Reflections on Eat Pray Love

I finally got around to seeing Eat Pray Love and yes I loved it. It really made me sad in some ways.  What woman doesn't want the time and money to be able to truly explore herself.  I thought here Elizabeth was in her thirties when she did this, how lucky was she.  I am so much older and I haven't had the opportunity to truly find out who I am. I couldn't help thinking just when will be my time. Most of us do not have the time or funds or guts to take a journey like this.

Then it came to me that I could find a way to do this without leaving home. I can explore pleasure, spirituality and balance right where I am.  So the first thing I am tackling is the pleasure part.  I went out and got one of these.

I had gone to the grocery store for a pastry since there are no decent bakeries in this town. They were out of almost everything but this apple turnover. I also picked up a bottle of blueberry pomegranate juice. I sat in the car eating every precious bite and enjoyed it to the fullest. There was the flaky crust and the burst of apples and then the juice was so fruity. I felt a little like Elizabeth eating all that wonderful food in Italy. The next day at the Farmers market I saw these.

I enjoyed every delicious bite, the apple was crisp and juicy and the caramel was soft and chewy. Now I decided I could really get in to this pleasurable eating... I thought I would try to eat something this way on most days for a month and see how that feels.

I have been leading myself to a deeper spirituality too. I have added yoga to my life and now attend a Spiritual book group that meets twice a month and a meditation group that meets weekly. So those are beginnings in that area.

I think that I will not focus that much on balance just yet. I need to see where the other focuses will take me. After all in her journey Elizabeth did one after another. Of course this is my journey so I can choose to do it any way I want. Since my word for the year is Bliss I truly can experience that in many forms with this experiment.

So the next time you envy someone's travel or experience realize that you truly can have your own version. If you want to travel you may not be able to go to a certain location but you can immerse yourself in the culture by reading about it, studying its art, by cooking the foods of the region, by learning the language and so much more.