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Personal growth: Does self-help theory ignore societal problems? April 14, 2018

Posted by Dennis Mellersh in personal development ideas.
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Some recent criticism of the self-help movement and theory suggests that there is too much focus on the individual and the concept of the power of self-actualization and not enough attention being paid to some of society’s systemic problems.

This criticism could be based on a misconception or over-simplification of what is actually involved in what the responsible and ethical self-help movement is advocating.

Accountable self-help ideas and theory recognize that a critical component of effective personal growth is the development of empathy for the feelings, circumstances, and viewpoints of others.

Ethical self-help is not based on the selfish concept or idea of helping only ourselves, and leaving others to fight their own battles by themselves.

But, effective self-help theory does recognize that we can do little to help others if we do not grow into fully balanced and mature individuals with both inward and outward directed vision.

Legitimate self-help and personal development programs assist in achieving that maturity and outlook.

Dennis Mellersh

Personal growth: Is everyone reading self-help books these days? April 13, 2018

Posted by Dennis Mellersh in personal development ideas.
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I was recently reading a newspaper interview of a novelist, and one of the questions was, “What is the latest self-help book you have read?”, which struck me as significant because it implies or assumes that everyone is reading self-help books as part of their regular routine.

And maybe it’s true: I just got a personal development book, The Happiness Equation, out of the library a few days before I read the article.

The question we might ask, however, is that with all the self-improvement material we have already read, how much more advice do we really need to manage our lives effectively?

I suspect that most of us actually don’t need more information in order to know what we need to do; it’s more a matter of inserting an action component into our existing knowledge, and then taking concrete “do” steps towards our goals.

I tend to think that many of us read books about self-actualization, listen to podcasts on the topic, and watch videos with similar content, because we enjoy reading about the topic as a form of lifestyle philosophy, much as we might like reading mystery novels, or adventure stories.

Maybe we don’t actually need as much life-guidance as the abundance of personal development books might seem to indicate.

Maybe we’re all OK just as we are.

Dennis Mellersh