Book Bites: 3 Sentence Intro About What This Story Is

Gathered from experiences throughout her life and career, Gilbert offers inspiring wisdom regarding her relationship to creativity. She discusses the mindset and habits to help everyone tap into human nature’s most natural and unique gift: creativity. A heartwarming, empowering, and relatable book that allows us to further understand ourselves and our individual skills and talents to build a powerful connection with Big Magic.

*As usual, to see the official book teaser/summary of this, go to anywhere books are found and read up more about what this book is about.

Now on to My Commentary (**May Contain Spoilers: Read at Your Own Risk)

I first came across Big Magic when a writing class brought this book to my attention. Honestly, I never cared for any of Elizabeth Gilbert’s work before. I thought Eat Pray Love was overhyped. But I decided to that this book might be worthwhile to help me get out of my writing slump and combat my insecurities.

Truly Transformative

Big Magic was better than I ever could have imagined. So much so that I deeply regretted my rash judgment of Gilbert and her work. I never thought how much her words could impact me, how I instantly connected with them, reading them as if they came out of my own personal diary. This book held more than just practical self-help tips and advice for individuals in the creative fields. It was a spiritual awakening. Her words helped fertilize the creativity and imagination that I felt was dying inside me. Gilbert speaks to more than just how to navigate the rough, uncharted waters of pursuing a career in the arts. She opens up your heart to understanding how to be your best, most creative self. And regardless of what your actual career is, each individual will easily relate to the intimate and honest anecdotes she shares in Big Magic.

What the Heck is Big Magic?!

And as the title implies, Big Magic speaks to exactly that: magic. Not in the fantastical way, but in the metaphysical sense. So, not a surprise that her words resonated with me so well as I, myself, am a big believer in the magical and interconnected serendipitous events the universe brings us. Ahem – it was no coincidence some powerful force nagged me to read this book.

Gilbert explains that ideas are constantly floating around in the world just waiting for a human to hear and accept its call. Ideas are endless and very adaptive. If we accept the idea when it comes knocking, we produce something great with it. Though some ideas come to us but maybe we’re not the one meant to translate that into a tangible product. If we don’t accept the idea, it continues to float through the world until it finds the one or ones who will accept it and produce something with this idea. Interesting, right? This is just a snippet of the “big magic” she talks about. And by the way, the book explains these concepts soooooo much better so read it.

The Mentor/Friend/Teacher We All Need

This book is an easy, entertaining read that will have you laughing, crying, and jumping up with renewed motivation and inspiration to get out there and create like you were meant to do. The conversational tone allows you to feel like you’re getting much needed personal advice from a mentor and friend.

I keep this book near me and bookmark all the pieces that speak to me so that whenever I feel scared, doubtful, or insecure, I would open up this book and get reassurance that everything will be okay. That you have to fail or make mistakes sometimes, but you should never allow yourself to give up on yourself and your craft. That you are your best, strongest advocate.

This book will give you a no non-sense lesson so that you can achieve your best. Gilbert doesn’t sugarcoat her words. It’s the real talk that we all need. She writes with the wisdom of someone who is very self-aware, understanding the importance of the lessons (all the challenges and achievements) life has thrown her way. She’s insightful and observant of the world around her and appreciates how the world offers her inspiration to help her produce her best work. Gilbert’s accomplishments are certainly a testament to her shameless dedication towards writing. And Big Magic inspires you to continue working on your own craft with the same shameless, enthusiastic dedication.

Trust that the magic has always been then alongside you. You just need to believe it. Haha, this sound like a Disney movie, yet?

**Bonus Nugget of Wisdom: You reach new heights when you are in your element. In order for you to be in your element, it takes self-reflection, experimentation and tuning into your heart’s compass (intuition). And trust you will understand where to go when you tap into your heart’s compass – it will feel right internally, despite the upcoming challenges, fears, doubts. Something will just continue to pull you in a certain direction that lights up your heart. Don’t mistake momentary pleasure for the actual light that fills your heart. This is where self-reflection and self-awareness is crucial.

Final Thoughts

If you’re having a tough time – whether you’re a creative going through a slump, experiencing a huge life change, or just plain having a bad day (Daniel Powter, anyone? No, just me?), give this book a shot. For me it was an unexpected treat. It could be the same for you.

Check out this book if it piques your interest. Hope you enjoy it as your next read or a re-read!

And remember, “Every story is worth the read. Someone (some poor, overworked, ink-stains-on-the-clothes lovely soul) took the time to write it.”