EPL Nugget

You guys know I'm always reading.

On a whim, I picked up Eat Pray Love while running around Goodwill.

It was .99, so, mehh, why not read it?

It's not too bad. Alot of reading her personal thoughts on her quest for pleasure, meditation and the balance between them, while she visits some suh-weet countries. 

A bit hokie in some parts, but I can relate as I want to be a better me, too.

In the middle of a particularly heavy section of Yoga poses and Ommmmm's, I found a fan-tab-ulous little passage that I've been thinking and praying about. It just really spoke to me. It's just the right amount for a long run on the treadmill.

"Destiny, I feel, is also a relationship- a play between divine grace and willfull self-effort. Half of it you have no control over, half of it is absolutely in your hands, and your actions will show measurable consequence. Man is neither entirely a puppet of the gods, nor is he entirely the captain of his own destiny; he's a little of both. We gallop through our lives like circus performers balancing on two speeding side-by-side horses-one foot is on the horse called "fate", the other on the horse called "free will". And the question you have to ask every day is - which horse is which? Which horse do I need to stop worrying about because it's not under my control, and which do I need to steer with concentrated effort?

There is so much about my fate that I cannot control, but other things do fall under my jurisdiciton. There are certain lottery tickets I can buy, thereby increasing my odds of finding contentment. I can decide how I spend my time, whom I interact with, whom I share my body and life and money and energy with. I can select what I can eat and read and study. I can choose how I'm going to regard unfortunate circumstances in my life- whether I will see them as curses or opportunities ( and on the occasions when I can't rise to the most optimistic viewpoint, because I'm feeling too damn sorry for myself, I can choose to keep trying to change my outlook). I can choose my words and the tone of my voice in which I speak to others. And most of all, I can choose my thoughts."

                                                                                  --Eat Pray Love

  Everyone has hard times, but I am learning to be able to choose the high road. Be the better person. Choose the right attitude. And then as a reward, choose the right pair of on-sale shoes.

Kidding.

Kinda.