What an amazing book!!! It was recommended by Laura C. and gifted by Marisol on my trip to New York where I gave Marisol the opportunity to be the boss of me for one day. Part of that day was a trip to Barns and Nobles (the rest of that day is a story for another time – maybe…) this is one of the book I took home with me.
The book is “By River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept” a small but powerful book. It took me all of a day to read and only a moment to be completely captivated. It’s a sweet love story; where love and spirituality are metaphorically interchangeable.
With every page I was inspired to look inside myself; to think about my life and consider my path and my choices. It reminded me of a time in my life of simple, pure and raw love. Love for the sake of love, no definitions, and no expectations just him and me and the need to be, just be forever. As the years go by it gets more complicated, but it doesn’t have to, it can still just be about a boy and a girl or a girl and her faith. Spirituality simplified. Love simplified. Simple, Pure and Raw.
“And you? Who are you?”...“I am just like everyone else who listens to their heart: a person who is enchanted by the mystery of life, who is open to miracles, who experiences joy and enthusiasm for what they do. It’s just that the Other, afraid of disappointment, kept me from taking action.
“But there is suffering in life,” …“And there are defeats. No one can avoid them. But it is better to lose some of the battles in the struggle for your dreams than be defeated without ever knowing what you’re fighting for.”
“… Afraid of disappointment, kept me from taking action”. I love that! OMG, how often do we hold back because of fear; missed out on experiencing life for fear of being hurt, fear of disappointment, or fear of loss. But we have to risk our sanity, our hearts and our dreams to gain happiness. If we don’t, what’s the point? What are we protecting? The alternative is “…to be defeated without ever knowing what you’re fighting for.”
The main character Pilar goes on a journey with an old childhood friend. Despite her better judgment, she breaks free from the safety of her structured life and takes a chance and for a moment she lives.
My favorite passage:
"I began to imagine how I would like to be living right at that moment. I wanted to be happy, curious and joyful- living every moment intensely , drinking the water of life thirstily. Believing again in my dreams. Able to fight for what I wanted.
Loving a man who loved me.
Yes, that was the woman I wanted to be- the woman who was suddenly presenting herself and becoming me. I felt that at that moment, the Other left my body and was standing in the corner of that small room.
I observed the woman I had been up until then: weak but trying to give the impression of strength . Fearful of everything but telling herself it wasn’t fear - it was the wisdom of someone who knew what reality was. Putting up shutters in front of windows to keep the joy of the sun from entering - just so the sun’s rays wouldn’t fade my old furniture. I looked at the Other, there in the corner of the room- fragile, exhausted, disillusioned. Controlling and enslaving what should really be free: her emotions. Trying to judge her future loves by her past suffering.
But love is always new. Regardless of whether we love once, twice or a dozen times in our life, we always face a brand-new situation. Love can consign us to hell or to paradise, but always takes us somewhere. We simply have to accept it, because it’s what nourishes our existence. If we reject it, we die of hunger, because we lack the courage to stretch out a hand and pluck the fruit from the branches of the tree of life. We have to take love where we find it, even if that means hours, days, weeks of disappointments and sadness.
The moment we begin to seek love, love begins to seek us.
And to save us."
No matter who we are, or where we are in life; we are always in search, or at lease we should be. Seeking to renew ourselves, to improve ourselves, and on some level wanting to be loved. There is always room for improvement in every relationship, even within us ourselves. How often do we allow our past to taint the now? We allow the petty yesterday to choke out the happiness we can have today.
“Pay attention to every moment, because the opportunity – the ’magic moment’ – is within our reach…”