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ALWAYS come and say hello if you see me around, Dear Ones!

:)LG

Photos of Elizabeth Gilbert
It was an early morning of the second of July, 2014. Lambert airport was crowded. "What would the forth of July be like in NYC, the city I'm visiting for the first time?" I asked myself in the queue.

At the security check, the lady who examined my bag, said she will accompany me to walk through that long line again because "a water bottle was found in my hand bag". And if I needed to drink that water, I would have to check my passport again before heading to the Gate.

I thought I had the grumpiest morning. I slept for two hours only that night. I had packed for the New York one-week vacation the last minute. "Waaaaiit! Do I see what I think I see?"

My eyelids hugged the nerve and muscle clusters around my two eyes for better focus. With clarity now, I could see L.G – not because I read her daily doses of Facebook posts; and certainly not because I ate, read, and slept well that night!

The instant I realized it was actually her was one of those moments when you meet someone as beautifully precious and influential as Elizabeth Gilbert on your way to New York. You think of what to say and how to act in a split of a second because you do Not want to be her "just another fan" among the many thousands world-wide.

I still approached the queue she was standing in so cautiously now yet with eyes wide open, filled with possibilities of explosive joy. I peaked closely at her facial features to erase any doubt and detect if it were a possibly "look-alike" or that was really L.G, my Elizabeth Gilbert!

And there I was: Acting exactly like just another fan. I was looking at her like it was the discovery of my life. Lizzy smiled and giggled a laugh or two. That was when I knew she was so used to such incidents in public places. And the fact she suddenly finds herself being stared at like the rare gem she is, was warmly welcomed by her radiant smiling eyes.

I found myself telling her how much I love her work, how much I admire her, and how popular she is in Lebanon. She told me she had visited Lebanon, particularly mentioning the Bekaa Valley. I totally forgot that I wanted to tell her about my poetry flair and website (www.iPoetry.info). I forgot to tell her that the way she writes means so much to me because her words cross all the way directly to reach the heart. But they never cease to get the mind's affirmations because those contextualized lines you see in an Elizabeth Gilbert book, post, article, or interview are purposefully alive to help you lead a better life in your day-to-day interactions, reflections, and surprises that life presents:
more certainly so when your eyes stretch out in outreach to the happy beats of your heart! As if in one moment, you could see all those lines and stories and favorable descriptions, interpretations, and story events culminating in one instant: like the time you meet your favorite contemporary author; only on your first trip to New York (See picture for more details).

It was a very Happy 2nd, and 3rd, and 4th indeed!

via Elizabeth Gilbert’s Facebook Wall

MOVING DAY…

I've been moving into my lovely new house this week (yes! we sold our house! hooray! to absolutely lovely people!) and I have been lost in boxes and gear over the last few days. (My husband took this picture of me crashing out this afternoon after too many trips up the stairs with too many boxes of books.) I am behind on everything, and I don't know where anything is, and I am HAPPY.

I love me a good move.

The rest of the house is still a mess, but I have finally completely organized my new writing room, with its happy bright yellow rug (the better to light a flame beneath my ass) so my writing life recommences tomorrow! First things first, folks, first things first.

I got rid of a LOT of stuff during this move. Which is, I think, why I love moving so much. (Honestly, the best method I've ever discovered for thoroughly cleaning out the junk drawer in my kitchen is to just give up and sell the house…).

Here's how I started making decisions over the last week about what was to stay in my life and what was to go:

1) Pick up an object.

2) Ask self: "Does this object fill me with a sense of light and possibility?"

3) If yes, keep it.

4) If not, throw that shit away.

(NOT A BAD WAY TO MAKE A LOT OF DECISIONS ABOUT A LOT OF THINGS IN OUR LIVES, come to think of it..)

So….a toast to clean starts, and fresh spaces, and a new uncluttered (at least for a few days) kitchen junk drawer!

Good night.

Crash,
LG

via Elizabeth Gilbert’s Facebook Wall

FILL THE CRACKS WITH GOLD!

A friend of this page named Marianne shared this beautiful essay from ElephantJournal.com about the traditional Japanese practice of repairing broken, priceless porcelain by filling the cracks with gold — thus transforming the plate from something shattered to something even more valuable, more magnificent (while not pretending the breaks did not occur.)

For obvious reasons of rich and pertinent metaphor, I love this.

Take a look, be inspired, mend yourself together with gold:

https://ift.tt/UjX1n4

Kintsugi as Yoga: Filling the Cracks with Gold. ~ Zo Newell
https://ift.tt/1gZSYTN
My ideal student is someone who is irreparably altered, broken by life’s experiences and yet yearning for transcendence. I understand yoga, not as asana (

via Elizabeth Gilbert’s Facebook Wall

Liz's Summer Reading List, continued…

Dear Ones —

Do you know this beautiful, simple, rich, delightful tale?

THE SUMMER BOOK, by the great Tove Jansson (whom some of you may know from the Moomin series of children's books). An elegiac, tender, wise, and un-sugary piece of lovely nostalgia. A slim novel based upon the author's childhood summers on a tiny island in the Gulf of Finland, where her character was shaped by the weather, by her grandmother, by the sea. (THERE IS EVEN MOSS IN THIS BOOK!)

This is the rare book written about childhood by an adult who seems to actually remember what childhood is really and truly like.

I adore it.

Read it this summer, next to your favorite body of water…

🙂
LG

via Elizabeth Gilbert’s Facebook Wall

I just found another photo from my EAT PRAY LOVE travels ten years ago…this picture was taken at the Ashram in India, with some friends from the floor-scrubbing crew. Standing just behind me, over my left shoulder, is Richard From Texas, whom I miss and love every day. (Some of you may not know, but Richard passed away in 2010, exiting peacefully in his sleep from a heart attack.)

Rest in Peace, Richard, and thank you for your singular wisdom and grace. And thank you for your humor. God, how I miss that humor.

I think Richard would've like to hear me say this (and better still, he would have liked to hear me KNOW this) so I'll say it…

I was pondering yesterday why I am enjoying getting older so very much. I think it's because of this fact: That unless you are making a sincere effort to wake up early every single morning and work hard at staying stupid, then you are probably — just by sheer default — getting smarter as you age. (Because seriously — you've gotta REALLY not be paying attention to life, to not be getting even a little bit more wise as you go along.) All that I have ever wanted and longed for was to be wiser, smarter, more clear, more peaceful, more expansive, more prepared for life. The years are bringing that intelligence, my dears…the years are bringing it at last. (And not a moment too soon, may I add.) I look forward to all that I have yet to learn. I plan to keep paying attention, and to let it all in. Stronger by the year, better by the day. It's awesome.

ONWARD,
LG

via Elizabeth Gilbert’s Facebook Wall