‼️ The Myth of Normal by Gabor Maté ‼️

 52/∞

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/+⭐️⭐️

👉 Buy this book! 👈 through my link and help me build this website! 😊

📚 Length: 288 pages

🔊Audiobook: 5 hours and 51 minutes

Why you should read this book?

💡You learn about the importance of authenticity 

💡 Anger is healthy. Feel free to express it more often.

💡Nowadays, people work more for less then they did 100 years ago. Which means they have less free time and less time to process things.

This is the newest book written by Gabor Maté and it combines knowledge from all his books published until now. Therefore I consider it to be a true masterpiece bolstered up with the newest research. 

So why it is called "The Myth of Normal"? Because being "normal" is a myth. In the other words, nobody is normal... We are all damaged by living life on the planet Earth. We all have been traumatised in a certain sense and we need to understand that nobody is perfect and nobody could have possibly escape the experience of being traumatised.

We can easily say that this book lightly taps on the knowledge of Maté’s other three books. In case you are interested broader and deeper information on these topics such as the Attention Deficit Disorder, see Scattered Minds, if you are interested in addiction see In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts and if in autonomous decease see When the Body Says No.

...

I’m planning on to review all Maté’s books he published so far. I find his narrative very interesting and smooth. Now, I shall present you with the most interesting facts I have learnt so far:

Processing out experiences

Trauma exposure puts us at the higher risk of cancer even decades after the initial exposure. You have to understand that trauma is the result of something what happens in the inside of us when something on the outside happens. The same events does not need to be necessarily traumatic for the same people.

I think human beings have problem with processing traumas because we are way too smart and sensitive. We also live in a completely different environment then we used to before we created civilisation.

Work more, get paid less, have less time for yourself

Did you know, that in the West we are forced to work longer hours for less money than our great grandfathers did? As the consequence we have less time for our children, family and friends. We feel lonelier then we ever did in history. The modern way of life is far away from what we were designed for as human beings being wired for connectedness and cooperation. We are being exploited by evil capitalist companies which do not pay us well and do not provide us with enough free time.

The capitalist system handles the resources in the hands of few while the rest is going to remain poor. Until there will be another great revolution and people will take their power back. So become woke and do not work for employers who pay miserably.

Authenticity

Let’s start with the Bob Marley’s quote:

“The problem is people are being hated when they are real and being loved when they are fake.“

I cannot agree more with this quote. The journey of being authentic starts within you, by admitting that you are not perfect and you cannot be. Being authentic for me means accepting your imperfections and being open to other people.

We all have to admit we sometimes wanted to fit in. To be loved and accepted, but what if it was based on something we are not…

I love authentic people and I always tried to be as authentic as I could be. The thing is, there are also moments when I really want to fit in. But don’t we all?

Rappers call it “to be real“. So be real mofos, fuck yeah! 😁

Healthy anger

I tell you, guys, I love Gabor speaking about healthy anger. I consider myself to be an extremely angry person! 😡✊ In my family disagreement was not allowed. I therefore learnt to suppress my emotions since early childhood. Only now, 30 years old, I’m realising it is okay to get angry… It is okay to say you do not like something or somebody… 

Your anger is like an energy, which wants to escape your body! It wants out and tell the world of how do you feel! If yoIf you suppress your anger, you are going to become depressed. What is the root of the word depression? To de-press something. To keep quite to not to speak about something what is important to you. 

Autonomous diseases

Are deceases which happen inside of the body when the immune system fights against itself. It is proven that autonomous deceases are caused by external factors such as above mentioned racism, suppression of anger and so on.

Many of those autonomous deceases are mystery for doctors. 

Racism kills

We see the body and the mind as two separate entities. But they are not separate, they are one. It is not surprise that the way we are being treated externally influences the way we feel inside. Racism literally kills people and shortens their lives, which is proven by looking on part of DNA called telomeres. 

I picked the topic of racism because I lived in pre-Brexit UK. In my opinion, the country was extremely racist, I was called an Eastern European all the time. It was pissing me off. Being an Eastern European = being an immigrant and the word immigrant had not a positive connotation in the UK. Every immigrant in the UK = bum on a dole, at least this is how Britons see it. It is not true, of course.

Now imagine you are not an Eastern European (who are still white as the native Britons are), but you are an indigenous or you belong to some other race and you are constantly being reminded you are this or that. I find that disturbing to be honest.

Kindness

Indigenous people in North America were strengthening the ties with the other tribes with kindness. They gave other tribes gifts and believed that it is better to live in peace with one another. When Europeans came, their capitalist mind was ready to exploit everything. Europeans were not kind, their tried to get hold of resources and keep them for themselves.

As you can see, this was a clash of two completely different cultures. One kind and giving. The other one greedy and exploitative. I live in the European culture which experienced all major political regimes of 20th century. Monarchy, democracy (capitalism), nazism and communism.

Healing trauma

I especially loved the chapter on healing trauma. Healing trauma is ongoing story which seems to never finish. Forgiveness can work. I’m just not sure it worked for me.

Kaiser’s Verdict: 👏

Since I have seen a snippet of a podcast with Gabor Maté from Joe Rogan Experience I have realised: this guy has something to say. This is my second book I have read by Gabor Maté and I love it. It was not only inspirational but it is also helping me to understand myself. I wish that every book I read could be as inspiring as this one.

👉 Buy this book! 👈 through my link and help me build this website! 😊

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/+⭐️⭐️

Feel free to like, share and comment or recommend books/courses you find inspirational yourself. I’m keen to hear about them.

Coming Up Next:

Outwitting the Devil by Napoleon Hill

Peace 🧘‍♂️✌️🌱