An Interpretation: There are many self-help’ books,programs and methods out there. www.Wikipedia.org quotes a 9 billion dollar industry for 2006. Besides instructional there are the more psychological, inspirational and behavior driven. Areas like addiction, bad habits, death, relationships, depression, ADHD, procrastination, attitude, creativity, goal setting, inspirational, awareness, and some that are focused on a more secular level and oriented toward a metaphysical/spiritual consciousness. There are some who seem to have set landmarks in the field. For example: Norman Vincent Peale started a radio program in 1935 call “The Art of Living” which lasted 54 years. In 1945 he founded a magazine called “Guideposts” for people to relate inspirational stories. He was the progenator of the theory of ‘positive thinking.’ He continued to publish many works throughout the years up to 2007 with “Faith Is the Answer.” The list goes on but, well you get the idea. His of course is but a sliver in the whole gamut and array. Here are some thoughts that came out of the Wikipedia discussions briefly: “Self-help is partially psychological and partially varous other fields…[it] is a slightly vague social phenomena. The most concrete manifestation of it is as the label that book publishers put on the back of books to help book sellers categorize books.” (D.C.During. Sep 2007 Wikipedia) ”Giving advice from personal experiences or personal inspirations is hardly a new thing– fables, proverbs, gurus are not new … in the past that was all there was — folk knowledge.” … There is a portion of the self-help market that seems to like academic/scientific respectability and a huge portion that doesn’t. Once authors win a following they don’t seem to need science or learning.” (D.C.During,2007,Wikipedia) ”Self-help vs Personal Development…” I believe that ‘Personal Development’ should not be treated as a synonym for ‘Self-help’. Ibid. Here are more excerpts from the Wikipedia discussion on the topic of self-help: ”can’t see how you can say much about the actual term other than it’s about seeking help (or improvement) from non-professionals, who share their first-hand experiences.”
“The value of self/peer/mentor help is inestimable it would seem. Some would list the holy scriptures of Mormons, Qu’uran, Bible and Torah, the Gita, etc, as works of primary applications in self help.” (Wikipedia) And what does all this mean? It means that overall the area of self-help exists and functions but is interpreted as a philosophical enigma through discussion. My own conclusion is that the semantics do not concern me but rather the results are more important. What do practices and methods provoke? My conclusion about inspirational or other practices is that what they do is to direct or focus a person’s attention on a certain aspect of themselves; their perspective and perceptions. Regardless of its potential value, any self help is only as good as the degree to which it is practiced. There are infinite resources and pedlars out there. Some on a more philosophical level and some have a more practical approach. It may just be prudent to be aware of what information warrants a payment from you personally and what information is also available without cost. Here are only a few (that I stumbled onto) of the kind of info and resources available on the net, for example: For ongoing self betterment references there is WWW.books4selfhelp.com For a more biblical slant on life visit www.vision.org For self-esteem oriented visit www.nathanielbranden.com For introduction about Zen Buddhism there is www.zenguide.com orwww.zen@metalab or for a more hands on idea exchange (if it could be said that way) visit www.dailyzen.com
Self Help
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An Interpretation: There are many self-help’ books,programs and methods out there. www.Wikipedia.org quotes a 9 billion dollar industry for 2006. Besides instructional there are the more psychological, inspirational and behavior driven. Areas like addiction, bad habits, death, relationships, depression, ADHD, procrastination, attitude, creativity, goal setting, inspirational, awareness, and some that are focused on a more secular level and oriented toward a metaphysical/spiritual consciousness. There are some who seem to have set landmarks in the field. For example: Norman Vincent Peale started a radio program in 1935 call “The Art of Living” which lasted 54 years. In 1945 he founded a magazine called “Guideposts” for people to relate inspirational stories. He was the progenator of the theory of ‘positive thinking.’ He continued to publish many works throughout the years up to 2007 with “Faith Is the Answer.” The list goes on but, well you get the idea. His of course is but a sliver in the whole gamut and array. Here are some thoughts that came out of the Wikipedia discussions briefly: “Self-help is partially psychological and partially varous other fields…[it] is a slightly vague social phenomena. The most concrete manifestation of it is as the label that book publishers put on the back of books to help book sellers categorize books.” (D.C.During. Sep 2007 Wikipedia) ”Giving advice from personal experiences or personal inspirations is hardly a new thing– fables, proverbs, gurus are not new … in the past that was all there was — folk knowledge.” … There is a portion of the self-help market that seems to like academic/scientific respectability and a huge portion that doesn’t. Once authors win a following they don’t seem to need science or learning.” (D.C.During,2007,Wikipedia) ”Self-help vs Personal Development…” I believe that ‘Personal Development’ should not be treated as a synonym for ‘Self-help’. Ibid. Here are more excerpts from the Wikipedia discussion on the topic of self-help: ”can’t see how you can say much about the actual term other than it’s about seeking help (or improvement) from non-professionals, who share their first-hand experiences.”
“The value of self/peer/mentor help is inestimable it would seem. Some would list the holy scriptures of Mormons, Qu’uran, Bible and Torah, the Gita, etc, as works of primary applications in self help.” (Wikipedia) And what does all this mean? It means that overall the area of self-help exists and functions but is interpreted as a philosophical enigma through discussion. My own conclusion is that the semantics do not concern me but rather the results are more important. What do practices and methods provoke? My conclusion about inspirational or other practices is that what they do is to direct or focus a person’s attention on a certain aspect of themselves; their perspective and perceptions. Regardless of its potential value, any self help is only as good as the degree to which it is practiced. There are infinite resources and pedlars out there. Some on a more philosophical level and some have a more practical approach. It may just be prudent to be aware of what information warrants a payment from you personally and what information is also available without cost. Here are only a few (that I stumbled onto) of the kind of info and resources available on the net, for example: For ongoing self betterment references there is WWW.books4selfhelp.com For a more biblical slant on life visit www.vision.org For self-esteem oriented visit www.nathanielbranden.com For introduction about Zen Buddhism there is www.zenguide.com orwww.zen@metalab or for a more hands on idea exchange (if it could be said that way) visit www.dailyzen.com
Tags: art of living, folk knowledge, guideposts, helen keller, inspirational stories, personal inspirations, perspectives, self help, self help books, social phenomena, spiritual consciousness, thoughts, zen buddhism