The Gift: 12 Lessons to Save Your Life by Dr. Edith Eva Eger
Book Blurb:
Edith Eger’s powerful first book The Choice told the story of her survival in the concentration camps, her escape, healing, and journey to freedom. Oprah Winfrey says, “I will be forever changed by Dr. Eger’s story.” Thousands of people around the world have written to Eger to tell her how The Choice moved them and inspired them to confront their own past and try to heal their pain; and to ask her to write another, more “how-to” book. Now, in The Gift, Eger expands on her message of healing and provides a hands-on guide that gently encourages us to change the thoughts and behaviors that may be keeping us imprisoned in the past.
Eger explains that the worst prison she experienced is not the prison that Nazis put her in but the one she created for herself, the prison within her own mind. She describes the twelve most pervasive imprisoning beliefs she has known—including fear, grief, anger, secrets, stress, guilt, shame, and avoidance—and the tools she has discovered to deal with these universal challenges. Accompanied by stories from Eger’s own life and the lives of her patients each chapter includes thought-provoking questions and takeaways, such as: Would you like to be married to you? Are you evolving or revolving? You can’t heal what you can’t feel.
My Review: 4 stars
The Gift was quite high on my TBR list because I really loved the author’s memoir, which came out just three years ago. I was curious what more she could say in such a short time, but boy, she came out with another punch. And at 93 years young, I suppose she’s got to say everything she has to say as soon as she can write it.
What made The Gift different was how the chapters all started with a comment or question and how to best deal with different life issues. This book touched on her time in the Holocaust but was more forward thinking, dare I say, “self-help.” Her messages hit the reader with a dose of compassion that comes from her experience in life and as a psychologist. I often found myself thinking about my own life through a new lens.
Although this was a fabulous book, I think her first one had me unabashedly engaged as her story from the camps really drew me in. This one, although compelling and interesting, could be read in sections and you can start and stop at your leisure. Both would make an ideal gift for just about anyone you know. Highly recommend.
Quotes I liked:
No more don’t, don’t, don’t. I want to give you lots of dos. I do have a choice. I do have a life to live. I do have a role. I do live in the present. I do pay attention to what I’m focusing on, and it’s definitely in alignment with the goals I’m choosing: what gives me pleasure, what gives me joy.”
“This is how we release ourselves from the prison of avoidance—we let the feelings come. We let them move through us. And then we let them go.”
“But as long as you’re avoiding your feelings, you’re denying reality. And if you try to shut something out and say, “I don’t want to think about it,” I guarantee that you’re going to think about it. So invite the feeling in, sit down with it, keep it company. And then decide how long you’re going to hold on to it. Because you’re not a fragile little somebody. It’s good to face every reality. To stop fighting and hiding. To remember that a feeling is just a feeling—it’s not your identity.”
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