Word!

I'm re-reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert because the movie is coming out soon! It's about a woman in her early 30s that seems to have it all-husband, country home, successful career-but instead of feeling happy and fulfilled, she felt consumed by panic and confusion. This insightful and funny book is the story of how she left behind all these outward marks of success and what she found in its place as she journeys through Italy, India, and Indonesia for a year.

I just got done with the Italy section and one of the most intriguing thing she brings up is this 'word' concept. As she is sitting with a friend in a Rome cafe she can't figure out how all these types of people live there yet she doesn't feel like its home. Her friend tells her "...maybe you and Rome just have different words. Don't you know that the secret to understanding a city and its people is to learn what the word of the street is?" He explains that every city has a single word that defines it, that identifies most people who live there. If you could read people's thoughts as they were passing you on the streets, you would discover that most of them are thinking the same thought. Whatever the majority thought might be-that is the word of the city. And if your personal word does not match the word of the city, then you don't really belong there. The word of Rome is SEX. The Vatican is POWER. New York is ACHIEVE. LA is SUCCEED. Naples is FIGHT...

She tries to figure out what her word might be...maybe...SEEK or better yet HIDE...which leads me to ponder what my word maybe...maybe its COMPLICATED or SEARCHING?! I had this talk with my friend Scott and he decided that it is FUN-SIZED...but that is 2 words! And lately I don't know if I'm so much fun...(Scott's is PICTURE, as he takes all of my fabulous pictures and he is an artist)

I'd love to know what your word is...and your city too...

After much contemplation, I've decided my word is MINDFUL...I've come full circle in so many ways but it's only now that I'm starting to connect ideas and concepts and seeing things for the first time in a different light. I've learned that we are all projectors of our own thoughts and story. The projector does not change, its the film that we place in it that changes. I'm mindful of my thoughts and emotions. I let it penetrate me and then I let it go. When I let go of my thoughts and self doubt, the thought eventually lets go of me and I'm free. When I'm free from this suffering, I move with clarity and courage. I have the ability to choose my happiness and realize I'm in total control of myself. What others and God does is their business and it all works out better than I could imagine or will it to be. With this mindfulness I'm finding BALANCE.