Elizabeth carried me happily along with her on her year long journey to three countries - Italy, India and
Indonesia and because her writing so captivated me with the touchingly personal, introspective and humorous stories, I, without hesitation, went right along for the bumpy ride of her inward journey too, leaving me feeling like I'd just eaten a dish of ice cream (with chocolate sauce) - it was sweet, relaxing, self-indulgent, slightly decadent and totally enjoyable. After a divorce and a failed relationship Elizabeth decided to take herself away for a year to study pleasure in Italy, spirituality in India, and to hopefully find balance in Indonesia. Her ability to find the comic details of every day life is powerful and I chuckled my way through her tears and self-discovery. She was able to describe the essence of other people so vividly that they might as well be standing before you. In Italy, she learned Italian and ate Italian food, gaining a few pounds with much pleasure and no guilt. She then moved on to an ashram in India to study the Buddhist, yogic,
meditation thought that "desire is the design flaw". It was there where she met her friend Richard, from Texas, who informed her that her problem with not getting over her broken
romance was that she was putting her "wishbone where her backbone" ought to be. With a few other valuable words of wisdom from Richard, her guru's training and from a few dreams she had herself, she felt herself expanding with the knowledge that God was within her. Then she was off to Bali for the last leg of her quest to learn to balance all of life by studying side by side with a medicine man. The medicine man is a delight to know, as is her relationship with another new friend, Waylan. This book is really a love story - how to fall in love with yourself and when you do, the greatest reward is that someone else will most likely fall in love with you too.