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QUESTION OF THE DAY: What advice would you give to your OLDER self?

Dear Ones –

I got a lovely question the other day from a friend of this page named Nivine, who asked what advice I would give to my older self. (We have already covered on this page such questions as: "What advice would you give to your younger self?" and "What advice would your younger self give to you?")

I thought it was such a cool question, and it immediately made me think of this photo, attached here, which I cut out from a scavenged 1970s-era National Geographic years ago. I've had this photo hung above my desk for a long while now, and my personal caption to it is: "My Retirement Plan."

I love this woman in this picture.

All I know about her (from the old magazine) is that she was from Cornwall, England, and she was a gardener and an amateur stone-mason. (LOOK AT THOSE HANDS!) I love this shot of her, taking a break from outdoor work, in her slippers and sensible stockings, to read a novel in her wheelbarrow.

That's who I would love to be someday, if all goes well.

As to what advice I could offer her? To my future dream self? It seems like hubris for a dumb young fool like me to be offering any advice whatsoever to somebody so wise and cool and serene…but, to attempt to answer the question, I would tell her/me: "Try to keep moving. Don't forget that movement is life, and the happiest moments of your history have been when you are in transit — walking, dancing, flying away somewhere, swimming, puttering, exploring, driving with the radio on. You don't have to move fast, and you don't have to move far, but do keep moving. Movement of any kind is where joy and health are to be found."

Which brings to mind the phrase of the day: "Solvitar Ambulando", an old philosophical notion that translates as, "It is solved by walking." When you're stuck in a crisis, a paradox, a dilemma, an attack of nerves or fear…go for a walk. It will be solved. Whatever it is…it will be solved.

So I would tell my older self to enjoy reading the book in that wheelbarrow, but then to get up again and move some stones around, and dig in the dirt, and sweep the front porch, and — most of all — go for a walk, and ENJOY.

What about all of you? What advice would you give your older selves?

LOVE THESE QUESTIONS,
Liz

via Elizabeth Gilbert’s Facebook Wall

SUMMER!

Photos of Elizabeth Gilbert
Eat Pray Love in Ocean City MD
: )

via Elizabeth Gilbert’s Facebook Wall

AND THE WINNER IS…

LAURA BRISCOE!

Dear friends —

Some of you may know that I've been running a monthly contest through my LizNews email newsletter, to give away an early copy of my new book "The Signature of All Things" once a month until October, when the book comes out.

Each month I ask a simple question through the newsletter, and readers reply. I then choose the answer I like best and send that person a signed copy of my new book. Last month's question ("Who is your favorite heroine of literary history?") led to all of us having to read Jane Eyre!

This month's question ("What was your most transcendent moment in nature?") yielded a wonderful treat — thousands of beautiful stories of adventure, mysticism, dolphins, constellations, beaches, volcanoes and gardening. But my favorite answer by far came from LAURA BRISCOE, who spoke about a mystical experience she had once while collecting liverworts.

She had me at "liverworts", people.

You see, Laura is a bryologist (a scientist of mosses and liverworts) just like my character, Alma Whittaker. Laura wrote about a collecting expedition she went on once, where every time she thought of a particular strain of liverwort that she wanted to see, it would suddenly appear at her feet. To the point that she started wondering, "Who is searching for whom?"

Alma — who spent her life working at that intersection of the scientific and the divine — would have really dug that.

So Laura is getting her signed book in the mail this week! Hooray! A novel about bryology for a real live bryologist! What could be better? (Laura, if you find any scientific errors on the novel, DON'T TELL ME. Too late to fix anything by this point, as the book has gone to print. Lie to me and tell me I got it right. OK? Cool! Thanks!)

Thank you to everyone who participated in this month's contest — I loved reading your experiences. And as for everyone else…if you want to be eligible for NEXT MONTH'S contest (coming up very soon) be sure to sign up for my LizNews newsletter. You can click on the link at the top of this page to sign up, or go here, to my website, to sign up on the opening page:

https://www.elizabethgilbert.com/

Also, totally unrelated to the running of contests, I have something AWESOME going out in the newsletter tomorrow morning. Don't miss it. Sign up.

And please enjoy this photo of a nice liverwort.

Congratulations, Laura!

xo
Liz

via Elizabeth Gilbert’s Facebook Wall

A HAPPINESS JAR from Argentina!

Photos of Elizabeth Gilbert
Hi Liz! I'm starting today with my happiness jar, decoration of it still pending, ha! It'll be a breath of fresh air to fill it in everyday. Thanks a lot for being so inspiring and kind regards from Argentina, South America.

via Elizabeth Gilbert’s Facebook Wall