Elizabeth Gilbert's Blog, page 61
June 14, 2014
A friend of this page shared this wonderful graphic the other day, while we were…
A friend of this page shared this wonderful graphic the other day, while we were all discussing creativity. I love this. (If anyone knows the original artist, by the way, could you tell me, so I can give props?)
Make your work, my friends — whatever it may be. Make it, release it, make some more. Repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat. Don't worry about if it's good or not good. The outcome is not up to you. Only the devotion is up to you, and the curiosity that keeps you returning to invention.
This morning, I woke up remembering what the poet Marianne Moore once said, when asked if she had any creative secrets: “Impassioned interest in life, that burns its bridges behind it, and will not contemplate defeat, is one, I would say."
Yeah. That’s the way to do it!
Heart,
LG
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June 13, 2014
Dear Ones — Yesterday, I was talking with two of my dearest old friends about v…
Dear Ones —
Yesterday, I was talking with two of my dearest old friends about vulnerability and love. Of course, there can be no love without vulnerability (nor can there be creativity, generosity, or dreams, or anything magical — as the great has explained to us so beautifully in recent years) but we do have to be careful about whom we share our vulnerability with.
My girlfriends and I were talking about how all of us have a small lockbox hidden deep inside our souls, in which we keep the most fragile, frightened, innocent parts of ourselves. If somebody loves you (and loves you WELL) they will come to learn what's inside that secret lockbox of vulnerability, and they will be so careful to never use that information against you — to never manipulate your vulnerabilities, or mock them, or use the knowledge of your frailty as a weapon of power or diminishment.
But if somebody loves you in a dark way (or is simply not capable of human kindness in love at all) then they may find the key to that lockbox (or you may accidentally open it wide to them) and they will start tampering with you — often in terrible ways. Sometimes they will do this intentionally and maliciously, because they are simply bad people. Sometimes they will do it unintentionally and subconsciously, because of their own internal damage. One way or another, though, it's bad news for you.
My friends and I were talking about times in the past when we have opened ourselves up in love (or even friendship) to the wrong sorts of people — to people who found our most secret vulnerabilities and — instead of saying, "Oh, dear one, now that I know this about you, I will always protect you so carefully" — they said, "Aha! Now that I know this, I can really start messing with you!"
You will know the difference between love that is safe and love that is dangerous because of how your entire being reacts to that person. I once loved with all my heart a man who screwed with my vulnerabilities in such twisted ways. And although my heart loved him dearly, my body would literally not let me sleep in his bed. All night, I would lay there with my pulse racing in panic and my breath short, with every synapse in my being shouting, "Get me out of here! I am not safe with this person!" (Trust me, my body was right.) I ignored and over-rode that instinct for almost a year, during which time I got sicker and sicker, and weaker and weaker….and more and more vulnerable. (And not in a good Brene Brown way, either.) Until I finally left, and began to heal.
If you are sharing your deepest vulnerabilities with someone who is not worthy of that intimate a level of trust, please think about saving your life and leaving the relationship. Or (this must be said, as well) if you are in a relationship right now where YOU are the one who is manipulating somebody's deepest vulnerabilities for your own unhealthy purposes – stop it. Please let them go. It is not kind and it is not fair.
Love is always a risk, but we can choose with whom to share that risk. We will make mistakes along the way (we've all been there) but we must learn over times not to put our live in the wrong hands — and not to ignore the clues and signals along the way that you are unsafe. The highest act of compassion we can show ourselves is the choice to be loved well and carefully — by ourselves, by our friends, by our partners…
Blessings and onward,
LG
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So nice to see that Hillary Clinton “can’t stop thinking about” THE SIGNATURE OF…
So nice to see that Hillary Clinton "can't stop thinking about" THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS…and I hereby nominate Alma Whittaker for Secretary of the Interior!
Hillary Rodham Clinton: By the Book
www.nytimes.com
The former secretary of state and author of “Hard Choices” keeps copies of Republican memoirs like “Faith of My Fathers” and “Decision Points” on her shelves.
via Elizabeth Gilbert’s Facebook Wall
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June 12, 2014
Practice makes perfect, after all… :) LG
Practice makes perfect, after all…
LG
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One from the vaults…. Dear Ones — A friend of this page sent me the link to…
One from the vaults….
Dear Ones —
A friend of this page sent me the link to this interview of mine from 2007, talking about the lessons I tried to carry home with me from my time at the Ashram in India. I'd never seen this interview before, and thought some of you might enjoy it.
Thanks, and ONWARD!
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June 11, 2014
A beautiful photo, and a story that stirred my heart. Thank you, bless you, and…
A beautiful photo, and a story that stirred my heart. Thank you, bless you, and welcome to the new little warrior! She is perfection.
Photos of Elizabeth Gilbert
Hi Liz!
This is my brand new baby daughter- Nyfain Mai! She is currently 9days old. I was reading SOAT through the later weeks of my pregnancy. I havnt yet finished the book, as I put it down on the morning of 30/5/14 after finishing chapter 26. I went into labour that evening at 5pm. It was a surreal and testing experience. There were times when I felt in total harmony and co-ordination with my body, my baby and nature, and others when I completely lost it- 'plastic bag in the wind' job. It was in the darkest corner of a frantic moment that some recalled words appeared like a bolt, etched inside my forehead- that 'I did not come here to drown in 5feet of water'. That I was here to fight the good fight, to give light. And as Alma before me, I would be damned if I did not assume my warrior position in this, the 'unrelenting battle to live'. I 'rised out of the sea, like i was born from it' – at the exact moment my baby was born from my body. Into the world. Into the light.
With all that I am, I thank you. All our love from North Wales, uk- Fflur and Nyfain xxxx
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CRAFT. Dear Ones — I was speaking to an artist friend the other day, who said…
CRAFT.
Dear Ones —
I was speaking to an artist friend the other day, who said she was having a crisis of creativity because she felt she was losing her edge. She feared that her work was not experimental, bold, and innovative enough. She quoted Ezra Pound ("Make it new") and said she had stopped working because, simply put, she could not figure out any ways to make it new anymore.
I tried to explain to her that the opposite of The Edge is a simpler and older idea of The Craft. While the motto of modernity might indeed be "Make it new" the motto of the traditional craftsman/woman is more like, "Make it again and again and again and again and again, until you get better and better and better and better at it." (A wordy motto, but you get the point.)
I gave up fighting for The Edge a long time ago, and that’s done me a world of good as an author. I don't care about The Edge. Standing on the edges of things just gives me vertigo, anyway, and also carries with it a serious risk of toppling over that cliff and dying.
These days, instead, I just work toward honing my craft. I want to be the best and most prolific writer I can possibly be. I want to work every day, the way craftspeople have always worked. I don't mind returning to the same themes and ideas, to try to craft them better next time. I don't mind if my writing reminds readers of other authors (that's called following in a tradition, or offering homage) and I don't even mind if my new work reminds people of my earlier work. I'm not trying to ignite a revolution every time I sit down at my desk; I just want to pursue excellence.
To do that, I must get out of my own way (including getting out of the way of my ego) and simply do the work. As many times as it takes to get it right.
Do it every day. Do it as well as you can. Repeat, repeat, repeat. That's craft.
Heart,
LG
ps — This is a photo of me working on "Committed". Those tiny little slips of paper are each a "beat" of the memoir, and I kept shuffling them around until I put the story into its proper order. Sort of like putting together a puzzle, but made out of narrative.
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June 10, 2014
TWO WEEKS, my loves! The gorgeous paperback of THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS will…
TWO WEEKS, my loves!
The gorgeous paperback of THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS will be published exactly two weeks from today, dear ones!
And I shall be going on book tour! Brooklyn is the first stop (June 24) and then onward from there…come see me?
Here's the info:
Elizabeth Gilbert - The Official Website | ElizabethGilbert.com.
A CONTEST FOR PLANT-LOVERS! Dear Ones — The paperback of THE SIGNATURE OF ALL…
A CONTEST FOR PLANT-LOVERS!
Dear Ones —
The paperback of THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS is coming out in exactly two weeks!
In order to celebrate that happy event, I've collaborated with the legendary White Flower Farms on a really cool contest. If you click here, you can sign up for the chance to win a free plant every month for a year:
I have a special place in my heart for White Flower Farms, since I grew up just a mile down the road from their amazing headquarters. You know those plants are going to be simply gorgeous.
There will be 25 winners, everyone…so play your odds!
Happy gardening,
LG
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June 9, 2014
…and then there’s this bit of truth-telling.
…and then there's this bit of truth-telling.
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