The Gift - 12 Lessons to save your life - Edith Eger

Summary

• Edith Eger has lead a pretty eventful life. She lived through World War II and survived incarceration in Auschwitz. Then she emigrated to the USA and at 50 years old went back to school to study psychology. Eventually she started her own practise and this really is the condensation of the wisdom gleaned from her work. Also, she wrote this book at the age of 93.

How the book changed me

• You can go through rough times and come out successfully on the other side

Details

• Our worst experiences can be our best teachers
• Replace dysfunctional habits with healthy ones
• Create a culture of joy of achievement not self-aggrandizement
• Spend 5 minutes a day savoring something
• You will be fifty anyway - dont let age prevent you from change
• Use language that will motivate us. For example "I need to, or I want to, but" makes it sound like a chore. Better "I choose to, I can, I will"
• When things are bad, dont minimize our pain. But recognizing that it hurts, but its temporary will help us deal with it

Quotes

• Guilt is in the past, worry is in the future. The only thing you can change is right here in the present - Dr Edith Eger