones -

It's the holidays.

It's most wonderful time of the year!

Or, depending on your personal family history, perhaps it's the most painful, stressful, traumatic, and emotionally draining time of the year! (What a nice Christmas carol that would make.)

We're all adults here, so let's lay out some basics truths:

Not every family is happy, healthy, or sane.

Not every family is even SAFE.

And even in very loving families, not every individual in that family is happy, healthy, sane, or safe.

You may have done enormous personal work on yourself during the course of your life. You may have evolved into a graceful, peaceful, compassionate, well-adjusted, loving human being….and yet you still may find —when you go home for the holidays, or when your relatives come to visit you — that suddenly it is totally impossible even for YOU to remain happy, healthy, or sane.

HOOOOORAY!

Good times.

I want to ask you all to go super easy on yourselves this year.

LOTS of patience and self-compassion, OK?

Try to let go of expectations of how things should be — or how things should've been when you were growing up — and live open-heartedly within the reality of life as it actually is.

If you have a wonderful and healthy family, just relax and enjoy every minute of them.

If you have a wonderful but bananas family, try not to let them make you overly bananas, too.

If your family is far from wonderful and totally insane, try to sit back and watch it all unfold from a slight psychological distance. Observe their madness, observe your own reactions to their madness, and just breathe through it. (I have a psychologist friend who advises her patients from really dysfunctional families to "watch your family as if you're an anthropologist. Pretend you're a stranger who's been hired to study this odd tribe of war-like people…but do not get involved in their battles.")

Don't forget to breathe.

Don't forget not to talk about politics.

Don't forget that — no matter how pretty everyone looks in their holiday photos — no family is perfect…so it's not just you who might be feeling a little extra crazy.

If you find that you are reverting back to a less-than-highly-evolved version of yourself, or getting caught up old family dramas all over again, or totally losing your shit…don't worry about it: IT HAPPENS.

And if you don't even spend holidays with your family at all because you've made a decision that you will not expose yourself to such deep toxicity anymore, GOOD FOR YOU. Again, we are all adults here, so let's tell the truth: Sometimes that's what has to happen. There is no shame in it. That's just you taking care of yourself, however you need to take care of yourself — and that's nobody's business but your own.

Most of all, hold onto your compassion through everything. Keep your sense of humor if you can. And remember that — however you choose deal with them — those crazy, beautiful, maddening, dangerous, outrageous people are some of the most powerful spiritual teachers of your life.

Here's a little video of me talking about this very subject:

http://huff.to/1HFI9Eu

HAPPY HOLIDAYS, DEAR FRIENDS!

ONWARD,
LG

Remember This When Your Family Pushes Your Buttons This Holiday
http://ift.tt/hFWySe
They may get under our skin, but best-selling author Elizabeth Gilbert says there are some things that only family can teach us. "I had a great teacher in India who said to me, 'If you think you're spiritual and evolved and enlightened, go h…

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SEE YOU IN FEBRUARY, AUSTRALIA!!! (I'll be in Perth, Byron Bay, Sydney and Melbourne…details to come!)

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Can't wait to see you in Perth, 2015!! Front row! Yeah!!!

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THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS finds its way to Nepal…a very intrepid book-buyer, indeed!

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FOUND IT! It's taken me the better part of a year, but I finally, FINALLY found it. I was so happy I took a photo of the Nepali shopkeeper who has so wisely stocked her shelves. Made my day. — at Mahendrapool Pokhara.

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On this day when I am thinking especially much about prayer, I found this very beautiful:

http://bit.ly/1CbWhoA

Do Scientists Pray? Einstein Answers a Little Girl’s Question about Science vs. Religion
http://ift.tt/eix1n1
"Everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that some spirit is manifest in the laws of the universe, on

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Dear Ones -

I lost a lot of sleep last night because of the events in Ferguson.

Today seems like a day for prayer — prayers for the angry, prayers for the confused, prayers for the suffering, prayers for any community or individual riven by distrust and sorrow.

Prayers of revelation and liberation.

We need a higher consciousness. All of us do.

I know that I do.

Will you thread your prayers together with mine?

It's simple: Prayers today for all who suffer, no matter who they are.

Prayers for everyone, no matter what.

Blessings and grace,
LG

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Read this book: BROTHER OF THE MORE FAMOUS JACK

Dear Ones -

Do you see this book? Do you see that I am holding five copies of it? That's because I'm giving it away to all my friends right now, because it's so awesome. (Actually, I had even MORE copies, but I already started giving them away.)

BROTHER OF THE MORE FAMOUS JACK was originally published in 1982, but this gorgeous new edition is just now being printed here in these United States. I am in love with this novel. It's a very British, super intelligent, and very sexy sort of coming-of-age drama about a brilliant young woman and the charismatic family she falls in love with.

I want everyone to read it. That's why, on the front cover, it says: "I won't rest until everyone in America has read (and fallen in love with) this fabulous author." My quote! Because I seriously mean it!

You know who else loves this book? Maria Semple (she of the terrific novel "Where'd You Go, Bernadette?") and my dear friend Ann Patchett (she of "Bel Canto" and other wonderful books.)

We have a fan club about Barbara Trapido, the fabulous author of this fabulous book. We want everyone to know about her.

As I used to say when I was a ten year-old writing book reports for school: "If you like good books, you will like this book."

That is all,

ONWARD,
LG

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