#eatpraylove

Okay, this is a post that I've taken deliberate time to draft. I've recently finish reading Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. It took me ages to finally complete this book, as it is the kinda book that needs to be read in small doses. There's a lot of details and feelings to be processed and needs mulling over in order for one to get this book properly. And it puts life into perspective and gave me so much to think about. So here, I just want to copy and record some of the quotes from the book, so that I would not forget.

My feelings for this book has its ups and downs. It took me a long time to get through the first one third of the book. As the first part of the book, the author describes about her complications and depressions after going through a divorce. There's a lot of frustrations, and it shows that how her sad feelings keep boiling over even though she has tried very hard to get over it (by going all the way to Italy to live and travel). I really disliked it and was thinking, why couldn't she get over with it after all this time? What is she doing wrong? Why does she end up brooding?

Well, that is something I want to avoid and rid of- brooding, overthinking. And after reading the first part, I was seriously thinking, am I one day going to face some shit in life and feel that amount of depression? Would I be able to handle it or would I just give in to brooding and suffer for the rest of my life?? Well, gratefully, the second and third part of the book- Pray and Love gave me lots of perspective and answers. And these quotes are from some of my favourite lines in the book:

1. The task at hand in Yoga is to find union- between mind and body, between the individual and her God, between our thoughts and the source of thoughts.

2. We're miserable because we think that we are mere individuals, alone with our fears and flaws and resentments and mortality. We wrongly believe that our limited little egos constitute our whole entire nature. We have failed to recognize our deeper divine character.

3. You are, after all, what you think. Your emotions are the slaves to your thoughts, and you are the slave to your emotions.

4. That's just your ego, trying to make sure it stays in charge. This is what your ego does. It keeps you feeling separate, keeps you with a sense of duality, tries to convince you that you're flawed and broken and alone instead of whole.

5. Instead of trying to forcefully take thoughts out of your mind, give your mind something better to play with. Something healthier. Like what? Like love, like pure divine love.

6. The resting place of the mind is the heart.

7. We gallop through our lives like circus performances balancing on two speeding side-by-side horses- on foot is on the horse called 'fate', the other on the horse called 'free will'. And the question you have to ask every day is, Which horse is which? Which horse do I need to stop worrying bout because it's not under my control, and which do I need to steer with concentrated effort?

8. I can choose my thoughts. Admit to the existence of negative thoughts, understanding where  they came from and why they arrived, and then- with great forgiveness and fortitude- dismiss them.

9. Happiness is a consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings.

10. Clearing out all your misery gets you out of the way. You cease being an obstacle, not only to yourself but to everyone else. Only then are you free to serve and enjoy other people.