This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "Eat Pray Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.
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What does finding your word mean? How does Eat Pray Love explore this idea?
In Eat Pray Love, finding your word is one of Elizabeth Gilbert’s missions. She travels around the world, meets new people, uncovers her spirituality, and eventually chooses her word.
Read more about finding your word in Eat Pray Love and Elizabeth Gilbert’s journey.
Finding Your Word
The idea of finding your word wasn’t always a part of Elizabeth’s quest. Gilbert returned to Rome and was happy to be back among the eclectic and independent Romans after the dark conservative tone of Venice. But she also found she was eager to get to India. She thought Rome was a beautiful city, but she knew it wasn’t her city.
Giulio, her American friend Maria’s husband, helped her realize why she didn’t truly feel connected to the city she’d called home for almost four months. He said each city had a word that described its essence and the essence of the people. In Rome, the word was “sex.” Gilbert argued that not all people were thinking about sex, but Giulio disagreed. Sex oozed through the atmosphere of the city—in the clothes, in the attitudes, in the nightlife, in the food. Whether people were seeking it, refusing it, or trying to ignore it, everything revolved around sex.
Gilbert now understood why Rome was not her city. Her celibacy vow had turned the sex part of her off, so she could never connect with that heart of the culture. She started to wonder what word described her essence. She believed New York’s word was “achieve,” which described her in her twenties. Her family word was somewhere between “frugal” and “irreverent,” but neither of those described her.
Gilbert started to seriously consider what her word was. She knew it wasn’t “marriage” or “family,” which explained why she was miserable in her nuclear community Upstate with her husband. It wasn’t the ambitious tone of “achieve” anymore, but it also wasn’t pure “pleasure.” She realized her journey was likely more about finding her word than anything else. But what does finding your word mean exactly, and how does someone do it?
The Way Forward
Other retreat groups came and went during Gilbert’s last weeks at the Ashram. She continued her duties diligently and experienced turiya a few more times. These experiences changed her to the point that the retreat attendants said she was a stabilizing, peaceful, and spiritual force for them. She had to laugh. In accepting herself as a talker, she’d become the quiet girl.
The scorching summer months were approaching quickly, and the Ashram would soon empty out. Each day, Gilbert said goodbye to friends she’d made during her months there. There was a melancholy feeling in the air, but it was also bittersweet.
During her last week, she found more time to be alone. She was okay with being alone now and could sit in silence for many hours. Her meditative sessions swung between the overwhelming energy of the blue light and quiet calm. Either was fine. She no longer fought the sensations. Now, when thoughts came, she accepted them and moved on. She was so used to the ways of her mind now, there was no need to be confused or affected by it.
On one of her last nights, Gilbert couldn’t sleep. She crawled out of bed and went for a walk. In the garden, she could smell the sweetness of nature. She felt the warm breeze on her skin. It hit her so completely in that moment where she was—India! Like a fledgling learning to fly, she took off through the meadow and frolicked in the moonlight. She hugged a eucalyptus tree and kissed it with love. She saw God in everything around her and knew her prayers had been answered. She was pure joy.
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Like what you just read? Read the rest of the world's best book summary and analysis of Elizabeth Gilbert's "Eat Pray Love" at Shortform .
Here's what you'll find in our full Eat Pray Love summary :
- Why Elizabeth Gilbert needed to divorce her husband
- How she was able to find joy again in Italy
- How Gilbert was able to find balance with Felipe
