Elizabeth Gilbert's Blog, page 108
December 23, 2013
SOAT + Kitten!
SOAT + Kitten!
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You will be my last book of the year!
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WANDA FOUND A BOOK! This is so wonderful. Some of you may remember that various…
WANDA FOUND A BOOK! This is so wonderful. Some of you may remember that various botanical gardens across the world had a promotion where they hid copies of THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS across their grounds, for people to find. And Wanda found one in the most important garden of them all: The Hortus Botanicus in Amsterdam — where Alma herself finally found a home. So lovely!
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Happy with the book I find at Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam today… thank you 
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December 22, 2013
Thought of the day: THE FINAL OBSTACLE IS US. Dear Ones – Almost every nig…
Thought of the day: THE FINAL OBSTACLE IS US.
Dear Ones -
Almost every night on book tour this year, I ended up talking about this subject with the audience. My audiences are pretty much composed entirely of women (though I love you, too, my emotionally-secure men who dare to come to my events!) and invariably there would be a woman in the crowd who would stand up and ask how to get courage to….well, whatever. To write her book, to change her life, to travel alone, to endure her sorrows, to leave her toxic relationship, to start her own business, to stand up for herself.
And I would end up saying something along these lines — that it is down to us now. There has never been a better moment in human history than RIGHT NOW to be a woman. While there are still huge stretches of earth where the lot of womankind remains trapped in subjugation, the industrialized modern western world is the best environment women have ever had — the best and only shot we ever got at full personhood. The life that I was offered, in compassion to the lives of my great-grandmothers, is so radically different that I might as well be a new human species altogether. I am a female with biological, political, financial and emotional autonomy. Such a thing was never heard of before. Ever.
Could things still be better for women? Yes, of course, and I fight for that, as we all must. Do we have perfect parity yet? Maybe in Sweden, but certainly not everywhere. Is there still discrimination and stupidity? Sure. Will there always be? Probably. But you guys, NOBODY in womankind ever had a better chance to manifest their own lives than us, RIGHT NOW.
But the last obstacle is us. Many of the big external obstacles (political, legislative) have been cleared for us by the great and brave women who came before us. We stand on their shoulders and should be grateful. But now we are left to battle the lingering prejudices in our own minds that say we are not worthy — not good enough, not strong enough, not talented enough, not brave enough. That our voices are not important, that we shouldn't raise our hand, that we shouldn't ask to lead the project, that we shouldn't run for office, that we don't deserve a promotion, that we can't set boundaries, that we can't have a child alone, that we can't support ourselves, that we can't defend our vocations, that we can't apply for that grant or that graduate program, that we shouldn't speak up and say, "No, let's do it my way." That we aren't perfect yet, in other words, and therefore we must hold ourselves back.
And while it's understandable that about a billion years of being beat down would keep a woman believing she is imperfect, we REALLY have to get past that obstacle in ourselves. Because I've said it before and I'll say it again: Imperfection never stopped men from putting themselves forward! SO DON'T LET IT STOP YOU!
Get out of your own way, women. It's time. And nobody can do this part for you. No act of congress (no social or political legislation) can get you out of your own way. Gloria Steinem can't get your out of your own way, and neither can Oprah, Brene Brown, Martha Beck, Hilary Clinton, your uncle's dog, your mother's cat or me.
Don't wait to be rescued or discovered by anyone, and for heaven's sake, don't wait to be given permission from the principal's office to take full ownership of your own destiny. You gotta do it yourself.
Step forward out of your own lingering residual sense of smallness, take up every inch of life that is your blessed inheritance, and DO YOUR THING.
Today.
It's down to us now — down to you.
Never been a better moment than right now.
Get on it, my friends. For real.
LG
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December 21, 2013
I thought you all might enjoy this short but lovely (five minutes) excerpt of my…
I thought you all might enjoy this short but lovely (five minutes) excerpt of my conversation the other night at the NY Public Library with Ann Patchett — In which we discuss the healing capacities of writing, and the uncelebrated superpowers of resilient women!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=li6aWvNioFo
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THANK YOU, MARTHA BECK! Hey, you guys are all onboard with the great Martha Bec…
THANK YOU, MARTHA BECK!
Hey, you guys are all onboard with the great Martha Beck, right? You read her in Oprah Magazine every month, I hope? You buy her books? You listen to everything she says, because she's a no-bullshit yet totally compassionate life-changing truth-speaker?
I love her.
And now she's put such a lovely review of THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS on her website:
http://marthabeck.com/2013/12/the-signature-of-all-things/
Also, do entertain yourself by scrolling down a bit on Martha's website to read the entries for LAME ANIMAL TOTEMS (for instance, the very lame Oak Titmouse). Incredibly funny and trenchant…
Heart,
LG
The Signature of All Things | Martha Beck
marthabeck.com
Creating Your Right Life
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SOAT in Mexico City!
SOAT in Mexico City!
Photos of Elizabeth Gilbert
Hi Liz
SOAT and piñatas in Mexico City! Happy holidays!!
Thank you for being such an inspiration.
Dalinda xx
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SOAT comes to Norway at last! :)
SOAT comes to Norway at last!
Photos of Elizabeth Gilbert
Hi Liz! Guess what I'm going to read this Christmas? I was so happy to receive your book from my book club today. In Norwegian the title has been translated into A.W's significant discoveries. On this picture the book is placed next to an old and politically uncorrect decoration (note the pipe in the goblin's mouth) and a souvenir from my trip to Oz. God jul – Merry Christmas from Norway
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SOAT with a beautiful family in lovely Malaysia!
SOAT with a beautiful family in lovely Malaysia!
Photos of Elizabeth Gilbert
Meanwhile, SOAT is with me and my children, here in Putrajaya Malaysia ( photo taken by my eldest son). Flipping through first few pages of SOAT and found printed words : "What life is, we know not. What life does, we know well, by Lord Perceval".. Indeed, life is a continuous stream of change, we can never really be prepared enough for the changes, but in the end, it is possible to be happy again once we understand the blessings through change.
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