MAY 2023: Relaxing into May

I heard Elizabeth Gilbert speak in Toronto recently and I would like to share a few of the main messages that resonated with me. She’s the one who wrote ‘Eat, Pray, Love’, (which sold 13 million copies). Many other books followed, and her recent novel (City of Girls) delighted me.

She wants the next women’s revolution to be ‘Relax’. I must admit that I’m not very good at this activity. Do you plan time to relax? When do you plan to relax? How do you relax? What would it take for you to be in a relaxed state? True confession: it often takes a glass of wine for me to stop ‘doing’ and to relax.

She also updated us about Richard. He’s the fellow from Texas whom she wrote about in her book: ‘Eat, Pray, Love’. She met him at an ashram in India. He became a friend and was the most relaxed person she had ever met. She called him when he was dying, and he said “It’s all going to be alright. I’ve had such a beautiful life…practicing relaxing.”

Most of us don’t want to die alone. The biggest fear of many people is that no one will be there for us at the end. But, if we live alone and we don’t have children, who will be there? Who will we be there for?

Questions like these are asked in a survey that I’m doing for my new book. Do you have 5 minutes to take it? Take survey here. Thank you.

A more playful part of her talk was about her habit of asking other women to colour with her. She asks them: “Do you like to colour?” Elizabeth Gilbert has made new friends by approaching women she wanted to get to know better and they colour with her. I had to laugh! I love to colour as it does help me relax, but I have never considered asking someone I don’t know well to join me. Would you invite someone to colour with you?

Before I heard Elizabeth speak, I had started writing my new book called ‘Til Death Do Us Part’. I’m interviewing men and women who have taken care of an ex when they were sick or even until their death. If you know someone who has done this anywhere in the world, please reply to this e-mail as I would like to know more. Thanks!

She had some useful tips about making time to create and assured us that Yoga is a good way to move shame out of our bodies. She also referred to an ‘Approval Practice’ that she does each day and I hope she goes into details in her new book, as it sounds useful for those of us who did not get much approval growing up. I enjoyed her presentation and I hope you enjoyed reading about it.

At the end of her talk, she confided “My full-time job is managing my mental health. My part-time job is writing books.” Such a powerful statement. It would benefit all of us to consider our own mental health our full-time job. Without it, everything else in life is so tough. I’m very grateful for my mental health today. Thank you, Elizabeth Gilbert.  

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I will share a few photos of my recent trip at our first live event at Spoken Lives on May 31^st. We’ll be at the Carrot Common (upstairs) and I will share a story about my month in Australia and read an interview I did in Sydney: Lisa’s story of caring for her ex. There are 3 other speakers and I want to tell you about each of them. Ilana Linden will share the miracle of emerging from a silent world with her cochlear implant.  Jennifer Forde has a powerful story of Malvern and she’ll tell us what she’s doing to rectify the wrong doings. Singer Julie Michels will tell us how she reclaimed her voice and I’ve invited her to share a song or two. I can hardly wait to see you in person, again!

There are 10 tickets left. It would be great to see you there. Get your ticket here.

Thanks for reading my lingering thoughts. I look forward to sharing more with you in the future. Please visit my new website and passion project, Grow at Your Pace to find out about the other things that I’m creating.  

Photo Credit: Salvatore Ventura

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