Self help books


I have never read a self-help book. 

But millions do . . .  in the USA alone, the self-help industry is worth approximately $8 billion a year and women purchase most of those books in the relationship and family category. There are more self-help books printed in the USA than cookbooks.

Self-help books fall into the following board categories:
  • Personal growth: these were mainly focused on improving the self
  • Relationships: giving advice on communication skills and how to improve personal relations
  • Coping: how to deal with difficult events and situations eg stress at work
  • Identity: about gaining personal insight, although some overlap with the personal growth category
 I love some of the titles for self-help books:
  • Finding happiness in a frustrating world
  • Effortless success
  • How to stop worrying and start living
  • Change your life in 7 days
  • Women Who Love Too Much
  • Smart Women, Foolish Choices
  • Don't sweat the little stuff
These books are meant to make us calmer, smarter, richer, more attractive, happier, love more, hate less, decreased loneliness, slimmer  - basically we will become better happier people.  Do they?  I am very skeptical and say no. However they do make the authors wealthy and the buyer non the wiser.

Canadian researchers found those with low self-esteem actually felt worse after repeating positive statements about themselves.  They said phrases such as "I am a lovable person" only helped people with high self-esteem.

The fact that people who buy self-help books or listen to motivational tapes/DVDs etc often buy other self-help books shows that it doesn't work - you would think that if I bought "Change my life in 7 days" I would not need any other book.  

I know one book that will give me all the answers, it doesn't cost as much, it will last my entire life and the words spoken in it are more precious that any word that appears in any self-help book ever published.

The BIBLE

The Bible tells me everything I need to know, from the day I am born to the day I die.  From the Bible:
  • I know how to live my life day-to-day
  • It provides instructions on being a wife and mother
  • It tells me how to dress and behave
  • The words provide comfort, support, guidance, love, direction, peace and calmness
  • It tells how to live in a frustrating world full of sin
  • It tells me how to manage during difficult times
  • It provides all the marriage advice that I need
  • It will change my life (faster than 7 days) 
There is absolutely no where else that I need to look, the Bible provides all the answers to every question I have.  And unlike the modern self-help gurus . . . it doesn't aim at making me depressed, restless or unhappy by playing on my emotions.  Nor does it promise the unattainable.

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. (Colossians 2:8 NKJ)

The scriptures provide all the advise needed, the words provided are full of wisdom and truth.

We must reject the vain philosophies of this world that distract us with self pursuits and instead embrace the magnificent paradox of the Gospel. Passionate Housewives Desperate for God by J Chancey and S McDonald)
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    Comments

    1. Yep; How to relate to God, how to relate to others, it's all there in the little black book! Happy Tuesday. ☺

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    2. Amen Jo!! Excellent post and I agree with you totally. I have felt this way since I first met Him...

      I used to go to a pyscologist, then I met Jesus. Cheaper and more effective lol!

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    3. :-) Seems we are all agreed on this one!

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    4. Most of those kinds of books are (in one way or another) about puffing up the ego. The Bible is all about how to let the ego know it's place - left at the foot of the Cross and replaced with humility. Reading the Bible is a far better use of our time and like you said, it is complete for every part of our lives. No wonder it is the Book that sells the most!

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    5. Some self help books are great. You can line them up with God's teachings and ideas, just because it's been written by a person or even (shock, horror) a non-Christian, doesn't mean it's evil.

      "Love everyone" is all good and well but sometimes you need someone to tell you what they did in the exact same situation to help you pull through.

      God helps people by giving them other people, sometimes. Be that in the form of a friend who's been through the same stuff, or a book that's been published and praised.

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