Sometimes you watch a movie and walk away feeling nothing........and sometimes you watch a movie and walk away feeling more than you ever wanted to.
I don't often find movies that reach deep into my soul and shake it to very core, that squeeze my heart and make me think and rethink everything I've been doing and leave me wondering if I'm the woman I am supposed to be.
Eat, Pray, Love!
Simple words, not exactly the kind of title that catches your attention from the get go, but like so many things in life and through so many of my own experiences, I keep learning that in truth, it's the simple things that matter the most, it's the simple things that will usually be the most pivotal in your life.
The movie follows the book written by Elizabeth Gilbert. I know that many like me, will read a really good book and when the movie version hits the screen, we're left with a bad taste in our mouth, they somehow seem to always leave out one of the biggest plot points or add in others that didn't exist, so I'm glad that I didn't read the book beforehand.
I went into this without any expectations, thoughts, wishes or preconceived notions of what the characters should look like and how they should act.
La dolcezza di non fare niente! - The Sweetness of doing Nothing
A sweet Italian expression which in a way perfectly describes me, but that just brought me to the one scene in the movie where they're all sitting in Italy having dinner and coming up with words to describe each major city...New York~achieve. Los Angeles~succeed. Stockholm~conform. Rome~SEX. In their opinion every city has a word. But then Liz gets confronted with the question "What is YOUR word?" and she can't really answer.
As the movie progresses Liz gets hit with revelation after revelation, it's like knowing that everything you've thought was true, is not. You think things work one way, but they don't.
One of the most poignant moments for me was when they were eating Pizza and her friend Sofie didn't want to because she thought she had been putting on weight, to which Liz replied:
I'm tired of saying no and waking up every morning and recalling every single thing I ate the day before, counting every calorie so I know exactly how much self loathing to take into the shower. I've no interest in being obese but I'm just done with the guilt.
It's hard for me to even type that without getting teary eyed because that little dialogue described me to a tee. THAT which she says she's tired of doing, is what I've been doing for many many years, until about a month ago when I finally said NO MORE. I stopped obsessing with the scale, I stopped feeling guilty every time I took a bite and guess what???? I am eating whatever I feel like eating, whenever I feel like eating it and I haven't put on any weight because I'm happy and stress free.
Actions speak so much louder than words. In ending this post, I want to encourage you to watch the movie, even if you've read the book, if nothing else, the powerful performance by Julia Roberts is enough to leave you gobsmacked.
I also leave you with some of my favorite quotes from the movie, powerful, touching, thought provoking and liberating.
If you are prepared most of all to face and forgive some very difficult realities about yourself, the truth will not be withheld from you.
It's better to live your own life imperfectly than to imitate someone else's perfectly.
To lose balance sometimes for love is part of living a balanced life.
As smoking is to the lungs, so is resentment to the soul; even one puff is bad for you.
Have a good week ahead!
