Elizabeth Gilbert's Blog, page 80

March 25, 2014

SIGN UP FOR MY NEWSLETTER! Dear Ones! Are you all signed up for my LizNews ema…

Dear Ones!

Are you all signed up for my LizNews email newsletter? Some cool news is going to be released this week, and if you want the inside dope, the newsletter is where it's at.

You can click on the LizNews button at the top of this page, or go to my website and sign up on my home page there:

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Published on March 25, 2014 17:30

Good morning, loves. A friend and I were talking yesterday about shame, and I w…

Good morning, loves.

A friend and I were talking yesterday about shame, and I was asking her where she puts hers — how she processes it, where she stores it, where it emerges in her life. I still spend a lot of time (too much time) struggling with my own shame, often quite painfully. I am quite good at revisiting what I think are my worst moments — moments when I believe that I failed myself and others terribly — and then doing a fair bit of damage to myself over that obsessive thinking. Thus, I'm always curious to learn how other people manage this black hole of a human emotion.

In the middle of my friend's answer, she said something that is still resonating in me, many hours later. She said, "Liz, the world doesn't need your shame. We don't want your shame. We have no use for it. It produces nothing. Your shame helps nobody. It's not creative, or generative, or healing in any way. Shame is not what you were put on earth to share with us."

A thought I had never quite considered before.

Shame is not what any of us were put on earth to share with each other.

I'm pretty sure she's right. I'm pretty sure I know already what we were put on earth to share — not only with each other, but with ourselves.

The big love, you guys, and the big love only.

Be kind to yourself today,
LG

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Published on March 25, 2014 07:49

Thanks for making this, you guys! A reminder that I can still use daily…

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"You need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you select your clothes every day." — @[227291194019670:274:Elizabeth Gilbert]

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Published on March 25, 2014 07:32

March 24, 2014

Rest in peace, Ricky. Today I was honored to be with my friend Rayya when we h…

Rest in peace, Ricky.

Today I was honored to be with my friend Rayya when we helped her friend Ricky take his last walk home.

There are dogs, and then there are wonderful dogs, and then there are epic dogs, and then there was Ricky. He was one of the greats, you guys. A dear love, a goofy pickle, a cow-faced monkey butt. A heroic friend.

The best teacher I ever met once told me that the last gift your dog will ever offer you is to teach you, by brave example, how to die gracefully. Because we humans die so badly, but dogs do it so well. When it's time for a dog to go, he simply goes. No drama. No fuss. No regrets. Just grace. Then there is nothing left for us to do except hold him as he passes and commence to loving him forever in memory.

Sweet boy, goodbye. We will miss you. You did good.

And sweet Rayya, sleep tight. We love you,
LG

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Published on March 24, 2014 21:10

Question of the day: WHICH KIND OF ANT ARE YOU? Happy Monday, lovelies! OK, so…

Question of the day: WHICH KIND OF ANT ARE YOU?

Happy Monday, lovelies!

OK, so one of the really cool talks I heard at the TED conference last week was from a scientist named Deborah Gordon, who has spent her life studying ants. (That kind of person, by the way, is TOTALLY MY JAM. A sort of modern Alma Whittaker for the insect world.) Specifically, Dr. Gordon studies something she has come to call "The Anternet" — the way ants communicate with each other socially across great distances.

I loved hearing about this subject, because who wouldn't?

But because I'm always trying to make emotional connections to everything, I made an emotional connection to one piece of her very scientific discussion.

She was speaking about the difference in behavior between ant colonies who live in scarcity (deserts, for instance) and ant colonies who live in abundance (rain forests).

It's all about the way they are chemically trained to forage — how they go forth in the world, energetically.

The scarcity ants have a chemical trigger that says, "Stop moving unless something positive happens." In other words, they don't take any action unless something good occurs — like somebody accidentally stumbling upon some food out of nowhere. Otherwise, they just kind of hang out, nearly motionless, conserving energy, waiting.

The abundance ants have a different chemical trigger, which says, "Keep moving unless something negative happens." So they're on the move all the time — running all over the place in all directions, adventurously collecting resources and food. They will not stop their energetic searching in any and all directions until something unfortunate blocks them (water, predator, competition) at which point they will backtrack home, take a break, and then begin running around again.

I thought, "That's interesting." Not just for ants, but, of course, for us.

Neither of these tactics is wrong, but each response is tailored to the way a given ant sees the world: Harsh, scarce and dangerous? Or abundant, endless and rich?

Does a sense of scarcity vs. abundance also change the chemical/emotional makeup of humans?

In your world, do you wait to act until something positive happens? Or do you take action constantly, until something negative happens? And does your answer have something to do with how you perceive your environment?

What are the risks and benefits of each?

Two days ago, I suggested that we become scientists of our own experience. Today we are specializing — becoming myrmecologists of our own experience!

Name your ant type.

ONWARD (or not, if you live in a scarcity environment!)
LG

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Published on March 24, 2014 05:39

I want to go to there.

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This is home for me… Enjoying it sooo much!!! Gracias Liz!! — at Elizabeth Gilbert - The Official Website | ElizabethGilbert.com.

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Published on March 24, 2014 05:05

THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS in the Texas springtime…

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SOAT among the bluebonnets, the signature of Spring in Texas. The community you've created around your work is rich! Thank you.