Sunday, November 15, 2015

TOW #9- Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear

Author Elizabeth Gilbert is well-known for her bestselling book, Eat, Pray, Love. The travel memoir sold more than 10 million copies worldwide, spent more than three years on “The New York Times Best Sellers List”, and became a film in 2010. Gilbert’s new book, Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear, offers insights on how to live creatively. Using anecdotes to express her unique perspective, Gilbert inspires readers to uncover the “strange jewels” that are hidden within each of us. By exploring our own curiosity and creativity, we can live with more mindfulness, passion, and joy.
She shares an anecdote about her friend, Susan, who flipped her life around by doing exactly that. When she was in her forties, Susan was feeling "plain" and "bored." Pondering the last time she had felt "free" and "lively," she remembered her pastime of figure skating, which she had quit because she simply wasn't "the best." But after twenty-years, Susan “didn't win medals, wasn't the top but gave back permission to herself to live in a way that made her feel like she was unfolding and becoming more than just an accumulation of her daily obligations.” Gilbert also shares her own generative process and experiences as a writer. Being rejected too many times to count, she encourages readers to do what we love and to face down what we most fear.
Whether we long to write a book, make art, embark on a dream, or figure skate, Gilbert displays the magic in creativity that can bring more joy into our lives. She encourages us to overcome fear and let go of the things holding us back from acting on our ambitions and desires. 

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