YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW STRONG MY LOVE IS!!!!!!!!!

It has been hard for Liz getting in touch with her soul and her body at the same time. More than hard, it was impossible. But then, she decided to give it a try, and thought about a kind word: compassion.  This is when she learned to accept that she was not a failure, she was just a human being, neither perfect nor too imperfect.

I really enjoyed this part of the book, because it is like something we should sometimes think about. We are always judging ourselves ( in a very rude way) even when we know how hard things have been. I understand that we all want to be better to deserve the best. But it is not that easy. If we do not enjoyed the road to ¨perfection¨ we will never be able to be better, because at the end, we people do not learn from the final goal or achievement, people learn from the road that take us to that goal!!

So finally our dear friend Liz learned to feel compassion about her own person. This was good. This was great! Because… because… she finally could concentrated and she began to meditate on (and with) God.

There always going to be a moment, a period of our time, where everything is a chaos. When we believe that we have failed. That we do not worth anything. But we need to find the strength to keep going, keep fighting. Only if we survive to this chaotic period of our life, we will feel compassion to ourselves and therefore, we will see how much we worth. That making mistakes is the most simple and common thing in life, and that we all deserve to make these mistakes in order to learn, forgive and succeed.

The expression mentioned in the title is a phrase Liz used to herself in order to feel compassion and to meditate. I really like it, because when we are not in a good moment in our lives, all we feel is anxiety, anger, solitude, sadness, despair, etc. But LOVE is always in us, it does not make itself feel at those moments (we need to learn to deal with bad feelings too) but it is always there, and will always be there. Even the meanest person in the world loves someone or something. Because at the end, love is as essential as the air.

I will finish with a quote from this book. I think that it is a new great perspective about life.

¨There are only two questions that human beings have ever fought over, all through history: How much you love me? And who is in charge?¨

P.S: I noticed that there are some people who have viewed my blog. PLEASE forgive me for the spelling mistakes, lack of syntax, etc, etc, etc! I love writing but I hate reading what I write, so I do not check my work. Seriously, sorry!

Meditating in India

Our friend Liz left Italy and moved to India. By this time she was feeling much better. She learned a lot of things from her stay in Italy. Loneliness is just a silent friend that reminds you that you are never alone, you have yourself.

Yoga, in Sanskrit, can be translated as ¨union¨. In Yoga you need to find a union between mind and body. Yoga can also mean trying to find God through meditation. Yoga, for people who do not believe in God or are not his fan, means to find the peace within ourselves and the environment.

Even when Liz felt much better, she could not find peace in Yoga or meditation. It actually hurts her (physically and mentally). Being seated for hours, in silent…. No … it was not working for her. Even when she did a great effort to make it right, it did not work! She could not find her peace, she could not concentrate. Her mind was getting bored, angry, depressed, anxious or all of the above every time she was ¨meditating¨.

Her real problem was that she was always thinking about the past and the future. Not enjoying the present. Can you relate with this? Of course you do. Because we tend to worry way too much about everything. We think about the past with nostalgia thinking about everything we did wrong. And we think about the future, and probably about how hard it will get. And when we actually realized that we are living a present, it is because we do have so many problems that it is impossible not to think about these problems at this moment.

She worked really really hard on concentrating, but it was impossible. She gave up. She cried and cried. She hated herself for not being able to make it right. How can it be possible that she wanted this so much but she was failing? It was so unfair. Does this sound familiar to you? Want to do something good and at the end you fail? Yes, right? This hurts more than anything because, come on!, you are working hard but you cannot see the reward of your effort. And in moments like this, all your mistakes, all the bad moments you have lived come back to haunt you.

Liz will need to focus; she will need to learn to accept her past and her future. But more important, to embrace her present. It is completely understandable that after all she went through, is harder for her mind to keep quiet and enjoy silence. She (her mind) has been always wondering around, questioning everything. Trying to take it easy wouldn´t be that easy!.

She is having a new chance, which is to live in a sacred place called India. Meditate, focus and learn about her mind, soul and body. Concentrate and find peace. That is exactly what she needs.

Sometimes we live in a total chaos, where we create this chaos. When we have a moment to relax and breathe, we tend to start thinking about everything (most negative things) and we lose that sacred moment of silence, reconciliation and peace. We need to breathe more and worry less. 

¨Sometimes I wonder what I am doing here, I admit it¨ by Elizabeth Gilbert. EAT. PRAY. LOVE

Is that quote known to you?  NO?!  Well, you are a lucky person. YES?! Well, we are two now. Or three, or one hundred, or one million?!
If you have never asked yourself what you are doing (with your life?) at some point of your life, I take my hat off to you. And all I can say is WOW! Even while writing this post I wonder what I am doing. Because I do not do this kind of things, and yes, this is my homework, but still.  Isn´t life crazy? It is! It is so crazy that makes you do things you never thought you would be able to do, or maybe do things you never wanted to do.  Or do things you do not want to do but still you are doing it (not my case with this post, I kind of enjoy this!)

Our lovely friend Liz is still in Italy, eating, meeting people and learning about herself. Yes, loneliness can be a harsh teacher, but still teaches you a lot of things you need to know. She realized that she has come to Rome to look for pleasure, but not sexual pleasure. She actually decided that she does not want sex for a while, or maybe while she is in Italy. Did she feel lonely? Yes, she did. Did she miss being kiss? Yes, she did. Did she miss feeling love? Yes, she did. But this is what she thought to herself when she feels lonely:  So be lonely, Liz. Learn your way around loneliness. Make a map of it. Sit with it, for once in your life. Welcome to the human experience. But never again use another person´s body or emotions as a scratching post for your own unfulfilled yearnings. 
And to be honest, I admire her for this. Sometimes (or always), It can be really hard for the human being to be alone. We were made to socialized, to feel appreciated, to feel loved and to love people. But we need to love ourselves before loving other people. Because when you love someone else more than you love yourself, is when your world becomes the other person world, and then, that person becomes your world. Then that person leaves, and you do not have a world anymore. You are already lost.

Elizabeth was already divorced, but she felt wrong about everything. She always wanted a love story, and when she met David, she knew that she wanted her love story to be with him. But there were divorced already. No love story for both of them. And that hurts her. So she decided to write an email to David, she needed to say goodbye. Write the happy ending for her love story. It was really painful. The email reported that she was OK, and that she hopes he is OK too. Then she wrote that she thinks they need to put an end to their story, and finishing with: ¨If you want to look for for another partner in your life, of course you have nothing but my blessing¨. Then she signed it with love. It was hard. She realized that what she wanted to read as his reply was something like: Come back! Don´t go! I will change!  Sometimes, life is not that pleasant. She received his reply. He agreed with her, it was time for a closure.  He also informed that he hope she knows how much he loves her, ¨But we are not what the other one needs¨. With this, it was done. They were not a couple anymore, there were not changes they would be a couple, it was done. Oh crap, that hurts!

She was working on her recovery. She received the visit of her sister. She also traveled to Bologna, Florence, Venice, Sicily, Sardinia, Naples and Calabria.

There were only some weeks left in Italy before going to India. So she decided to keep eating, keep practicing her very improved Italian and most important, keep learning about herself.