Elizabeth Gilbert's Blog, page 21

You know how I always say "ONWARD"?

This is what I'm talking about.

LG

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#TBT

MY FAVORITE AGE: 9 years old.

9 years old is the perfect a for a girl, I do believe. It was for this girl, anyway.

After the bewilderment of early childhood was over, before the confusions of puberty began.

Instinctively self-confident.

Immensely excited about pretty much everything.

And ROCKING the Dorothy Hamill haircut.

1978. It was a good year for the color mustard, as well…and for that one lazy eye.

I love my life so much these days, and when I am at my very best these days — my very happiest — I sometimes almost feel like I'm 9 again. No better feeling than that.

What was your favorite age? And why?

LG

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A clip from my upcoming interview (part 2) on Super Soul Sunday…

Thought you all might enjoy my answer!

The full interview will air this Sunday on OWN-TV at 11am (and will LIVESTREAM worldwide on Oprah.com and on the Super Soul Sunday Facebook page!)

See you there!

LG

The Advice Elizabeth Gilbert Would Give Her Younger Self
www.oprah.com
What advice would author Elizabeth Gilbert give her younger self? Her answer may surprise you.

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THE MOST STRANGELY REASSURING ADVICE I EVER RECEIVED.

Long ago, when I was in my desperate and confused 20's, a brilliant, independent, wonderful woman in her 70's gave me this incredible piece of life wisdom.

She said:

"We women spend our 20's and 30's so worried about what everyone is thinking about us. Then we get into our 40's and 50's, and we finally start to be free, because we decide we don't give a damn what anyone thinks of us. But you will not be completely free until your 60's and 70's, when you will finally realize this liberating truth — NOBODY WAS EVER THINKING ABOUT YOU, ANYHOW."

They aren't. They weren't. They never were.

People are just thinking about themselves — all caught up in their own dramas, their own fears, their own regrets and tasks and insecurities and distractions.

"You aren't on anybody's mind," my friend told me. "They don't have room in their minds to be worried about what you're wearing, what you're doing, how you're living…"

While it may seem lonely and horrible at first to imagine that you aren't on anybody's mind, there is also — as my wise older friend told me — a great liberation to be found in this idea.

I wrote down her message in my lucky notebook, and I've kept it nearby forever (along with my plucky, self-confident little fox totem.)

You are free, because everyone is too busy worrying about themselves to worry about you.

Go be who you want to be, then.

Do what you want to do.

Dress how you want to dress.

Love who you want to love.

It's exceeding likely that nobody will even notice.

And that's AWESOME.

ONWARD,
LG

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SUPER SOUL SUNDAY, Part II

Thank you all so much for tuning in to my interview last Sunday with the great and fabulous Oprah Winfrey!

Such beautiful responses, and I am so very grateful!

Tune in this Sunday, for the conclusion to the interview — which will go into more personal detail about love and relationships and failure (ah, failure — my great, loyal teacher!)

Hope you can make it!

OWN-TV 11am EST, Sunday Oct 12.

And for those of you outside of the USA, or who don't have cable, you can watch it LIVESTREAMING on:

http://ift.tt/1jUFnzR<http://ift.tt/1jUFnzR and also on http://ift.tt/18mhN9o

THANKS, ALL!

Lots of love,
LG

Oprah.com
www.oprah.com

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EVERY JOURNEY IS A SPIRITUAL JOURNEY

Dear Ones -

The other day, at in Newark, a lovely woman in the audience asked me how she could go on a spiritual journey, despite the ugliness of the work that she does for a living. She was a divorce lawyer, she explained, and she spent her days interacting with humanity at its worst…and she longed for a more spiritual life, a more spiritual path.

This was interesting to me, because — as I explained to this woman — my own divorce lawyer was one of the most important, life-shaping people I ever met on my own journey. My divorce lawyer probably has no idea what she meant to me, and how much aid and encouragement she gave me during the worst time of my life. My divorce lawyer was an inadvertent angel to me.

I remember one particular moment during my divorce when I was feeling so terrified, so drained, so hopeless. I confessed to my lawyer my darkest fears — that I was losing everything, that I would never recover from this, that I would never thrive again. She just smiled her pragmatic smile and said very simply, "You, Liz, are one person I never worry about. You'll always land on your feet."

Then she went back to looking over her legal papers, never realizing the importance of what she had just said to me. That was, frankly, one of the most important moments of my life — one of the most important affirmations I would ever receive. She had given me back a strand of hope. She had faith in me, and her faith gave me faith in myself. I grabbed onto that statement and held it like a rope over the next horrible year. Her conveyance of simple confidence in me was an act of supreme grace. No spiritual teacher that year helped me more than she did. And she probably has no recollection of it whatsoever. Because she was just "doing her job."

What I'm saying is this — you may be looking for a spiritual journey, but I can assure you that you are already on your spiritual journey. Your spiritual journey is whatever light and grace you bring to WHATEVER YOU DO. Your spiritual journey is the kindness and assistance that you extend to WHOMEVER YOU MEET.

We have this very narrow idea of a spiritual journey as looking like Mother Teresa in Calcutta, or, if I may be honest, EAT PRAY LOVE. But that's too small a way to see things. You don't have to quit your job and move to India to be on your spiritual journey. I was only in India for four months, and I've been on my spiritual journey my whole life. If my spiritual journey was limited to the one part of my existence when I was at an Ashram in India, that would make for a very small, very shallow life.

I'm on my spiritual journey right now. I was on my spiritual journey yesterday at the gas station right here in New Jersey, when I remembered that the gas station attendant is also a child of God, and I made a point of speaking to him with the respect and kindness that this title should earn him. I was on my spiritual journey two days ago, when my husband was cranky and short-tempered and I found my patience and waited it out. My work as a writer is my spiritual journey, but so is the conversation I have with customer service at AT&T. I see this Facebook page as my spiritual journey. I see the way I interact with people at the grocery store as my spiritual journey.

I don't care what you do for a living. If you work at the DMV and you speak to people every day about their vehicle registration problems, then you are touching souls in every moment of that day, whether you realize it or not. You have no idea the potential power of your impact. You will never know what you said once, that might have brought light and grace into someone's life. You have no idea of the legacy you are leaving, everywhere you go.

You want a spiritual journey? Too late. You're already on it!

It's right here, right now.

All you have to do is bring the grace.

ONWARD,
LG

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This week's sightings of THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS! Thank you for the photos, Dear Ones!

THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS AROUND THE WORLD
This week's sightings of THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS! Thank you for the photos, Dear Ones!

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Dear Ones!

In less than an hour (at 1pm EST) I will be taking LIVE questions over at Oprah's Super Soul Sunday Facebook page!

Click here, to ask your questions and hang out with me:

http://on.fb.me/1s3uVM5

ONWARD,
LG

Timeline Photos
Super Soulers, we have a special treat for you today! @[227291194019670:274:Elizabeth Gilbert] will be joining us for a live Q & A in an hour…. right here on the Super Soul Sunday Facebook Page. Swing by then and say hello and ask Elizabeth anything!

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What will you do today, to help you climb another step closer to your soul?

As for me, I'm going to keep working on a book I've been writing about creativity and fear — and I'm going to try to pour all the love and grace into it that I can.

Also, I'm going to write a note to a woman I love and admire, thanking her for cooking me a beautiful dinner last Saturday night.

I will call my mother, because I want her to know that I care about her.

Lastly, I'm going to get some exercise, damn it. No, really, I am! I AM. I really am. I'm going to the gym. Seriously. I mean it. I'm going. I'm not kidding.

(OK, I might not make it to the gym. But the other three things? Yes. I will definitely do those three things. Because they will bring me closer to my soul.)

What will you do today, to help you climb your ladder toward grace?

Share your promises here! And have a happy week!

ONWARD,
LG

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Dear Ones!

Tomorrow (Monday) I will be LIVE on Oprah's Super Soul Sunday Facebook page, at 1pm EST, taking questions from anyone who shows up!

See you there!

LG

Timeline Photos
Have a question for @[227291194019670:274:Elizabeth Gilbert]? She will be LIVE taking your questions tomorrow right here on our facebook page. Hope you will join us!

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