Book Five - Eat. Pray. Love.

"Tell me, if you would be so kind--how exactly were you planning to stop that?"

Allow me to explain the line above by a short passage from the book: "In my dream, standing beside me on the beach in all his power. I was terrified. He pointed to the approaching waves and said sternly, "I want you to figure out a way to stop that from happening." Panicked, I whipped out a notebook and tried to draw inventions that would stop the ocean waves from advancing. I drew massive seawalls and canals and dams. All my designs were so stupid and pointless, though. I knew I was way out of my league here (I'm not an engineer!) but I could feel Swamiji watching me, impatient and judgmental. Finally I gave up. None of my inventions were clever or strong enough to keep those waves from breaking. . . . . . . . . "Tell me, dear one," he said, and he pointed out toward the colossal, powerful, endless, rocking ocean. "Tell me, if you would be so kind--how exactly were you planning on stopping that?"

At times my life seems just this way, truthfully more often than not. I like Liz try to devise a course of action to fight an impossible feat. Life happens. And is, for the most part, not within my control. Destiny is defined as a play between divine grace and willful self-effort. "Half of it you have no control over; half of it is absolutely in your hands, and your actions show measurable consequence." The part I control is my mind, my thoughts, and my reaction. I can do nothing about the "ocean;" it is what it is. I "need to learn how to select my thoughts just the same way I select what clothes I am gonna wear everyday. This is a power I can cultivate." This is my declaration: "I will not harbor unhealthy thoughts anymore." My treasure--My perfection--is within me already. "But to claim it, I must leave the busy commotion of the mind and abandon the desires of the ego and enter into the silence of the heart." It is said that, "this is why all the suffering and pain of life on earth is worthwhile--just for the chance to experience this infinite love." And God knows I long to make the acquaintance of this . . . . . "LOVE."