Normal – A Myth

My wish

Gabor starts the book with an impactful statement – In the most health-obsessed society ever, all is not well.

And what is normal is very questionable today. Because we humans are very adaptive. With resilience and grit, we adapt to any situation, from COVID-19 to the Ebola Virus. In no time, a crisis becomes ‘normal’, and we learn to live or find a way to work around it. So, Gabor beautifully summarises that "Normal" is now a myth. There is nothing that can be called normal anymore.

Our obsession with health, the alarming rise in illness and diseases, despite the equally increasing scientific advances and medical breakthroughs, is what Gabor explores in the book. We are forever trying regimes, medicines, therapies to make us feel normal, content, or at peace with ourselves. All remedial measures applied together and individually seem to offer periodic solace.  Gabor brilliantly taps into the most plausible reason for this gap.

Today, medicine continues to look at our body, mind, and spirit individually and treats or helps cure the ailment, individually. If we have a stomach-ache, the doctor asks us what we ate and recommends a better diet, and all is back to normal again. Likewise, if we go to a psychiatrist, the only questions asked will be related to the brain and its thought patterns.

My Reality

Today, medicine continues to look at our body, mind, and spirit individually and treats or helps cure the ailment, individually. If we have a stomach-ache, the doctor asks us what we ate and recommends a better diet, and all is back to normal again. Likewise, if we go to a psychiatrist, the only questions asked will be related to the brain and its thought patterns.

The homoeopath I used to visit as a child did ask about everything: my mental state, my physical state, and how I felt as a person at different times of the day. And then it seemed weird to me, a waste of time. Why did he have to know about my sleep routine if I am complaining about stomach pain, I wondered.

The connection between mind and body became more comprehensible after I studied Counselling and Psychotherapy. And much later, after starting to practice meditation, did the relevance and the interconnectedness of the Mind, Body, and Spirit come to light.  

So, when I found this book, it was like the end of a long search and the start of a new learning! Let’s embark on trying to figure out why Normal will remain a myth, as long as we refuse to acknowledge the holistic nature of the Mind, Body, and Spirit.