I have been thinking a lot about stress and trauma. Part of that has to do with two books I have been reading: The Mindful Body by Ellen Langer and The Myth of Normal by Gabor and  Daniel Maté , who our EASC Vice President recommended recently - both books address these and some other issues. The other reason I have been thinking about trauma is that the EASC had an “It’s EASC Time” led by Daniela Finkelstein about this topic on November 15th.

I would like to review the two books to you.

The Myth of Normal by Gabor and  Daniel Maté is about trauma and how to overcome big and small ones. One of his main points in this book is that the “happy childhood” means no trauma. We all have trauma of some sort, and the book goes into the big ones, but also the small ones. The point is that we all need to work on ourselves, even if we think “Oh, that is just a little thing compared to what is happening now to so many people.” It may be that we only suffered “ a small” trauma, but we still need to work on it. Dr. Gabor and son, Daniel, write about the how to’s, as well as the what kinds and possible origins of trauma. The other main point that is given in this book is that our our fast-paced, productivity/consumer/capitalist/short-term-oriented society is making us all sick. To this point I can heartily agree and part of my job as a supervisor and coach is to help my clients see what is really important for them (meaning in their lives) and to help them move towards this focus and not what the culture wants them to do.

Let us think about this in light of recent history and developments. “Go Global” for a moment:

Wars.

Stress at work and in the home.

AI making EVERYTHING move faster.

Black Friday has become Black Week, followed by Cyber Monday.

What can you add?

The Mindful Body by Ellen Langer is all about how to help our clients move towards health and meaning. Dr. Langer says that, and again I agree, there is no disconnect between body mind and soul. She says they are so interconnected and to treat only the body for an illness is not very good. Dr. Gabor would also agree with this. She, too, gives helpful ideas that i can use to help my clients.

I can heartily recommend both books to you. But if you do not have time, maybe it is a sign that you are too busy and need a coach or supervisor like me help you. Just saying.

Have a healthy week!

Patricia Jehle               patricia@jehle-coaching.com