Can I just say Elizabeth Gilbert = Brilliant Writer. After reading Eat.Pray.Love. I had so many more insights to take home and share with others. This book inspired me to go after my goals and dreams. Unfortunately, a month after I read this amazing piece of literature, the inspiration has begun to wear off and I'm going back to the same mundane life. Anyways, that's besides the point. We start with Italy...as Julia Andrews would say in Sound of Music, "A very good place to start." I had the amazing opportunity to visit this beautiful country in May of 2008. It was a dream come true and will still be remembered as one of the most amazing experiences I will probably ever have. Italy for Elizabeth was all about what amazing things she could get her hands on to eat. I will testify that Italy has some of the best food I've ever tasted. In spite of her bottomless appetite, she had a few insights to offer. On page 61 she makes several statements about Americans that are surprisingly point on. She says, "Americans don't really know how to do nothing. This is the cause of that great sad American stereotype-the overstressed executive who goes on vacation, but who cannot relax." The Italians have got it right my friends. "Il bel far niente means 'the beauty of doing nothing . . . The beauty of doing nothing is the goal of all your work, the final accomplishment for which you are most highly congratulated. The more exquisitely and delightfully you can do nothing, the higher your life's achievement. You don't necessarily need to be rich in order to experience this either."
Case and point...we all just need to get better at doing nothing. How many times have you been at an airport, college campus, or even out to eat and you see people on their cell phones? Cell phone use has started to get a bit ridiculous to me. People are uncomfortable when they have nothing to do so they pull out the phone. It is sad, and after reading the first part on Italy in Gilbert's book I had a lot of rethinking to do. Try and do nothing. In the meantime . . . stay finer. ;)
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