Acknowledgments
I believe that people don’t come to me—they are sent to me. I offer my
eternal gratitude to the many extraordinary people who have been
sent to me, without whom my life wouldn’t be what it is, and without
whom this book wouldn’t exist:
First and foremost, my precious sister Magda Gilbert—who is
ninety-ĕve years old and still blossoming, who kept me alive in
Auschwitz—and her devoted daughter Ilona Shillman, who ĕghts for
the family like no other.
Klara Korda—who was larger than life, who truly became my
second mom, who made every visit to Sydney a honeymoon, who
created Friday night dinners like our mother’s, everything artfully
done by hand—and Jeanie and Charlotte, the women following in her
line. (Remember the Hungarian song? No, no, we’re not going away
until you kick us out!) My patients, the unique and one-of-a-kind
humans who have taught me that healing isn’t about recovery; it’s
about discovery. Discovering hope in hopelessness, discovering an
answer where there doesn’t seem to be one, discovering that it’s not
what happens that matters—it’s what you do with it.
My wonderful teachers and mentors: Professor Whitworth; John
Haddox, who introduced me to the existentialists and
phenomenologists; Ed Leonard; Carl Rogers; Richard Farson; and
especially Viktor Frankl, whose book gave me the verbal capacity to
share my secret, whose letters showed me I didn’t have to run away
anymore, and whose guidance helped me discover not only that I
survived, but how I could help others to survive.