Elizabeth Gilbert – What she had to say while in Sydney.

March 16, 2016

I had the privilege of seeing Brené Brown and Elizabeth Gilbert speak recently. These women – their presence, they make you want to keep at it.

I’m going to share some notes I took from Elizabeth’s chat. Brené’s are still taking form.

For those of you who don’t know Elizabeth (I’m not sure how), she’s the one who wrote Eat, Pray, Love and more recently Big Magic.

I’ve got a few books which have become bibles of sorts in my line of work – Conversations with God, Reveal – A Sacred Manual for getting Spiritually Naked, Thrive, … and Big Magic.

For those of us who relish in the creative, who love to use words, pictures, movement – whatever, to express ourselves and our understanding of the world, this book is a must read. It gives us creative permission, creative magic and very real creative perspective all at once.

For those of you who missed her, these were my take home bits.

Love your work, but be prepared for it to bore you to death.

This was one of my favourite points.

I love what I do but some days, it’s tedious. Flow, inspiration they’re unattainable. Taking their place – procrastination, distraction and dissatisfaction.

And I judge myself for it. Surely I should be in love with my craft all.the.time.

She used travel and sex to explain her point. Even these things we love, love love, they get boring too. But the reason we keep at em is because we know that moment will come when we love it again. When we’ll love it love it. And we’ll know it’s all been worth it.

It’s totally true. So keep at it.

A 30 minute pact. Something might happen.

When motivation is lacking keep a 30 minute pact in mind.

Keep at it for 30 minutes. Then have a break. And then get back to it, another 30 minutes. That’s all. Then break again. The idea being… the breakthrough, it might just be in one of those 30 minutes.

You’re having a conversation with the mystery.

A conversation. There’s something about this that automatically makes it a level playing field. My interpretation of this – the mystery, the creative genius, inspiration, the muse, the Universe – it needs us. It needs us to listen, to interpret in our own unique way what’s being said, channeled and then it’s up to us to take action.

Have a conversation with it. A lot of my posts are written with me first looking up to the sky, asking for guidance, for what is needing to be shared. Thoughts pop into my head, my intuition – she does her thing and I start writing.

Trust the thoughts. Trust the nudges. Trust the mystery.

Take a Silent Bath.

For those who love to say ‘I don’t know how to meditate’, ‘I can’t meditate’, ‘It’s not my thing’.

Go with Liz’s recommendation – take a silent bath instead. Go into a room. Close the door. Airplane mode on your electronics and just sit/ lie with your eyes closed.

She did acknowledge that this could also be called a nap.

Either way. I think it’s good advice.

Be silent with yourself for some period of the day.

Sit in contemplation.

Be aware of the breath (even if it’s intermittently).

Be. With. Yourself.