For the last several months many people have been reading the book Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. Being on the New York Times bestseller list and an Oprah pick has created quite a readership for this memoir of one woman’s spiritual quest. It is a great account of her pilgrimage through Italy, India and Indonesia as she searches for ways to make sense of the tragedies and insights of her life while moving into her future with hope.

Memoir is a fascinating genre of literature. It presupposes that any given life is interesting enough and instructive enough that other people will want to read about it. The truth is that each of our lives is worthy of memoir…..the writing down of our experiences, our relationships, our search for meaning……but most of us never think to do so. Ms. Gilbert, already a journalist, simply took the time and effort to write her story probably funded by a nice advance. And her story has touched the imaginations of many readers and helped them see their own life path in new ways, incorporating the wisdom inherent in Eastern culture.

Of all the things I found entertaining and interesting in the book, the words spoken to her by her funky little Yoda-like teacher in Bali, keep coming back to me. "You make serious face like this, you scare away good energy. To meditate, only you must smile. Smile with face, smile with mind, and good energy will come to you and clean away dirty energy. Even smile in your liver. Not to hurry, not to try too hard. Too serious, you make you sick. You can calling the good energy with a smile."  It should be noted that Elizabeth’s gift to her teacher, in exchange for his wisdom, was teaching him to speak English. Clearly, some of the syntax was yet to be understood!

But these are powerful words…..smile in your liver….that organ that cleans out all the toxins and junk that gets pulled in through a variety of entry points. Over the last few weeks I have been trying to smile in my liver. In a meeting that seems to be dragging or creating lots of negative thoughts, I focus on an internal smile. When I am stuck in traffic and will be late to wherever I’m headed, I let the muscles in my face relax and put allow my inner self to smile all the way down to the gas pedal. When confronted by a rude or angry person, I breathe deeply and give attention to my inner smiling practice. Right now I am smiling……are you?

To Westerners this concept may seem, as one of my colleagues always says, "Just plain goofy". But I believe there is a deep wisdom in this practice. Another wisdom teacher, Jesus, told the people of his time: "Do not worry about your life. Look at the birds of the air. Consider the lilies of the field. Have faith."

Life is, of course, filled with serious business.But it seems to me the gift of this practice is that it allows us to be open to all the possibilities for creative solutions, for being open to how Spirit is moving among all the moments of each day. "Too serious, you make you sick."  Wise words……right now I am smiling in my liver. It feels good.

Enjoy this long weekend…….