We gallop through our lives like circus performers balancing on two speeding side-by-side horses--one foot is on the horse called "fate," the other on the horse called "free will." And the question you have to ask every day is--which horse is which? Which horse do I need to stop worrying about because it's not under my control, and which do I need to steer with concentrated effort?

Elizabeth Gilbert

Categorized in : Two Fate Horse

I've never seen any life transformation that didn't begin with the person in question finally getting tired of their own bullshit.

Elizabeth Gilbert

transformation bullshit tired

If you're brave enough to leave behind everything familiar and comforting, which can be anything from your house to bitter, old resentments, and set out on a truth-seeking journey, either externally or internally, and if you are truly willing to regard everything that happens to you on that journey as a clue and if you accept everyone you meet along the way as a teacher and if you are prepared, most of all, to face and forgive some very difficult realities about yourself, then the truth will not be withheld from you.

Elizabeth Gilbert

journey teacher reality

Tis' better to live your own life imperfectly than to imitate someone else's perfectly.

Elizabeth Gilbert

being-yourself positivity life

The resting place of the mind is the heart. The only thing the mind hears all day is clanging bells and noise and argument, and all it wants is quietude. The only place the mind will ever find peace is inside the silence of the heart. That's where you need to go.

Elizabeth Gilbert

silence mind heart

The world is like a dropped pie most of the time. Don't kill yourself trying to put it back together. Just grab a fork and eat some of it off the floor. Then carry on.

Elizabeth Gilbert

pie together trying

You may return here once you have fully come to understand that you are always here.

Elizabeth Gilbert

return may

Writing is not like dancing or modeling; it's not something where-if you missed it by age 19-you're finished. It's never too late. Your writing will only get better as you get older and wiser. If you write something beautiful and important, and the right person somehow discovers it, they will clear room for you on the bookshelves of the world-at any age. At least try.

Elizabeth Gilbert

dancing writing beautiful

Creativity itself doesn't care at all about results - the only thing it craves is the process. Learn to love the process and let whatever happens next happen, without fussing too much about it. Work like a monk, or a mule, or some other representative metaphor for diligence. Love the work. Destiny will do what it wants with you, regardless.

Elizabeth Gilbert

creativity destiny care

You need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you select your clothes every day. This is a power you can cultivate. If you want to control things in your life so bad, work on the mind. That's the only thing you should be trying to control.

Elizabeth Gilbert

clothes change happiness

A true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that is holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life.

Elizabeth Gilbert

soulmate flames mirrors

What are you willing to give up, in order to become who you really need to be?

Elizabeth Gilbert

giving-up order needs

There is so much about my fate that I cannot control, but other things do fall under the jurisdiction. I can decide how I spend my time, whom I interact with, whom I share my body and life and money and energy with. I can select what I can read and eat and study. I can choose how I'm going to regard unfortunate circumstances in my life-whether I will see them as curses or opportunities. I can choose my words and the tone of voice in which I speak to others. And most of all, I can choose my thoughts.

Elizabeth Gilbert

attitude life fall

Do not apologize for crying. Without this emotion, we are only robots.

Elizabeth Gilbert

robots sad emotion

We all want things to stay the same. Settle for living in misery because we are afraid of change, of things crumbling to ruins. Ruin is a gift. Ruin is the road to transformation.

Elizabeth Gilbert

crumbling hard-times inspirational

I decide every day that I love Creativity enough to accept that Fear will always come with it. And I talk to Fear all the time, speaking to it with love and respect, saying to it: “I know that you are Fear, and that your job is to be afraid. And you do your job really well! I will never ask you to leave me alone or to be silent, because you have a right to speak your own voice, and I know that you will never leave me alone or be silent, anyhow. But I need you to understand that I will always choose Creativity over you.

Elizabeth Gilbert

creativity voice jobs

a woman's place is in the kitchen...sitting in a comfortable chair, with her feet up, drinking a glass of wine and watching her husband cook dinner.

Elizabeth Gilbert

heartbreak husband love

God dwells within you, as you.

Elizabeth Gilbert

eat-pray-and-love bali-eat-pray-love eat-love-pray

You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestation of your own blessings.

Elizabeth Gilbert

eat-love-pray follow-your-dreams blessing

There is hardly a more gracious gift that we can offer somebody than to accept them fully, to love them almost despite themselves.

Elizabeth Gilbert

offering acceptance love

I am stronger than depression and I am braver than loneliness and nothing will ever exhaust me.

Elizabeth Gilbert

eat-love-pray stronger loneliness