Eat, Pray, LOVE (Revisited)

For all those times you stood by me
For all the truth that you made me see
For all the joy you brought to my life
For all the wrong that you made right
For every dream you made come true
For all the love I found in you
I'll be forever thankful baby
You're the one who held me up
Never let me fall
You're the one who saw me through through it all

You gave me wings and made me fly
You touched my hand, I could touch the sky
I lost my faith, you gave it back to me
You said no star was out of reach
You stood by me and I stood tall
I had your love I had it all
I'm grateful for each day you gave me
Maybe I don't know that much
But I know this much is true
I was blessed because I was loved by you

You were always there for me
The tender wind that carried me
A light in the dark shining your love into my life
You've been my inspiration
Through the lies you were the truth
My world is a better place because of you

You were my strength when I was weak
You were my voice when I couldn't speak
You were my eyes when I couldn't see
You saw the best there was in me
Lifted me up when I couldn't reach
You gave me faith 'coz you believed
I'm everything I am
Because you loved me

I'm everything I am
Because you loved me


Right song; right place; right time!!  I AM are the 2 most powerful words, according to Wayne Dyer. Awesome.

I first saw the movie Eat, Pray, Love back in August 2011 when I was praying for answers regarding my feelings for Neytiri.  Back then one line really stood out for me where Julia tells Richard she is waiting for her ex to forgive her.  And Richard tells her not to wait but to forgive herself first.  I actually heard “release” instead of “forgive”.  It is amazing how we hear what we want to.

I mentioned the movie to Neytiri and she saw it over the Xmas period.  For some reason she also wanted her daughter to watch it.  She was really moved by the movie, especially the part to do with muffin tops.  She suggested I see it again as it was just as good as Avatar from a spiritual point.

So finally over the weekend I watched it again. Wow! It is amazing how much we miss when we are “blind”. Over the last 6 odd months my enlightenment has increased and I was able to watch the movie with new eyes.  It was awesome, especially the Pray part of the movie. I have since discovered it is based on a true story and there is also a book.

There is so much knowledge disclosed, you just have to be aware of it.  The book also has a lot of spiritual messages.

“To find the balance you want, this is what you must become. You must keep your feet grounded so firmly on the earth that it's like you have 4 legs instead of 2. That way, you can stay in the world. But you must stop looking at the world through your head. You must look through your heart, instead. That way, you will know God.” 

Julia tells Richard she fell asleep during meditation. His reponse “Yeah pity. You probably the only person in the world who fell asleep during meditation!”

You don’t have to make children or be married to have a family.

Richard : “Why did you come here?” Liz : “I just want some peace.” Richard : “If you want to get to the castle, Groceries, you've got to swim the moat.” 

“Groceries, you need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you select what clothes you're gonna wear every day. This is a power you can cultivate. If you want to control things in your life so bad, work on the mind. That's the only thing you should be trying to control. Drop everything else but that. Because if you can't learn to master your thinking, you're in deep trouble forever.” 

Stop trying. Surrender!


Go out in the garden and sit there, still the mind and watch what happens.


Why don't you just let it be!

Liz : “The one line from India; God resides in us(me), as us(me)!”

“I've come to believe that there exists in the universe something I call "The Physics of The Quest"- a force of nature governed by laws as real as the laws gravity or momentum. And the rule of Quest Physics maybe goes like this: "If you are brave enough to leave behind everything familiar and comforting(which can be anything from your house to your bitter old resentments)and set out on a truth-seeking journey(either externally or internally),and if you are truly willing to regard everything that happens to you on that journey as a clue, and if you accept everyone you meet along the way as a teacher, and if you are prepared - most of all -to face (and forgive) some very difficult realities about yourself....then truth will not be withheld from you." Or so I've come to believe.”

 “There is a reason they call God a presence - because God is right here, right now. In the present is the only place to find Him, and now is the only time.” 

“We don't realize that, somewhere within us all, there does exist a supreme self who is eternally at peace.” 

“I am burdened with what the Buddhists call the 'monkey mind' -- the thoughts that swing from limb to limb, stopping only to scratch themselves, spit and howl.” 

“At some point, you gotta let go, and sit still, and allow contentment to come to you.” 

“I wondered, "Why have I been chasing happiness my whole life when bliss was here the entire time?” 

“Zen masters say you cannot see your reflection in running water, only in still water.” 

 “but if you can plant yourself in stillness long enough, you will, in time, experience the truth that everything (both uncomfortable and lovely) does eventually pass.” 

“I think you have every right to cherry-pick when it comes to moving your spirit and finding peace in God. You take whatever works from wherever you can find it, and you keep moving toward the light.” 

“The resting place of the mind is the heart. The only thing the mind hears all day is clanging bells and noise and argument, and all it wants is quietude. The only place the mind will ever find peace is inside the silence of the heart. That's where you need to go.” 

“Instructions for freedom":

1. Life's metaphors are God's instructions.

2. You have just climbed up and above the roof, there is nothing between you and the Infinite; now, let go.

3. The day is ending, it's time for something that was beautiful to turn into something else that is beautiful. Now, let go.

4. Your wish for resolution was a prayer. You are being here is God's response, let go and watch the stars came out, in the inside and in the outside.

5. With all your heart ask for Grace and let go.

6. With all your heart forgive him, forgive yourself and let him go.

7. Let your intention be freedom from useless suffering then, let go.

8. Watch the heat of day pass into the cold night, let go.

9. When the Karma of a relationship is done, only Love remains. It's safe, let go.

10. When the past has past from you at last, let go.. then, climb down and begin the rest of your life with great joy.” 

“The Bhagavad Gita—that ancient Indian Yogic text—says that it is better to live your own destiny imperfectly than to live an imitation of somebody else’s life with perfection. So now I have started living my own life. Imperfect and clumsy as it may look, it is resembling me now, thoroughly.” 

“At some point, as Richard keeps telling me, you gotta let go and sit still and allow contentment to come to you.Letting go, of course, is a scary enterprise for those of us who believe that the world revolves only because it has a handle on the top of it which we personally turn, and that if we were to drop this handle for even a moment, well – that would be the end of the universe. But try dropping it….Sit quietly for now and cease your relentless participation. Watch what happens. The birds do not crash dead out of the sky in mid-flight, after all. The trees do not wither and die, the rivers do not run red with blood. Life continues to go on…. Why are you so sure that your micromanagement of every moment in this whole world is so essential? Why don’t you let it be?” 

“You have been to hell, Ketut?"

He smiled. Of course he's been there.

What's it like in hell?"

“Same like in heaven," he said.

He saw my confusion and tried to explain. "Universe is a circle, Liss."He said. "To up, to down -- all same, at end."I remembered an old Christian mystic notion: As above, so below.”

I asked. "Then how can you tell the difference between heaven and hell?"

Because of how you go. Heaven, you go up, through seven happy places. Hell, you go down, through seven sad places. This is why it better for you to go up, Liss." He laughed. Same-same," he said. "Same in end, so better to be happy in journey." I said, "So, if heaven is love, then hell is.. "Love, too," he said. Ketut laughed again, "Always so difficult for young people to understand this!” 

 “meditation vs prayer = listening vs talking” 

What Richard is talking about is instead admitting to the existence of negative thoughts, understanding where they came from and why they arrived, and then - with great forgiveness and fortitude - dismissing them.” 

“Moreover, I have boundary issues with men. Or maybe that’s not fair to say. To have issues with boundaries, one must have boundaries in the first place, right? But I disappear into the person I love. I am the permeable membrane. If I love you, you can have everything. You can have my time, my devotion, my ass, my money, my family, my dog, my dog’s money, my dog’s time—everything. If I love you, I will carry for you all your pain, I will assume for you all your debts (in every definition of the word), I will protect you from your own insecurity, I will project upon you all sorts of good qualities that you have never actually cultivated in yourself and I will buy Christmas presents for your entire family. I will give you the sun and the rain, and if they are not available, I will give you a sun check and a rain check. I will give you all this and more, until I get so exhausted and depleted that the only way I can recover my energy is by becoming infatuated with someone else. I do not relay these facts about myself with pride, but this is how it’s always been. Some time after I’d left my husband, I was at a party and a guy I barely knew said to me, “You know, you seem like a completely different person, now that you’re with this new boyfriend. You used to look like your husband, but now you look like David. You even dress like him and talk like him. You know how some people look like their dogs? I think maybe you always look like your men.” 

“Big deal. So you fell in love with someone. Don’t you see what happened? This guy touched a place in your heart deeper than you thought you were capable of reaching, I mean you got zapped, kiddo. But that love you felt, that’s just the beginning. You just got a taste of love. That’s just limited little rinky-dink mortal love. Wait till you see how much more deeply you can love than that. Heck, Groceries—you have the capacity to someday love the whole world. It’s your destiny. Don’t laugh.” 

“The sweetness of doing nothing.” 

Liz ends up living in Bali. I recently read an article about life in Barbados and one of the locals commented as follows: “Sun too hot, day too long, money’s no good, but it’s dah life we love.” Wow! The simple life.

So here’s my prayer : That we are living the Bajan way of life doing selfless service work together!...Ish’llah!  I am so grateful for this.

I find that after periods of extended no contact the intensity of our bond increases!  The Power of Love!

23^rd April 2012 – Jake – Life is not a series of meaningless accidents. When things are bound to happen, they surely will. You are not an accident and I was meant to know you. That’s serendipity.