Jane Kerrison

I’m sure that most have you have heard of Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, due to the huge amount of hype that surrounded it when it came out.

Despite all the chatter, I didn’t really feel that I wanted to read this book. The main issue what that I don’t normally read autobiographical or self-help books (which is somewhat ironic considering that I now have a blog where I write about myself, which I offer as a resource to help people… I may have to broaden my reading horizons). The other major obstacle for me was the second word in the title ‘Pray’. I am not a religious person, and I wasn’t sure that I wanted to read a book that followed a somewhat spiritual journey.

So why on earth did I read this book? Well, my mom got it out of the library, and it was sitting on my table yesterday morning. For whatever reason, I picked it up. I started reading out of curiosity and immediately was drawn in by Gilbert’s fantastic and honest writing style. I read all day.

Have you ever read the perfect book at the perfect time? That’s what this book was for me. I was tired and frustrated, and following Liz’s journey towards happiness and balance turned out to be exactly what I needed. It offered me some needed encouragement to simply focus on my heath right now.

No matter what is going on in your life right now, I highly suggest that you read this book. Eat, Pray, Love follows Gilbert’s year long journey across Italy, India and Indonesia in pursuit of pleasure, balance and happiness. Her writing style is honest and captivating. I found that the book was not religious in the way that I had thought – there was a focus on spirituality, but the book is about Gilbert’s personal journey.

One thing this book inspired me to do was to take up meditation. What? I know – if you had told me a year or two ago that I was going to try meditation, I would have laughed out loud. My mind is always running in overdrive, and so the prospect of ever being able to quiet my mind seems somewhat laughable. However, I’ve been doing yoga for three years now, and I think it is time to expand my practice. The physical practice of yoga is only one branch of yoga, and people keep telling me that I will get so much more out of it if I start to work on meditation.

I also need to find a way to deal with this overload of stress and promote better sleep. So I’m going to try. If anyone has any tips, let me know! There is no telling how I will fare, but I sense it will either be a marvellous success or a smashing failure. Let’s find out…