Tonight’s concluding message! :) Liz

THERE’S A HOLE IN MY SIDEWALK… Dear Wonderfuls — Several of you yesterda…

THERE'S A HOLE IN MY SIDEWALK…

Dear Wonderfuls —

Several of you yesterday, after reading my BEWARE OF FALLING COCONUTS post, alerted me to this terrific poem by Portia Nelson (which she also calls "An Autobiography in Five Short Chapters.") I loved it (and identified with it) and wanted to share:

Chapter One —

I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk .
I fall in.
I am lost…I am helpless.
It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

Chapter Two —

I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend that I don't see it.
I fall in again.
I can't believe I'm in this same place.
But it isn't my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

Chapter Three —

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in…it's a habit…but my eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.

Chapter Four —

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

Chapter Five —

I walk down another street.

– by Portia Nelson.

Have a good (and safe, and wise) Saturday everyone!

Liz

via Elizabeth Gilbert’s Facebook Wall

Tonight’s concluding message! :) Liz

Thought of the Day: BEWARE OF FALLING COCONUTS! Dear Ones — A story for yo…

Thought of the Day: BEWARE OF FALLING COCONUTS!

Dear Ones —

A story for you this fine morning: Once upon a time there was a wise and beloved Guru who lived in India, with a beautiful ashram and many passionate devotees. One of his students, though, always had terrible luck. In fact, this poor man had a coconut fall out of a palm tree and land on his head not once, but TWICE. The first time it happened, the Guru was sympathetic. But the second time it happened, the Guru kicked the guy out of the Ashram, with these words: "You are welcome to come back here and be my student again someday…but only when you are fully committed to stop being a person who always has coconuts fall on his head!"

The first time I heard this story (in India) it made me laugh, but it also shocked me. At first glance, this hardly seems like a compassionate response to a fellow human's suffering! I mean, the falling coconuts were just an accident, right? Hardly the poor man's fault! It could happen to anyone!

On the other hand, as I thought about it further, don't we all know people who constantly seem to have have coconuts falling on their heads? Yes, it could happen to anyone, but doesn't it sometimes seem like it always happens to…that guy?

And haven't we all — at some point in our lives — even BEEN that guy? The poor fool who always has coconuts falling on his head? Again and again?

(I have. I've been that guy. So to speak. And then I would go stand under the SAME DAMN TREE again and again — and let it happen again and again. Always with the same terrible outcome. Until I finally learned to, you know, maybe sleep under pine trees for a while, instead. So to speak.)

And at some point, isn't there a moment of total self-accountability and complete ownership of your own life, wherein you decide, "Maybe it's time for me to figure out why it's ALWAYS THE SAME COCONUTS falling on my head, time after time"?

And isn't that moment of self-recogntion and self-accountability the beginning of adulthood? Isn't that the beginning of getting it together? Isn't that beginning of figuring it out, of breaking your own doofus-y patterns, of learning how to not be your own worst enemy, of learning how to get out of your own way — the beginning of all good things?

So what is your coconut? That's really my question today. What keeps dropping on your head (time after time!) that you keep blaming on fate, or bad luck, or persecution, or injustice, or lousy karma, or poorly-managed palm trees? What if you stopped blaming and made a change?

If somebody told you: "You are welcome to return to a wonderful life — but only once you stop having coconuts fall on your head all the time"…how would you fix it? What would you change? Who would you turn to for help? What would you turn INTO?

Discuss!

Big love, from one crazy monkey to all the others —

Liz

via Elizabeth Gilbert’s Facebook Wall

GET THEE TO SCOTLAND! Dear Friends — Here is an offer both wonderful and whi…

GET THEE TO SCOTLAND!

Dear Friends —

Here is an offer both wonderful and whimsical…

On the weekend of August 24 and 25, the staff of the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh will be hiding several early copies of my new novel "The Signature of All Things" throughout the grounds of the gardens.

It's such a sweet idea — to put copies of this book (which celebrates 18th and 19th century botanical exploration, and which includes in its cast a Scottish botanist) — into the paths of true plant-lovers.

So if you can get yourself to the Edinburg Botanic Gardens that weekend and poke around the joint a bit (hardly an arduous task in such a gorgeous place) you might very well find one of the books! (A bit of botanical exploration in its own right, eh?)

Each book will have a bookmark sticking out of its pages which says at the top: READ ME. That's how you will know it's for you. And then you can take the novel home for free. And then you can read it. And hopefully you will enjoy it. For that is the point, after all.

Meanwhile, for those of you who don't happen to live in or near Scotland, a small hint…expect to see this playful idea repeated in botanical gardens across the world over the next months! Ha-ha! The magical elves of botany and literature are at work! Stay tuned for future clues, but for now…Edinburgh is first.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN.

https://www.rbge.org.uk/whats-on/event-details/3095

Happy hunting,
Liz

Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh – Event details
www.rbge.org.uk
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) is a world-renowned scientific centre for the study of plants, their diversity and conservation.

via Elizabeth Gilbert’s Facebook Wall