"Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom." – Aristotle.

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This book is everyone’s favourite. There might be no book lover who didn't love it, and if you say you did not, then I would respect your choice but with wonder and surprise!

 

I picked up the book after watching the movie, because I knew the book would be far too elaborate and engrossing. But not to miss, I have watched the movie more than once. There is a different kind of magic in her storytelling and oh what a journey she has had in life!

 

Can we suddenly stop wanting what we have always wanted in life? It is a scientifically proven fact that people change every seven years. Maybe when we look back at our younger selves we wonder,

Was that I?

How could I be so obnoxious!

How could I like that!

How could I date that guy!

What was wrong with me!

Why did I put up with this s*@#!

 

And so on.

 

Well, human mind is an interesting medley of a mixed bag of emotions. What I love today can become the foremost reason of pain for me tomorrow. One fine day our main protagonist and author, Elizabeth, doesn’t want to stay married anymore because she no longer wants any of it which she may have wanted once, the house, a scary future baby or the husband.

 

It may sound amusing, but it was not. Those were immensely complex emotions that she was going through. Even that strange feeling of guilt of not wanting a baby with all her heart, as much as she wanted to travel the world, couldn’t stop her from confronting with her inner self and her husband, one after the other. She had no choice but to make peace with her heart, because wherever our heart goes, we follow.

 

So, there she was, battling a bitter divorce and falling head over heels for David, a young actor, both at the same time. Now, this starts looking like a dangerous pattern to her, drowning herself in the sinful sea of love, and every time entrusting her partner with the responsibility of her happiness!

 

As predicted, her life was a mess again. Because if you cannot be happy and content in your own presence, with your own self, you will eventually stifle that one person on whom you have shoved the burden of your happiness. He needed some breathing space. So, he started drifting away and Liz started falling apart, again.

 

Then came her ‘Eureka’ moment, she gave everything away to her bitter and hurting husband, packed her life into a box and set out for Italy. From here on begins her journey of self-discovery and self-love. Yes, that is the word I missed all this while. So, this is it friends, if you can’t love yourself enough how can you love someone else! To get the true love of your life, love yourself a lot.

 

Italy, as fun as ever! The romance in Italy was too good to be true! This time she was completely engrossed romancing Italy, it’s food and its cheerful vibes. Elizabeth felt happy for the first time, happy from deep within, in her own company, with her own self.

 

And from here the journey of self-discovery continues, via India to Bali and back. After finding her happy self, she sets off in search of her spiritual self in India and in Bali she seeks her balance. There she meets the toothless medicine man Ketut, and oh, how adorable he is!

 

She finds it, balance, and enjoys it for a while, till romance enters her life like a violent tornado. This terrifies her, she cannot afford to lose everything that she has gained in the last one year, her so sought after balance. But when all’s well and ends well when Ketut assures her with his wisdom, “Sometimes, losing balance for love is part of balance in life.”

 

I learned a lot too from Ketut, while he was sharing his wisdom with Liz but what stayed on in my mind is this.

 

He had shown Liz a sketch he'd drawn once during meditation. It was an androgynous human figure, standing up, hands clasped in prayer. But this figure had four legs, and no head. Where the head should have been, there was only a wild foliage of ferns and flowers. There was a small, smiling face drawn over the heart. And Ketut said, “To find the balance you want, this is what you must become. You must keep your feet grounded so firmly on the earth that it's like you have four legs, instead of two. That way, you can stay in the world. But you must stop looking at the world through your head. You must look through your heart, instead. That way, you will know God.”