Choice. About freedom and inner strength of a person

One of the most powerful books about war and the inner strength of a person. In 1944, sixteen-year-old ballerina Edith Eger was sent to Auschwitz with her family. Just hours after the death of her parents, Nazi doctor Josef Mengele forced Edith to dance for her own amusement and her own survival. Edith and her sister survived all the horrors of Auschwitz, Mauthausen and Gunskirchen - the death camps. On May 4, 1945, Edith, barely alive, was pulled out of a pile of corpses. Torture, hunger and the constant threat of death did not break Edith, and her inner world helped her find life-affirming strength and spiritual freedom. 35 years after the end of the war, having become a famous psychologist, Edith returned to Auschwitz to get rid of memories of the past and survivor's guilt. Edith intersperses her personal journey with touching stories of those she has helped heal. This book is an unforgettable story of survival and healing, a story of liberation and the strength of the human spirit. It shows that we can always choose what life teaches us and how we relate to what happens. This is a life-changing book that will empower generations of readers. Key features of the book: — Written by a woman who survived the death camps during the war and later became an outstanding psychologist. — Can change your attitude to life and show that we can choose what our experiences teach us. — A Sunday Times, New York Times, and Amazon bestseller. — Winner of the 2017 National Jewish Book Award and the 2018 Christopher Award. — Book of the Year 2019 according to the editors of MYTH. — Recommended reading by Bill Gates and Oprah Winfrey. From the author: My past still haunted me: every time I heard a siren, heavy footsteps, or people screaming, I got an anxious, confusing feeling. This is what I once learned is trauma: when you have a gut feeling most of the time that something is wrong or that something terrible is about to happen; if fear immediately causes an involuntary reaction in the body, telling me to flee, to find shelter, to hide from the danger that is everywhere. My trauma can still be triggered by some everyday encounter. A sudden look or a specific smell can throw me back into the past. Now, as I write this book, more than seventy years have passed. What happened can no longer be changed, and it is impossible to forget it. But over time, I realized that I can choose how to react to the past. I can feel unhappy and I can be full of hope, I can feel depressed and I can be happy. We always have such a choice, we have the opportunity to control. I am here and now, this is the present - I have trained myself to repeat this over and over again until the panic subsides. [...] Whatever stage of your life you are at now: whether you are enjoying early youth, have entered middle age or have reached old age; whether you have known deep suffering or are just beginning to face difficulties; Whether you are experiencing your first love or, in old age, seeing your life partner off forever; whether you are recovering from an event that turned your whole life upside down or are waiting for at least some changes that can make your life more joyful - in any case, I will be happy to help you. I will tell you how to find a way to escape from your internal concentration camp created by your consciousness; how to become who you are meant to be. I would like to help you find freedom: independence from the past, from failures and fears, from anger and mistakes, from regrets and inescapable grief - the freedom to enjoy the boundless and generous feast of life. We cannot order a life for ourselves in which there would be no place for grief and pain. But we can choose to be free, to escape the past and, regardless of what has befallen us, to embrace everything possible. And I invite you to make the choice in favor of freedom. [...] For Friday dinner, Mom always baked challah. Like the Sabbath bread woven from three strips of dough, my book consists of three lines - the story of my survival, the story of my healing, and the stories of the dear people I had the honor of leading on the path to liberation. I have presented my experiences as I remember them. The stories about my patients reflect the essence of their cases accurately, but I have changed the names and nuances by which they could be recognized. Now you will read the story of choices - sometimes big, sometimes small - choices that can lead a person from trauma to victory, from darkness to light, from imprisonment to liberation. Who is this book for: For those interested in books about the inner strength of a person. For those who want to learn about the role of art in overcoming the horrors of war and finding spiritual freedom. For everyone interested in the psychology of human relationships.