It's May 1st!

And May is Self-Helpy Month!   Did you know?   Perhaps you are unaware because it is something I just now invented. I’ve always wanted to invent something worthwhile, and I think Self-Helpy Month is just the ticket. According to Google (and really, who appointed Google God of All Things anyway?), September is “Self-Improvement Month,” but “self-improvement” just sounds lame and pretentious to me. Also it sounds like a diet and possibly exercise might be involved.   Ick.   Self-Helpy Month will be much more fun, informative, and helpful - and there might be doughnuts!!

Let me make this clear at the outset, I am rereading, for maybe the thirty-trillionith time, a book called “Living Successfully With Screwed Up People” by Elizabeth B. Brown. It is a self-help book, no doubt, and I know some people dislike self-help books and that’s fine, I understand.  I do not normally read these sorts of books, either, but this is an easy read; it’s the sort of book you might pick up in the grocery store book and magazine aisle because the title caught your eye (I picked up my copy in the grocery store because the title caught my eye). Let me also make this abundantly clear.   I mean, really, really clear:   I do NOT believe I live with a screwed-up person (so glad my hub doesn’t read my blog); nor do I consider as screwed-up any of my family, friends, or acquaintances.  In fact, I’ve come to believe that the author’s point is that the reader is the screwed-up person anyway.   I mean, come on, it’s a SELF-HELP BOOK!

Probably the most important lesson I’ve taken from this book is the fact that it makes me think more, about relationships, but also about other stuff too.   Thinking is so good for us.  Reading and thinking would bring about world peace.  In fact, if I get any more Zen, I’ll not only be looking like a fat, happy Budda, but sounding like him as well. I only wish I’d come across a book like this 40 years ago.  Never too late for a bit of self-help; however, I do turn 60 in September - during frickin’ Self-Improvement Month! Oh, the irony. --cds