"Eat, Pray, Love": Colleen Berliner Responds to Mysterious Magnetic Forces at Work

The following response to yesterday's blog entitled, "Another Recipe for World Peace: Sorting this Love and Chemistry Business" is from my high school classmate, Colleen Berliner. She is writing from Ohio, and just the other side of a recent decision to take a new job - that pays nothing! except compensates her heart and spirit in deeply satisfying ways. I love her statement,

"I think about the mysterious magnet,

and I know that my happenstance decision to take this job was my heart pulling me in a direction I didn't know I wanted to go."

Enjoy! Read on!

Smiles,

MAB

....................................

Melissa,

It's funny you should send this. Of all of the book club books this

year, this one was my favorite. Mainly because I got to experience

the journey of a woman leaving behind what she thought she wanted just

at a time when my life was in transition. I'd lost my job, and I

realized it was a relief. But what to do next? I took a job at my

son's preschool/daycare because I thought it would get me through to

my next "career move."

And it turns out that this job...taking care of other people's

children...is something I'm more passionate about than I could have

ever imagined. I love it. It pays nothing, but I still love it.

There are neglected kids that I wish I could bring home with me, and

guilty conscience moms I wish I could comfort more. Every child makes

me smile in his or her own special way. Even the button pushers!

Every now and again, when I'm covered in drool and mashed bananas and

snot, I think about Elizabeth Gilbert's first nights alone, when she

was crying on the bathroom floor because she felt bad for being so

happy to be leaving her husband. I think about the mysterious magnet,

and I know that my happenstance decision to take this job was my heart

pulling me in a direction I didn't know I wanted to go.

I'm not a consistent responder to your contemplations, but this book

resonated so deeply with me, that I had to say something. Not because

I want to leave Jay...he's the love of my life!!!! But because I know

what it's like to stumble into your heart's journey rather than walk

confidently into it!

It's late on a Saturday, so I hope my ramblings make sense.

And I hope all is well with you in MN!

Peace Out!

Colleen