My word is “enough”

This past week, I watched the movie Eat, Pray, Love with a friend. I’ve read the book and seen the movie four times now and honestly I love everything about it (not the least of which is Javier Bardem!).

For those of you unfamiliar, the main character Liz Gilbert (Julie Roberts) embarks on a person quest around the world to find herself. She travels to Italy, India and Bali.

Eat, Pray, Love is a story of personal transformation and a spiritual quest. It’s about discovering and loving your true self before you can truly be in relationship with others. It’s a quest for forgiveness — whether of bitter old resentments that keep you stuck, or forgiveness of yourself. It’s a transformation journey — a very beautifully lived and written journey by famous author Elizabeth Gilbert.

While most of us cannot pack up our lives and travel the world in search of ourselves, we can learn a lot from the personal quest. Indeed, that is what I have embarked upon this past year and a half – a quest that included flipping my life upside down, changing old habits and patterns that were not serving me, pushing past fear and self-doubt, and looking deep inside my heart to find and accept my true self.

It has been a quest to put myself back in the equation of mye own life – because I deserve nothing less. A journey to feed my soul with something other than food. I’ve lived most of the past year and half out of my comfort zone. And, it has been very personal and remarkable, just like Liz’s journey in Eat, Pray, Love.

My word is enough

One of my favorite parts of the story is that Liz discovers that every city in Italy has a word – a single word that describes that city. She went on a mission to discover her word. By definition: a word that represents who you are, not what you do.

I love this idea and decided I needed a word. A single word that encapsulates my journey, my learning, where I am in relationship with myself and others. The word I chose is “enough.”

Most of us go through life held back by our deepest fears. We think we are not thin enough, good enough, smart enough, beautiful enough, brave enough… This was me before my transformation. Those words of self-doubt and the fear of not being good enough stopped me from achieving my dreams and contributed to a body size that was out of control.

One of my favorite new authors and experts is Brene’ Brown who wrote The Gifts of Imperfection. She has spent the past decade studying vulnerability, courage, worthiness, and shame. Pretty exciting stuff! Lol.  The truth is, if you haven’t read her and you are reading this, I urge you to check out her work here.

In her TED Talk, The Power of Vulnerability, Brene’ said that in studying people who were happy and those who were not, she learned that happy people were “excruciatingly vulnerable” and willing to be seen as they really are. This struck a chord with me when I was on personal retreat this month in Maine. I realized that part of how I got to this place of total transformation and happiness was by finally accepting me just as I am and embracing with authenticity my imperfections. I was able to let go (most days) of who I think I am supposed to be and instead embrace who I really am. And I truly believe now, that I am enough.

I came across a quote recently on Facebook and I wish I could attribute it. It read: “Treat yourself as if you already are enough. Walk as if you are enough. Eat as if you are enough. See, look, listen as if you are enough. Because it’s true.” I now finally believe that. Embrace that. And live it.

And so, my word is “enough.” What is your word?

The Physics of the Quest

Toward the end of Eat, Pray, Love, Liz is quoted reflecting on the Physics of the Quest. I just LOVE this and have it posted on my bulletin board where I can see it every day. It says:

“In the end, I’ve come to believe in something I call “The Physics of the Quest.” A force in nature governed by laws as real as the laws of gravity. The rule of Quest Physics goes something like this: If you’re brave enough to leave behind everything familiar and comforting, which can be anything from your house to bitter, old resentments, and set out on a truth-seeking journey, either externally or internally, and if you are truly willing to regard everything that happens to you on that journey as a clue and if you accept everyone you meet along the way as a teacher and if you are prepared, most of all, to face and forgive some very difficult realities about yourself, then the truth will not be withheld from you.”

Wow, that indeed encapsulates my quest of this past year and half for which I am forever changed and deeply grateful.

I wish you luck on your personal quest. If your quest begins with learning to put yourself in the equation and/or the goal to transform your body and your  life, please connect with me here. I am inspired by your courage and would delight in hearing your story and supporting you in any way that I can.
Lori

P.S. I must share two more of my all-time favorite quotes from Eat, Pray, Love. They inspire me and most certainly will be come up as future topics here.

•  “When I was in Italy, I learned a word — It’s “tutti” … which in Italian means “everybody.” So that’s the lesson, isn’t it? When you set out in the world to help yourself, sometimes you end up helping Tutti.”
  -Liz Gilbert

• Felipe (Javier Bardem) to Liz: “You don’t need a man. You need a champion.”
  I hear ya, Javier! I think I will use that line in my online dating profile. 🙂