inspired

I have always been a big reader. When I first got an allowance I spent most of my big bucks on books (buying tapes quickly became their biggest competitor for my funds). I have primarily enjoyed fiction, but in the past year, I have had a yearning to read about real life stuff, like books about faith, loss etc. I have read some really good stuff that has really resonated with what I believe about God but also helped me to broaden my views and think about things that I haven't necessarily thought about much before. A few books have helped me to realize that things I have gone through are common in this world, and that God is there even when I don't feel a holy presence as I would like, and that it is possible to make it through despair into hope and happiness.

I bring this up because I am currently reading a book that is so incredibly inspiring to me, that I am tempted to say it could be life-changing. (gasp) That sounds a bit sensational, but I think it's true. This book I am reading is Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. A friend recommended this to me this past summer, when I was still in the throes of grief over an ended relationship (yes, that's dramatic to say, but it sure felt that way). This book is about a woman who travels to Italy, India, and Indonesia over the course of a year after her marriage and then another relationship fall apart. She explores herself and spirituality on her journey. Her situation is not one that I can completely relate to, but there are aspects that are definitely familiar to me. For example, one thing she realized about herself in relation to the man she fell in love with after she left her husband was that she was like a cross between a golden retriever and barnacle. Oh my, I can see those tendencies in myself at times too.

I should maybe have waited to write my little review of this book until I actually finished reading it, but the parts about Italy and India were amazing. The time she spent in India was dedicated to seeking God and achieving a greater spiritual experience, and not being a religious person prior to that, she had some very holy encounters that changed her life because she went into it ready to meet God and to had the discipline to really work to achieve that.

Like I stated earlier, I feel like this book could even be life-changing for me. Maybe I am just saying that because I am so into the book right now, but I really do hope that I can actually
apply some lessons the writer learned to my own life. I certainly don't have the financial means that she had to be able to just go off across the world for a year. I am going to Hong Kong for 2 weeks next month. Does that count? Well, I definitely want to keep thinking about how my own experiences and the inspiration of others can help form me more into the person I want to become and to help me to continue to heal and to learn about myself and God. I'll write more about Eat Pray Love when I finish reading it.