Good morning dear friends. It’s the 31st of July and there’s already a change, have you felt it? The nights are drawing in, the flowers have gone to sleep, even the air is different, autumn.

These past few days have been dark and grey so I decided to rejig our sitting room because, well, that’s what I do. I’ve pulled the desk back from the window into the corner and rearranged the rest of the furniture. I love a change and it’s really cosy now, a great place for writing plus I like being able to look around the sweep of the room and dare I say it? All’s that missing’s the fire, but it won’t be long. I’m sorry if that upsets you, I can’t help it. I tend to go with the seasons, whatever they want me to do.

So today I thought I’d share two stories I found online that really struck a chord with me. The first is this post from best selling author Elizabeth Gilbert…

‘A few years ago, a woman came into Two Buttons, the store that my husband and I run together. She approached my husband, and told him that she was seeking his advice about her life, because he was that guy from EAT PRAY LOVE.

Promptly, my husband tried to talk her out of asking his advice about anything and instead gave her a glass of wine, as he does for everyone who comes into the shop. But she persisted, and he is polite, so he listened.

She said she was thinking about selling her house, downsizing her life, and going traveling. But she wasn’t sure. She was afraid to let go of her security, and didn’t feel certain that she was meant to be a traveler, and thought she might miss her family if she went off to see the world, but also feared that she might miss out on the adventure of a lifetime if she didn’t go off to see the world….etc, etc. She wrapped it up by asking, “What do YOU think I should do?”

My husband, pouring her more wine, said,

“Oh, darling, why don’t you just relax and do whatever you want with your life? And don’t worry if it turns out well or not! Who cares? After all, you’re going to be dead in 90 years, anyway, so it doesn’t really matter, right? You might as well live exactly the way you want to live right now!”

First of all, this sort of bluntness is why I don’t necessarily recommend that people come into my husband’s shop and ask him for serious advice about their lives…

Secondly, the woman misheard him. When he said, “You’ll be dead in 90 years,” she thought he said, “You’ll be dead in 9 years”, and she panicked in horror. “You’re telling me I’ll be dead in 9 years???!” she said. “How do you know that? Do you see it in my aura? How will I die? Oh my god, this is awful! I’m only 47 years old! I don’t even smoke! How could you say such a thing? You don’t even know me!”

So that didn’t go well.

I winced when my husband told me this story. But then later I thought that maybe it hadn’t been such terrible advice…?

I think sometimes we forget that we are merely temporary visitors to earth, temporary occupants of these bodies. We take our lives perhaps too seriously sometimes when we forget our ultimate destination (whether it’s 90 years or 9 years, after all, eventually we will all be leaving this party).

When we forget our essential transience — when we think that we’re going to be here forever — all of our choices become so weighty, so significant, so intimidating…but we won’t be here forever. So maybe it doesn’t really matter as much as we think it matters?

Maybe you can be a bit lighter about your choices, that being the case?

So what do you want to do before you go? What would be interesting to you? What would bring you enjoyment, or elevation, or transcendence? And what’s to be lost, really, in giving new things a try?

We’re just passing through life. Might as well check it out a bit while we’re here, right?

As for me, I wanted to see some of life from the top of an elephant, so — when I was traveling in India —I did it. I’m glad I did it. It was amazing. I have a bunch of other stuff I want to do before I die, too. But I found this elephant picture this morning and it reminded me of my husband’s encounter with that woman, and the beautiful, liberating temporariness of our lives, and the joy of opening yourself to the new and unfamiliar…and thus: THIS STORY.’

And then a few days later I came across an article intriguingly titled…

‘How I Quit My Job, said ‘Fuck It’ and Became a Best Selling Author.’ Not by the same person I might add! Click HERE.

When I read these things I felt light, happy and most of all inspired and then I did what I always do, connect dots, everything from Viktor Frankl to Alice in Wonderland.

“Man is able to snatch everything except one thing, the last of human freedoms: the choice of an attitude under any given set of circumstances to determine his own path.”
― Viktor E. Frankl

Click image for sourc

These two stories have given me endless material for thinking and good conversation with family and friends these past few days and I love when that happens don’t you? I’d love to stay and chat some more about it but I’ve two small girls swinging out of me here so I can’t right now but I’d love to hear your thoughts in comments.

In the meantime I hope they lighten your mood, put a spring in your step and lead you, if not to leave it all behind, not everyone wants that, but lead you to do something for you, no matter what your circumstance.

Have a great day, chat to you soon

Find Elizabeth Gilbert on FB HERE