Several years ago in what feels like a different life, I dived heard first into a journey with reading Eat, Pray, Love. And now, at this point in my life, I literally feel my heart about to pop out of my chest when I'm scrolling my Facebook feed and Elizabeth Gilbert's name pops up. She is a breath of fresh air. Her words always inject such hope and pizzaz into me, even when the day might not be the greatest.
Back in August, when she posted about Rob Bell and I realized his Everything Is Spiritual Tour was actually making a stop in Salt Lake, I jumped on the chance to attend. It was a refreshing change of pace for a date night out. We do like going to movies of course, but sometimes we need to change things up. And what better way to do something different than to spend time bettering yourself and the way you look at life?
Some of my favorite things Rob Bell says: Sometimes you have to reboot everything so you can see things in a whole new way. There is how the universe is, and then there's how your heart works. And what if you could make all sorts of connections between the two? It might just change the way you experience your whole life.
Wow.
Really, what if we were all embraced the notion of moving beyond yourself? Our universe is expanding, all the time. And don't you feel at your best when you're moving beyond yourself? I let all of this sit with me for a day or two and realized how right he is, and how simple it is. I've also been implementing this notion into our parenting, reminding our girl to look outside of herself if she is having a bad day, to find a child at school who could use a friend. When we extend a welcoming hand to someone else, our world is suddenly opened up. It works!
Rob Bell also discussed how to recognize the moments when you are most at peace, and how in that space you are expanding; opening your arms wide and letting people in, letting the world be a part of you, letting love in, letting hope in, letting life in.
It all sounds so simple, but it has the potential to have such a huge impact on your life if you put it into practice. I notice that when I'm overwhelmed I very often tend to shut down and shrink into myself, if you will. Since we saw Rob Bell speak I've really been working on putting a conscious effort into making that choice to make myself available and open, and it has been such a beautiful and refreshing change. I challenge you to start doing the same today in your own life!
