Eat, Pray, Love

Yes, I have to admit, I did read it, a while back. As I expected, it was self-indulgent. It was also patronising towards the Indians (those few she actually had to be exposed to in the ashram) and the Balinese, although Gilbert probably didn't mean it that way.



(pic: our last holiday in Bali)

And her writing style did start to wear me down - enough bubbling, really. Did I mention self-indulgent? Good Lord, the woman needs a real problem. I shouldn't be too harsh - Gilbert does seem to be aware, albeit in flashes, of this fact ... but it doesn't stop her.

So I probably won't see the movie. I do love Julia Roberts - she seems to be illuminated from the inside, I think they call it 'star presence'? - but not enough to pay to watch her in this.

But I was thinking about it this morning, the three-word mantra. I've decided on one for myself. Stretch, pray, write - this translates to yoga, meditation and work. It's my recipe for a calm, productive day. Of course I like to eat too, but I don't really need any help with that aspect of my life. Actually, I could come up with a whole collection of these mantras to fit the day: a pleasant, relaxing day might be 'stretch, pray, cook', or 'stretch, pray, dig'. A typical, as opposed to ideal, work day could be summed up as 'wake, groan, write'.

On that note, time to get back to work ...