Women's Nook
Three simple words: Eat Pray Love
Why do they resonate with women?
Just gently saying each word hits a soft spot in me and I suspect you too - a little like a morning mantra. We are wired to nurture these needs, not only in ourselves but everybody in our sphere of care.
And what about the subtitle ‘one woman’s search for everything?’ What a teaser. Does Elizabeth find it? If she does, well then; I need to know. Of course I’ll be a little jealous if she does but on the other hand, if it means I can stop looking and simply go to Rome, an ashram in India and Bali…
Hang on a minute - I know I’m not alone in wanting what she’s having but how will this be possible?
If you could maintain sustenance in food, spirituality and love, and in gratifying amounts, would you be content? Would you say they are of equal importance? Would they be everything? Elizabeth identifies her dilemma as ‘the heartbreaking inability to sustain contentment’.
Eating should be the least of our concerns, given how lucky we are with availability of food, but we seem to be fraught with anxieties over so many things about it that we have lost focus on the simple pleasures of eating, with all our senses.
After going to the Happiness and its Causes Conference in Sydney this year, along with 2000 other women and 10 men (a slight exaggeration) I would hazard a guess that the supply of spirituality is not as easy to come by as food. We know intrinsically that we need it, but where to get it?
Love …
well what can one say, other than we know when we don’t have it and probably take it for granted when we do.
Elizabeth approaches the very real issues in her life with a great deal of truth, humility and humour. Her circumstances are different to ours but the yearning for ‘everything’ is universal. We connect. We know it’s ‘not some spazzy free-for-all’ but a journey most of us try to travel every day. We’d love a happy ending for Elizabeth, and one for ourselves in the process.
Elizabeth’s quest is enticing but oh so frustrating because she manages to do it in exotic locations. To be fair, she exposes some very raw emotional moments that validate her journey. Still, she has what I call ‘a great escape’. We can’t run away to the bedroom, cubby house, tree or friend’s home like we did as children when things got a bit rough, let alone Italy, India and Bali, but Elizabeth does.
The fantasy of going somewhere else, being someone else, other than the one trapped where you are, is very powerful. It’s simply not that easy for us to get out of context, where all the habits, boundaries, frustrations and expectations can be left behind - even for just a little bit, while we search for ‘everything’. Elizabeth converts this fantasy into a reality.
Elizabeth’s self-deprecating humour is what makes it real for me. In contrast, it reminded me of a much more serious book, Ladder of Years by Anne Tyler. Have you read it? it’s about a woman who went for a walk along a beach and left her old life behind by never returning home? Quite a drastic step I know. Few are so bold but the concept is sometimes very appealing. There are just different ways of going about it.
Eat Pray Love is Elizabeth’s way. She does however leave some breadcrumbs that we can follow. Her contribution to the women’s network is; ’this solid truth…I was not rescued. I was the administrator of my own rescue.’ Elizabeth did find her everything, within herself, by telling the truth, to herself, to those around her and to the world. She did return home. There were costs involved. Are we prepared to do that? Her words of advice? ‘Grow. Change. Evolve‘
In I Feel Bad about my Neck, Nora Ephrom asks, ‘why write fiction when real life never lets you down?’ Eat Pray Love supports this observation. This is a great read. Pass it on.
PS. I do intend to visit the gelato bar in Rome and have what Elizabeth had. In the meantime I’ll make some of my own Gelato di Crema. Why don’t you?
Below are some links you might find interesting:
www.elizabethgilbert.com - Elizabeth’s simple site is great. She answers questions about the book and her section, ‘Thoughts on Writing’, is good too.
www.nytimes.com - this review of Eat Pray Love by Jennifer Egan is thought provoking
www.happinessanditscauses.com.au - the programme for 2009 is up on the site. It looks fantastic.
Buy these books here:
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