Elizabeth Gilbert is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Big Magic and Eat, Pray, Love as well as several other international bestsellers. Her latest novel, City of Girls, was named an instant New York Times bestseller. Go to ElizabethGilbert.Substack.com to subscribe to “Letters From Love with Elizabeth Gilbert,” her newsletter, which has more than 120,000 subscribers.

This episode was originally published in September 2024. Show notes and links: https://tim.blog/2024/09/26/elizabeth-gilbert-2/

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Timestamps:

[00:00:00] Who is Elizabeth Gilbert?

[00:05:42] No cherished outcomes.  

[00:10:55] Self-compassionate ownership of responsibility.  

[00:15:52] The daily practice of writing letters from love.  

[00:22:22] Two-way prayer vs. one-way prayer.  

[00:30:57] The male approach to this practice.  

[00:34:27] How do you feel toward yourself vs. about yourself?  

[00:36:53] Understanding self-hatred to foster self-friendliness.  

[00:43:20] Setting boundaries and dealing with those who refuse to honor them.  

[00:50:15] Why (and how) Elizabeth avoids big family holiday gatherings.  

[00:52:15] Comfort in solitude.  

[00:53:38] Much abuzz about Elizabeth’s new ‘do.  

[00:57:52] Boundaries, priorities, and mysticism: a relaxed woman as a radical concept.  

[01:04:02] What mysticism brings to Elizabeth’s reality.  

[01:07:26] A better question to ask than “What do I want?”  

[01:09:32] Elizabeth’s hard-ass approach to project commitment.  

[01:16:40] Creativity guidance from Elizabeth’s higher power.  

[01:21:08] How *The Morning Pages* influenced *Eat, Pray, Love*.  

[01:24:27] More productive questions to ask than “Why?”  

[01:26:16] The pointlessness of purpose anxiety.  

[01:30:59] Balancing presence with other aspects of a well-lived life.  

[01:36:17] Comfort with mortality.  

[01:40:21] What motivates Elizabeth’s *Letters from Love* newsletter?  

[01:41:29] What can potential readers expect from this newsletter?  

[01:46:33] “Is the universe friendly?” — Frederic W. H. Myers  

[01:49:29] Parting thoughts.  

*

Show notes for this episode: https://tim.blog/2024/09/26/elizabeth-gilbert-2/

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