I am sick. For a long stretch there, I was the picture of health. But two days ago, I woke up feeling like I could barely open my mouth to brush my teeth. I know myself. I know my illnesses. When I’m sick, my nose is like a running faucet. Notice, I didn’t say dripping. It runs and runs no matter how much I medicate. This is different. Not really sure what it is. I’m definitely fatigued, but healthy enough to get myself to work and concentrate for an hour or two. So forgive me for not writing. I always tell myself…every day! Write every day. It never happens. Something always comes up. I start another writing class in a week so hopefully that will light a fire underneath me.
I finished the book Around the World in 80 Dates. I hated it at first, but in the end, learned to love it…immensely. The writer is super funny and concludes with wonderful insights. I’ve never read Eat, Pray, Love. Maybe I should read it before I might this kind of statement: Around the World in 80 Dates should be much more popular than it already is. Everywhere I turn, I see women my age (even a handful of men) reading Eat, Pray, Love. Is it really that great? This book is really great!
If you don’t have time to read it, let me summarize the key take-aways.
You have to visualize your soul mate. I love this point because it’s just like The Secret. You have to picture your dream in detail, believe it, and as soon as you really believe…it will happen. Mid-way through the book, the author goes out on a date with a professional poker player in Vegas. He says it’s all about positive visualization, to imagine yourself winning. That night, she imagines her soul mate. She sees herself having a conversation with him, watching TV together. After this vision, she declares that she really, truly believes it. This is the turning point in the book.
The second big point is that she found more than one soul mate! It surprised her and she said she was never intent on collecting soul mates. She just wanted one. So she stuck to her gut. There is an Indian myth or proverb or what have you that says there are seven people who are meant to be with you in the world, you only need to find one of them. That means there’s hope for me!
Believe me, there were a lot of things that annoyed me, too. She meets this guy in Verona, Italy who has a relationship with a dead woman. He’s never technically met her, but he tends to her grave and speaks about their closeness. I agree, it’s crazy, but it incensed me that she found the situation so ludicrous when here she was traveling the world and dating 80 men. I find that just as ludicrous!
But what really struck me about this book is how I related to it. Throughout the read, I wanted her to fail. Up until the last few pages, I kept hoping to find out that her soul mate really wasn’t her soul mate, that they’d hooked up and eventually parted ways. How horrible is that?! But that’s how I felt. After finishing, I set the book down and thought: I really have to stop it. I have to stop being negative and wanting the worst for everyone because I’m single. There are happy endings. Maybe I haven’t yet found it, but that doesn’t mean it’s not waiting for me. I truly, honestly believe that my soul mate is right around the corner. Maybe he’s even one of the guys I’m dating…I’m currently betting on one of them…but I also have to believe that it’s going to last, that the happy ending isn’t temporary.
I’ll get there.
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