Self Help

Is it me or does self help seem like it ought to be an oxymoron ? Unless you are incapacitated any help that you obtain, whether it be guided or unguided, would qualify as “self help”. If you are taking steps to improve yourself then any assistance received to that end does not negate the fact that you are helping yourself.

Self-help is a clever marketing slogan used to sell books. It removes the stigma associated with the terms psychology, mental health, therapy and counseling. It makes it accessible to those fearful, ashamed or without means to access the help of a professional. Although being formally trained as a mental health worker does not make one any better than a good friend who can offer good advise and sound counsel.

Help is help. How we obtain and process help is irrelevant. What matters is our growth. So I suggest we change the self helpmonicker to personal growth.

As Much As They Change They Stay The Same

Accept Adapt Evolve

Some people are faced with the challenge being unadaptable. Regardless of how much life changes around them they will in all probability be unable to change to meet the needs of the new environment. These people will share the same fate as the dinosaurs. We all must realize that in order to thrive in this world we must be willing to adapt ourselves to our dynamic environment. To be rigid and unwilling to look at ourselves for change seals our fate to exist in the stale characterless lives that we may have niched out for ourselves.

Looking inward for change is the simplest and most straightforward path to realizing real meaningful adaptations to a dynamic environment. Without this fundamental exercise of introspection we constantly feel that it is those around us who have the problem when in truth it is us who have been left behind by those who have adapted.

Crisp twenties!