Eat, Pray, Love

For the first time in awhile, I went to a movie on opening day.  I decided to go see Eat, Pray, Love, a movie based on the book of the same name by Elizabeth Gilbert.  I read the book two years ago during my trip to Hawaii, and was able to relate to it in many ways.  While I am not a 35 year-old divorcee traveling the world to "find myself", there were some themes in the book that really spoke to me.  The book is basically Gilbert's diary of her life as she stumbled through a divorce, found new love, found God, then decided to travel to Italy, India, and Bali for three months.  While in Italy, Liz (played by Julia Roberts) found a deeper connection to life through the food she enjoyed:  pasta, wine, pizza, and all that is Italian.  As she moved on to India, she attempted to develop a deeper prayer life and was able to reconcile some of her misgivings of the past.  Finally, in Bali, she learned how to fall in love again and really accept who she is.  I thought the book was much better than the movie, but in most cases, it usually is.

This movie did a couple things for me.  First of all, it has increased my desire to travel even more.  I would say that I'm a fairly avid traveler, but my trips have been mostly in the U.S., with a few exceptions.  I realized that now is the time for me to take advantage of having ample vacation time, being single and (hopefully) fearless to travel to places that I have only thought about.  I have a list started of where I want to go next, with China (to visit my friend Sarah who is teaching English there) at the top of the list, followed by Gabon, and some South American Countries.  I'm going to attempt to do some major planning and organizing to ensure that a trip happens next summer.

Eat, Pray, Love also reminded me that prayer is often not an easy thing.  As Liz struggled with finding her voice to speak to God in the movie, I realize that I have the same problem at times.  Some days I find easy to talk to God and open myself up to hearing His voice, and other days I feel very empty and at a loss for words.  I don't think it's unusual for this to happen at times, but God just wants us to try, even though frustrating.  I want to be able to lessen a lot of the distractions around me that prevent me from being able to focus during prayer.  I want to enjoy silence more, although it is uncomfortable at times.

And of course, eating will always be something I can relate to.  Preparing a meal or recipe for me is like creating a beautiful project that in the end, has great rewards.  It's seeing all the pieces come together to make one whole that will, hopefully, be something that others enjoy as well.  Sometimes my "projects" or recipes don't go as planned, and I able to learn a lesson for the next time of what to do or not do.  Even when I mess up, I am reminded that although I have a culinary school education, that doesn't make me infallible when it comes to cooking (and many other things!)