Just listened to a great interview - the first "self help" style of thinking that I could relate to!
http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2013/03/05/3703874.htm
I particularly like the stuff around accepting insecurity, mortality, failure and embarrassment up front and looking it in the eye to keep it in perspective, rather than avoiding it, pretending it isn't there or thinking that if we only think about the positive stuff, this won't happen. Likewise his stuff about gratitude and imagining our life without any of the relationships and possessions we enjoy to get some perspective on how good life really is already.
I enjoyed it anyway...
http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2013/03/05/3703874.htm
Oliver Burkeman is a writer for The Guardian based in New York, and also writes a monthly column for Psychologies magazine.
He's been closely following the self-help phenomenon and he says most of its gurus have it exactly backwards.
Oliver thinks that if you really want to pursue happiness, you should ditch the positive thinking and travel the negative path: embrace failure, embrace embarrassment and above all accept insecurity.
His non self-help self-help book is called The Antidote: Happiness for people who can't stand positive thinking, published by Text.
I particularly like the stuff around accepting insecurity, mortality, failure and embarrassment up front and looking it in the eye to keep it in perspective, rather than avoiding it, pretending it isn't there or thinking that if we only think about the positive stuff, this won't happen. Likewise his stuff about gratitude and imagining our life without any of the relationships and possessions we enjoy to get some perspective on how good life really is already.
I enjoyed it anyway...