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c743558
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Soon you start craving that intense attention with the hungry obsession of any junkie. When the drug is withheld you probably turn sick, crazy and depleted not to mention resentful of the dealer who encourage this addiction in the first place but who now refuses to pony up the good stuff anymore despite that you know that he has it hidden somewhere God dammit because you know that he used to give it to you for free.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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767d5ee
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The Silly Putty-like malleability of the institution [marriage], in fact, is the only reason we still have the thing at all. Very few people... would accept marriage on it's thirteenth-century terms. Marriage survives, in other words, precisely because it evolves. (Though I suppose this would not be a very persuasive argument to those who probably also don't believe in evolution).
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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d088c3b
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The Hopi Indians thought that the world's religions each contained one spiritual thread, and that these threads are always seeking each other, wanting to join. When all the threads are finally woven together they will form a rope that will pull us out of this dark cycle of history and into the next realm.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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4535975
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When the dust has settled years later, we might ask ourselves, "What was I thinking?" and the answer is usually: You weren't. Psychologists call that state of deluded madness "narcissistic love." I call it "my twenties."
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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de9cd78
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So when modern-day religious conservatives wax nostalgic about how marriage is a sacred tradition that reaches back into history for thousands of uninterrupted years, they are correct, but in only one respect - only if they happen to be talking about Judaism. Christianity simply does not share that deep and consistent historical reverence toward matrimony. Lately it has, yes- but not originally. For the first thousand or so years of Christi..
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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55e5d85
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it sometimes takes you a while to realize that you ARE lost. For the longest time, you can convince yourself that you've just wandered a few feet off the path, that you'll find your way back to the trailhead any moment now. Then night falls again and again, and you still have no idea where you are, and it's time to admit you have bewildered yourself so far off the path that you don't even know from which direction the sun rises anymore.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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6434a83
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only those who live in the wilderness can recognize the central truth of existence, which is that death lives right beside us at all times, as close and as relevant as life itself, and that this reality is nothing to fear but is a sacred truth to be praised.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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634e121
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He and I had been talking about jazz (which is to say that he had been talking about jazz, and I had been listening to him talk about jazz, because that is how you talk to a man about jazz)...
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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db48167
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the clock is ticking, and the world is spinning, and we simply do not have time anymore to think so small.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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994b549
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You can recognize the people who live for others by the haunted look on the faces of the others.")"
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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eab0ff5
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Anyway, at some point in a woman's life, she just gets tired of being ashamed all the time. After that, she is free to become whoever she truly is.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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ac05620
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I believe we are all transient," she began. She thought for awhile and added, "I believe that we are half-blind and full of errors. I believe that we understand very little, and what we do understand is mostly wrong. I believe that life cannot be survived - that is evident! - but if one is lucky, life can be endured for quite a long while. If one is both lucky and stubborn, life can sometimes even be enjoyed."
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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269b82d
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kntu 'wdu ldhhb l~ Sqly@ bsbb mqlh Gwth :"mn dwn rw'y@ Sqly@ , l ymkn llmr 'n ykwn fkr@ wDH@ `n yTly "."
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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bc1817e
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I happen to believe we are all walking repositories of buried treasure.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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8f0d876
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I've had to keep defining and defending myself as a writer every single day of my adult life -- constantly reminding and re-reminding my soul and the cosmos that I'm very serious about the business of creative living, and that I will never stop creating, no matter what the outcome, and no matter how deep my anxieties and insecurities may be.
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writing
creative-process
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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232493f
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We must understand the need for perfectionism is a corrosive waste of time, because nothing is ever beyond criticism. No matter how many hours you spend to render something flawless, somebody will always be able to find fault with it.
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perfectionism
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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b4d08d6
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The Yogic path is about disentangling the built-in glitches of the human condition, which I'm going to over-simply define here as the heartbreaking inability to sustain contentment. Different schools of thought over the centuries have found different explanation for man's apparently inherently flawed state. Taoists call it imbalance, Buddism calls it ignorance, Islam blames our misery on rebellion against God, and the Judeo-Christian tradit..
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philosophy
epictetus
yogic-path
eat-pray-love
elizabeth-gilbert
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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66a757c
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People will tell you not to waste your youth having too much fun, but they're wrong. Youth is an irreplaceable treasure, and the only respectable thing to do with irreplaceable treasure is to waste it. So do the right thing with your youth, Vivian--squander it.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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d595295
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You want to write a book? Make a song? Direct a movie? Decorate pottery? Learn a dance? Explore a new land? You want to draw a penis on your wall? Do it. Who cares? It's your birthright as a human being, so do it with a cheerful heart. (I mean, take it seriously, sure--but don't take it seriously.) Let inspiration lead you wherever it wants to lead you.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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dce6597
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I tried so hard to fight the endless sobbing. I remember asking myself one night, while I was curled up in the same old corner of my same old couch in tears yet again over the same old repetition of sorrowful thoughts, "Is there anything about this scene you can change, Liz?" And all I could think to do was stand up, while still sobbing, and try to balance on one foot in the middle of my living room. Just to prove that - while I couldn't st..
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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2721875
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I'm choosing happiness over suffering.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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505a76d
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Oh, cold world -- I have grown so weary of you and all your horrible bathrooms.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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9e8e275
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the patron god of children born on Thursdays is Shiva the Destroyer, and that the day has two guiding animal spirits--the lion and the tiger. The official tree of children born on Thursday is the banyan. The official bird is the peacock. A person born on Thursday is always talking first, interrupting everyone else, can be a little aggressive, tends to be handsome ("a playboy or playgirl," in Ketut's words) but has a decent overall character..
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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b1b8d32
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Your tears are my prayers.
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love
inspirational
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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7d882a8
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This is the singular fantasy of human intimacy: that one plus one will somehow, someday, equal one.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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f8220b5
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Addiction is the hallmark of every infatuation-based love story.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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73248f9
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The little fishing boat anchors right off the shore of Gili Meno. There are no docks here on this island. You have to roll up your pants, jump off the boat and wade in through the surf on your own power. There's absolutely no way to do this without getting soaking wet or even banged up on the coral, but it's worth all the trouble because the beach here is so beautiful, so special
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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831e8d1
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My hypersensitive awareness of time's speed led me to push myself to experience life at a maximum pace. If I were going to have such a short visit on earth, I had to do everything possible to experience it now.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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5f4675e
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What profound reward you must glean from studying the world so closely....Too many people turn away from small wonders, I find. There is so much more potency to be found in detail than generalities, but most souls cannot train themselves to sit still for it.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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0b17a87
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But we are not what the other one needs, still he is certain that I will find great love in my life someday. He is sure of it. After all, he says, beauty attracts beauty.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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8cb66e5
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qla shwn :"'by lt'ml Drwry lt`lm lskyn@ , bmknh f`lan 'n ynqdh Hytk , fhw y`lmk kyfa tuskn `qlk ". fltft lyhi wldh blTf qy'lan :"wlkn `qly skn 'ssan ybuny "
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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7d22fed
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Psychologists suggest that we must reach back at least three generations to look for clues whenever we begin untangling the emotional legacy of any one family's history.
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memoir
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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c8d7f82
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As Joan Didion said, "I don't know what I think until I write about it.")"
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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I even have a welcoming speech prepared for fear, which I deliver right before embarking upon any new project or big adventure. It goes something like this: "Dearest Fear: Creativity and I are about to go on a road trip together. I understand you'll be joining us, because you always do. I acknowledge that you believe you have an important job to do in my life, and that you take your job seriously. Apparently your job is to induce complete p..
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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c744233
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After a certain age, time just drizzles down upon your head like rain in the month of March: you're always surprised at how much of it can accumulate, and how fast.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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If you're alive, you're a creative person. You and I and everyone you know are descended from tens of thousands of years of makers. Decorators, tinkerers, storytellers, dancers, explorers, fiddlers, drummers, builders, growers, problem-solvers, and embellishers--these are our common ancestors. The guardians of high culture will try to convince you that the arts belong only to a chosen few, but they are wrong and they are also annoying. We a..
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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Liz: What's it like in hell? Ketut: Same like heaven. Universe is a circle, Liss. To up, to down -- all same, at end. Liz: Then how can you tell the difference between heaven and hell? Ketut: Because of how you go. Heaven, you go up, through seven happy places. Hell you go down, through seven sad places. This is why it better for you to go up, Liss. Liz: You mean, you might as well spend your life going upward, through the happy places, sin..
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heaven
sad
hell
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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1f52e6f
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The less you indulge yourself now, the more you can indulge yourself in the future, when you have made your fortune.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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5a80a46
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The Yogic path is about disentangling the built-in glitches of the human condition, which I'm going to over-simply define here as the heartbreaking inability to sustain contentment.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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26fe738
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Clever, ambitious, and always in search of greater efficiency, we Americans have, in two short centuries, created a world of push button, round the clock comfort for ourselves. The basic needs of humanity - food, clothing, shelter, entertainment, transportation, and even sexual pleasure - no longer need to be personally laboured for or ritualised or even understood. All these things are available to us now for mere cash. Or credit. Which me..
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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aee6170
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I have never felt the need to invent a world beyond this world, for this world has always seemed large and beautiful enough for me. I have wondered why it is not large and beautiful enough for others.
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nature
world
spiritual
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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cd0a114
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I have never learned how to arrange my face into that blank expression of competent invisibility that is so useful when traveling in dangerous, foreign places. You know--that super-relaxed, totally-in-charge expression which makes you look like you belong there, anywhere, everywhere, even in the middle of a riot in Jakarta. Oh, no. When I don't know what I'm doing, I look like I don't know what I'm doing. When I'm excited or nervous, I look..
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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29314cf
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With all respect to the Buddha and to the early Christian celibates, I sometimes wonder if all this teaching about nonattachment and the spiritual importance of monastic solitude might be denying us something quite vital. Maybe all that renunciation of intimacy denies us the opportunity to ever experience that very earthbound, domesticated, dirt-under-the-fingernails gift of the difficult, long-term, daily forgiveness {...} Maybe creating a..
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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3f18e6f
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If I - as a beneficiary of that exact formula - will concede that my own life was indeed enriched by that precise familial structure, will the social conservatives please (for once!) concede that this arrangement has always put a disproportionately cumbersome burden on women? Such a system demands that mothers become selfless to the point of near invisibility in order to construct these exemplary encironments for their families. And might t..
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sacrifice
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Elizabeth Gilbert |