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SADOY, THERESE ZANDRA R.

2B MT
LETS CROSS OVER

You were given life; it is your duty (and also your entitlement as a human being) to find
something beautiful within life, no matter how slight. (Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat Pray Love)
Journeying through life is our choice. In life, we meet experiences that makes up our being
towards a step of transformation. Every step is vital because it draws us nearer and farther
along the path that has been given to us. In the movie Eat Pray Love, Elizabeth Gilbert was able
to find herself breaking through her circumstances in life. She is an unhappy woman that has
been divorced to his husband Steve from an eight year marriage, then had a girlfriend-boyfriend
relationship with a yogi named Dave, and ended up finding her true love with a divorced man
named Philippe. Her journey towards finding herself gave her lessons in life and made her get
over to what life is throwing on her. The journey began when she picture of herself of being a
mother than a wife. She talked to God asking Him on what she should do because she felt like
her marriage is not going to work anymore and the decision not to be married lead her to eat,
pray and love across the world, in Italy, India, and Indonesia.
Gilbert is a global person with 49 stamps on her passport, it is no wonder that she has come
across the world with her identity made up of different cultures that she set for herself. It is
easier for her to understand other people than understanding herself and this personal crisis led
her to find a quest for herself. It is in Italy that she learned a new language and loved the art of
eating spaghetti. It is in India that she found herself meditating through prayers to focus her
mind and alight the elements in cosmic universe to positive thoughts that could her to balancing
her life. It is in Indonesia that she learned to love herself, others and a man.
Elizabeths first destination is in Italy. In Italy, it showed that they value the joys in life and the
importance of intact marriage. Her friend, Luca Spaghetti, taught her the sweetness of doing
nothing. He compared the lifestyle of the American people with their lifestyle. For him, American
people are unhappy people because all they do is to work and dont know how to relax and let
go of things. Americans know entertainment but the entertainment for them is equated to
pleasure. Dolce far Niente or the sweetness of doing nothing does not mean being lazy, it is
referring to the pleasure one gets from being idle.It is the ability to completely enjoy and savor a
moment. For Italians this concept is a part of every day life; spending time with friends at a caf,
sipping wine at sunset, talking a stroll around the moonlit piazza. Dolce far Niente is something
Italians embrace and something they do very well. Also for Italians, they value marriage. It is like
you have something odd in you if you are not married. For the first four months in Italy Elizabeth
devotes herself to simple pleasures. This corresponds to the Eat portion of the memoir. She
flies to Rome, where she surrenders to physical pleasures, such as tasting the great food like
spaghetti and drink wine that only Italy can offer.
Gilberts next destination is to a Hindu ashram in India. Indians are depicted in the movie to
have culture with close connection to the cosmic realm, and bound by traditions and religious
beliefs. Gilbert spended her stay at the internationalized ashram of a famous guru. She goes out
occasionally for a meal, but never interacts with any other part of India. Her Texas mentor,
Richard, tells her, Dont touch anything, other than yourself. She interacts almost exclusively
with other expats during her time in the country. Liz doesnt come to India to experience the
culture she comes to be enlightened and to learn to pray. The focus of Lizs spiritual practices
is chanting difficult scriptures and focusing on her daily meditation. She found the India as a
spiritual place as to where she found herself mentally. In the part where Liz was assigned to
assist foreigners in the ashram, an elephant drew near to her. Wisdom is represented by the
elephant in the form of the deity Ganesh, one of the most popular gods in the Hindu religion's
pantheon. Sometimes known as Ganesha, this deity is very distinctive in having a human form
with the head of an elephant.

Elizabeths last leg of the trip was in Bali, Indonesia. She wants to find a balance between the
worldly pleasure that Italy has given to her and the spiritual satisfaction that she got from India.
Indians are shown to be hospitable and accommodating to guests, yet still, they have spiritual
beliefs that influences them. In Bali, Liz went back to Ketut who is a spiritual healer which in the
earlier part of the film adviced her to go back to Bali after one year. In Indonesia not only she
found to love herself but she learned to love others as well. She helped Wayan, a medicine
woman who proves to be a very important person in her emotional education, to raise funds for
her daughter. She met Wayan when Philippe has caused her an accident. Wayan was the one
who healed her through the alternative medicines such as banana leaves to heal her wound. In
Indonesia, she learned to let go of what is due to her and had the opportunity to love another
man.
Throughout her journey, Elizabeth learned that life, love and faith are three essential things in a
human being. Her faith was recovered by summoning God and talking to him that drew her
nearer to the joy she wanted to attain. The cross-cultural context of the movie does not indicate
that one culture is inferior or superior to the other. Having a Turkey on a Thanksgiving is not a
practice in Italy. So as in Italy, kissing other people and petting is normal but in Indonesia, it is a
taboo. Divorce is normal in New York city but it is not practiced in Bali. Using banana leaves to
heal other persons wounds is a practice in Indonesia while in New York, other medical practices
are being made. Praying to saints in Italy is common while in India their practice is praying to
animals and gurus. The culture in every place is different that makes it beautiful. For every place
that she went through, she learned a piece that made her grasp about the beautiful things in life
despite of the brokenness that she had experienced. In Italy, Elizabeth decided that her Italian
favorite word is attraversiamo. It translates to mean, lets cross over. It is a rather plain word
used by average people walking down the street. For apparent reason, the meaning of the word
had a place in my heart and mind. It has a deeper meaning for me that means more than just
changing location and direction. For me, it is about changing your state of mind and that is it for
Liz. She is now embracing a new life by changing her mind sets in life.

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