In this video from a TED conference in March, Elizabeth Gilbert reflects on why success can be as disorienting as failure and offers a simple—though hard—way to carry on, regardless of outcomes.

“I’m going to take you on a voyage and we’re going to go very far together—through time and through space and through history.” In this trailer for The Signature of All Things (Viking Adult, 2013) author Elizabeth Gilbert explains the florid inspiration for her book.

She may be done giving public talks about Eat, Pray, Love, but this clip from 2009 is worth another look. In it Gilbert offers a refreshing way to think about creativity. "Somehow we've completely internalized and accepted, collectively, this notion that creativity and suffering are somehow inherently linked and that artistry, in the end, will ultimately lead to anguish," she says. "Are you guys all cool with that idea?"