(book review)

About author: Hungarian-born Edith Iva Eger was sent to Auschwitz, the horrific Nazi death camp, with her family as a teenager in 1944. Her parents died there, but she and her sister managed to survive. A few years after her release, Yeger and her husband immigrated to the United States. Celebrating the ninetieth anniversary of the birth of Viktor Frankl at the International Conference on Logotherapy, Edith Egger gave a keynote address. In her nineties, she made her debut with the book ‘Choice,’ and three years later, at the request of readers, she wrote ‘Gift.’

The new book by Edith Egger, psychotherapist and author of two bestsellers, teaches how to take care of your mental health – to live fully and not get stuck in the prison of your own mind. Here you will find 12 unique therapy sessions that will tell you how to perceive your emotions, get rid of the victim complex, heal from childhood trauma, experience loss and grief, how to get out of conflict situations or not get into them, how to accept and love yourself, get rid of guilt, learn to control your fears and cope with anxiety. In each chapter, Dr. Egger shares stories from her own life and her patients, and at the end she offers the keys to getting rid of the problem. These are attitudes, exercises or questions that will help us find a way out of our mental prisons to freedom and joy in life.

“Hope is an investment in curiosity. Get comfortable in a chair or lie down and close your eyes. Relax your body. Take a few deep breaths and focus. Imagine walking along a path or road. You are on your way to seeing your own future. Where are you going? Is it some bright street in the center of the city? Is it a forest? Maybe an alley in the village? Is it a traveler? Remember everything that surrounds you, notice any vivid sensory details, pay attention to signs, aromas, sounds, tastes and physical sensations. Now you are approaching the threshold where you live in the future. Where do you live? Is it a skyscraper? A log house? Or a house with a wide porch? The door opens. You are greeting yourself from the future. What do you look like? What outfit are you wearing? Hug or shake hands. And then ask: “What would you like to tell me?”

I do recommend reading this great book. My rating is 9/10.