RaNDom tHOUghts ON LoVe...

The actual "meaning" or description of love as an emotion is almost impossible to describe. People have spent ages trying to do it justice and have -I suspect- barely even come close to it.

I am by no means an authority on it, that is for sure...but I am a seeker of it -as we all are. It seems to elude me on a regular basis though...I get a brief glimpse, what feels only like a second- just to be disappointed at the disappearance of it once again...

Is love a sustainable emotion between people? Even within the sacredness of family? If it is, don't we have to tap into something much deeper, something much bigger to really, truly experience it?

Isn't love something that needs to be cared for and nurtured, grown and then finally harvested...? Or is it there with no effort at all? That is what we are told, "love is everywhere" but I don't know... I mean just because we are supposed to love someone doesn't mean we will... and just because it's not in our "best interest" or someone might not be the best person for us doesn't mean we will stop loving them once we already do...

I am sure I have only begun to understand and experience this emotion. And maybe its not an emotion for understanding... but I hope to become much more familiar with it...I honestly hope we can become the best of friends, Love and I.

Eat. Pray. Love.

In between the 100,000,000 things I have to do everyday and the 1000,000,000 things I want to do everyday I am reading this book called Eat Pray Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert. I am sure many of you have heard of it. It is about her journeys to Italy, Indonesia and India after she is devastated by a divorce....She is in Italy right now, speaking(learning) Italian, eating good food and enjoying the dolce vita (the good life)...

I am from Italian decent. My mother grew up in Vicenza, my dad was second generation Sicilian, and most of my relatives still live there. I have been to Italy a few times so I as I read along I feel like I am right there with her. There is a part in the book where she is talking to one of her Italian friends and they are comparing the Italian vs American work habits.

Her friend tells her that the Italians work very very hard but they actually resent it because what they are most interested in, at the end, middle and beginning of the day, is cultivating a well know Italian philosophy of Il bel far niente...the beauty of doing nothing.

As for us Americans, Gilbert points out the statics that say Americans have an inability to relax...as a matter of fact most Americans feel more happy and fulfilled in their offices than they do in their home!! To directly quote her "Americans work harder and longer and more stressful hours than anyone in the world today...and they seem to like it...of coarse we inevitable work too hard, then we get burned out and have to spend the whole weekend in our pajamas, eating cereal straight our of the box and staring at the TV in a mild comma...Americans don't really know how to do nothing."

Wow, did this ever ring true when I read it! I have made some great strides away from being that American but from time to time I can still find myself on the couch!! So, I don't know about you but I am going to take lead from our Italian friends and start cultivating...Il bel far niente! In between all I have to do of coarse!!