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I want to have a lasting experience of God," I told him. "Sometimes I feel like I understand the divinity of this world, but then I lose it because I get distracted by my petty desires and fears. I want to be with God all the time. But I don't want to be a monk, or totally give up worldly pleasures. I guess what I want to learn is how to live in this world and enjoy its delights, but also devote myself to God."
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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Namely, that I don't feel comfortable petitioning for specific things from God, because that feels to me like a kind of weakness of faith. I don't like asking, "Will you change this or that thing in my life that's difficult for me?" Because--who knows?--God might want me to be facing that particular challenge for a reason. Instead, I feel more comfortable praying for the courage to face whatever occurs in my life with equanimity, no matter ..
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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Most of my writing life, to be perfectly honest, is not freaky, old-timey, voodoo-style Big Magic. Most of my writing life consists of nothing more than unglamorous, disciplined labor. I sit at my desk and I work like a farmer, and that's how it gets done. Most of it is not like fairy dust in the least.
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writing-life
writing
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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No more verbal tap-dancing for pennies of affirmation.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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My friend Susan suggested that perhaps I should establish a not-for-profit relief organization called "Divorcees Without Borders."
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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Alma wrote in depth about laurel, mimosa, and verbena. She wrote about grapes and camellias, about the myrtle orange, about the cosseting of figs, She published under the name "A. Whittaker." Neither she nor George Hawkes believed that it would much benefit Alma to announce herself in print as female. In the scientific world of the day, there was still a strict division between "botany" (the study of plants by men) and "polite botany" was o..
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botanists
articles
authoress
botany
journal-entries
letters
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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af6df0a
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strange jewels deep within us all, and then stands back to see if we can find them. The hunt to uncover those jewels--that's creative living. The courage to go on that hunt in the first place--that's what separates a mundane existence from a more enchanted one. The often surprising results of that hunt--that's what I call Big Magic.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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Bel far niente
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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But I disappear into the person I love. I am the permeable membrane. If I love you, you can have everything. You can have my time, my devotion, my ass, my money, my family, my dog, my dog's money, my dog's time--everything.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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But for me, to experience life through mere reason is to feel about in the dark for God's face while wearing heavy gloves.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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You are an idealist, which means that you are destined to be disappointed, and perhaps even wounded. You seek a gospel of benevolence and miracle, which leaves no room for the sorrows of existence.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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Hadn't I wanted this? I had actively participated in every moment of the creation of this life. So why didn't I see myself in any of it? The only thing more impossible than staying was leaving. I didn't wanna hurt anybody, I wanted to slip quietly out the back door and not stop running until I reached Greenland. Instead I made a decision: to pray.. you know...like... to God. And it was such a foreign concept to me that I swear I almost bega..
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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such thinking assumes there is a "top"--and that reaching that top (and staying there) is the only motive one has to create. Such thinking assumes that the mysteries of inspiration operate on the same scale that we do--on a limited human scale of success and failure, of winning and losing, of comparison and competition, of commerce and reputation, of units sold and influence wielded. Such thinking assumes that you must be constantly victori..
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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El amor desesperado consiste en inventarse un personaje, exigir a la persona amada que lo represente y hundirnos en la miseria cuando se niega a convertirse en ese ser de ficcion.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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Creative Living, Defined So this, I believe, is the central question upon which all creative living hinges: Do you have the courage to bring forth the treasures that are hidden within you? Look, I don't know what's hidden within you. I have no way of knowing such a thing. You yourself may barely know, although I suspect you've caught glimpses. I don't know your capacities, your aspirations, your longings, your secret talents. But surely som..
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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I climbed the stairs to my apartment, lay down in my new bed and turned off the light. I waited to start crying or worrying,
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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What have I not yet learned about the futility of worry?
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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Oh Krishna, the mind is restless, turbulent, strong and unyielding. I consider it as difficult to subdue as the wind.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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The Yogic sages say that all the pain of a human life is caused by words, as is all the joy.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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To stop talking for a while, then, is to attempt to strip away the power of words, to stop choking ourselves with words, to liberate ourselves from our suffocating mantras.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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that all the sorrow and trouble of this world is caused by unhappy people. Not only in the big global Hitler-'n'-
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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This supreme lesson of karma (and also of Western psychology, by the way)-take care of the problems now, or else you'll just have to suffer again later when you screw everything up the next time.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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Human artistic expression is blessedly, refreshingly nonessential. That's exactly why I love it so much. [...] The fact that I get to spend my life making objectively useless things means [...] I am not exclusively chained to the grind of mere survival. It means we still have space left in our civilization for the luxuries of imagination and beauty and emotion - and even total frivilousness. Pure creativity is magnificent expressly because ..
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be-creative
dare-to-be-pointless
frivilous
frivilousness
making-art
luxury
make-art
create
creativity
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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00032e2
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a fight in the courts would be infinitely more expensive and time-consuming, not to mention soul-corroding.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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My truth is not a condemnation of yours.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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Do you have the courage? Do you have the courage to bring forth this work? The treasures that are hidden inside you are hoping you will say yes. [Author was quoting Jack Gilbert, which he reportedly had said to a student]
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writing
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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And while the paths and outcomes of creative living will vary wildly from person to person, I can guarantee you this: A creative life is an amplified life. It's a bigger life, a happier life, an expanded life, and a hell of a lot more interesting life. Living in this manner--continually and stubbornly bringing forth the jewels that are hidden within you--is a fine art, in and of itself.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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I had chosen a devotional path and I was being true to it. If someday I got lucky enough to be paid for my work, that would be great, but in the meantime, money could always come from other places.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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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 panic whenever I'm about to do anything interesting--and, may I say, you are superb at your job. So by all means, keep doing your job, if you feel you must. Bu..
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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Quit your complaining. It's not the world's fault that you wanted to be an artist. It's not the world's job to enjoy the films you make, and it's certainly not the world's obligation to pay for your dreams. Nobody wants to hear it. Steal a camera if you must, but stop whining and get back to work.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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He was lost in the cult of artistic suffering, but he called that suffering by another name: dedication.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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It doesn't matter in the least. Let people have their opinions. More than that--let people be in love with their opinions, just as you and I are in love with ours. But never delude yourself into believing that you require someone else's blessing (or even their comprehension) in order to make your own creative work. And always remember that people's judgments about you are none of your business. Lastly, remember what W. C. Fields had to say ..
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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Fear is a deeply ancient instinct, in other words, and an evolutionarily vital one... but it ain't especially smart.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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Devotion is diligence without assurance. Faith is a way of saying, "Yes, I pre-accept the terms of the universe and I embrace in advance what I am presently incapable of understanding."
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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I believe that enjoying your work with all your heart is the only truly subversive position left to take as a creative person these days. It's such a gangster move, because hardly anybody ever dares to speak of creative enjoyment aloud, for fear of not being taken seriously as an artist. So say it. Be the weirdo who dares to enjoy. Best of all, though, by saying that you delight in your work, you will draw inspiration near. Inspiration will..
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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Marriage survives... because it evolves.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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Men and women who have lived together over long years get to know one another's failings; but they also come to know what is worthy of respect and admiration in those they live with and in themselves.
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marriage
marriage-advice
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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01d3437
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We all need something that helps us to forget ourselves for a while
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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Her prose was a hammer; Darwin's was a psalm.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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People think a soul mate is your perfect fit, and that's what everyone wants. But a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that's holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life. A true soul mate is probably the most important person you'll ever meet, because they tear down your walls and smack you awake. But to live with a soul mate forever? Nah. Too painful. Soul mates..
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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I think it's a might act of human love to remind somebody that they can accomplish things by themselves, and that the world does not automatically owe them any reward, and that they are not as weak and hobbled as they may believe.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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Nunca discutas sobre Dios. Lo mejor es decir <>. Entonces vas a tu casa y rezas lo que tu quieres. Esta es mi idea para que las personas esten en paz con la religion.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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I say this with all confidence, because I happen to believe we are all walking repositories of buried treasure. I believe this is one of the oldest and most generous tricks the universe plays on us human beings, both for its own amusement and for ours: The universe buries strange jewels deep within us all, and then stands back to see if we can find them. The hunt to uncover those jewels--that's creative living. The courage to go on that hun..
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Elizabeth Gilbert |
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I am speaking more broadly. I'm talking about living a life that is driven more strongly by curiosity than by fear.
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Elizabeth Gilbert |