The Spiritual Lessons Revealed In Eat Pray Love By Elizabeth Gilbert

Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert is by now a classic and although, I read it the first time before it became a motion picture, I am most certainly in a different space emotionally and spiritually this time round as I finished it for the second time yesterday . I got so much more out of it and was deeply touched by the magnitude of spiritual teachings, gently integrated into our psyche beginning with Gilbert’s voyage to Italy. The author trying to find refuge after a horrible divorce and treacherous bouts of depression begins a year of travel aboard.

Her travels first bring her to Italy and we learn how she is seeking a greater understanding of spirituality. We watch as she builds upon this relationship with the Divine, through private conversations within the pages of her notebook, where she speaks to herself with the most compassion and security at her weakest, darkest, moments and divinity within her that also seems outside of her, answers the call on the written page. I found myself longing to go to Italy and evaluating how I felt about worldly pleasures and indulging in decadent cuisine in a beautiful country filled with a romantic language or rather a romantic existence exuded only in the way that Italy can, making me long to one day experience this romantic country myself.

The first spiritual lesson discussed is that, Divinity is love and divine love can be found in our every breath. Upon meditating on this lesson, this is how I solidified the concept in my heart and mind. Most often, When people talk about first laying eyes on their newborn child, or emerging from the water in a full body baptism, or when a lifelong dream materializes, the overwhelming emotion or feeling is one of warmth. The warmth usually starts from the center of the body and emanates outward occupying every inch of it from head to toe.

If we spent time thinking about all the pieces that have to fall into place for each of us to be born, or for any of these miraculous events to manifest, it is understandable why we would be overtaken with such a pure sensation of love. Many have said time and time again the only way to describe the peace and dominating experience during such events is love and it is reminiscent of joy felt in childhood sometimes, only in adulthood happens in slow motion as the joy securely wraps your physical body in what feels like a love blanket of gentle warmth. The warm sensation is the same type of warmth that escapes from our mouthes when we exhale during the process of breathing. Therefore, it stands to reason that the Divine energy of love is present in each breath we take in and expel. Allowing this idea that the presence of divine love is constantly circulating within and out of my body to percolate, makes me want to intentionally contribute to the sharing of that love with others more vigorously. The imagery alone of love within each breath makes tangible the capacity and opportunity we have for experiencing and giving love, if only a fraction of our breathing is cultivated to magnify love first within ourselves and then outside of ourselves as it is released into the world.