No more self-help books...what?!

Yesterday, I asked you what you were reading and made reference to a list of self-help books I've posted here before. Then, I came across this blog post at US News & World Report. I was nearly shattered by the title, "Don't buy another self-help book"?! Why not? I wanted to know. Crazy statement, I thought. What's wrong with them? I asked myself.

Nothing, the post says. But you have to read the ones you have first.

Whew!

Thank goodness, right? Especially for those of us who are writing or have written and are expecting to sell copies of our own self-help books. It's the same with this author. He was just making the point that you won't get the self-help you're seeking if you're not reading the books. He wants you to read the ones that you already have. He wants you to read his. But he doesn't want you to waste your money. Just having the book on your shelf isn't good enough. But how many of us do just that?

He makes a good point, and it might be worth your while to read what he has to say.

He's got plenty more that's worth reading I discovered. Check out this guy, Curt Rosengren (the "Passion Catalyst") at his blog. He makes a lot of sense.

All my best,
Jackie

What are you reading right now?

I always have several books on my nightstand, on my coffee table, on my office desk that I'm reading. It used to be that I'd read one at a time, but I've learned to muti-task even my reading. The thought of this makes me want to know from you: What are you reading?

Are you delving into any of the books from my book list I posted again last week while I was out of town? Are you interested in self-help, history, biographies? What really sustains a high level of interest for you? Do you read the daily newspapers--your local one, regional pubs, the nationals?

My interests run the gamut, but I'm always reading consumer and travel magazines. I love the news weeklies, but I don't subscribe anymore. I generally read my news online these days. And, of course, I'm a big fan of books. I buy them by the armful, and some I get for free because of the type of work I do.

Most recently, I completed a colleague of mine's book: Am I Hungry? by Michelle May, M.D. (with Lisa Galper, Psy.D. and Janet Carr, M.S., R.D.). She gave me the copy so I could complete my research on a story I'm writing about her for a publication expanding into Phoenix called Better Health and Living.

I've also opened up and begun several more books, some of which I'm reading to review, some are for research I need to do, some are for pure pleasure. For the most part, these books are just recently published, a few of them were referrals, either directly or indirectly, the others are about topics I just need to know more about for various reasons. I'm not sure when I'll finish them. I'm sure one of them will sustain my interest more than another, and I'll finish it first and then move on to the next. But I flip through pages of books constantly. I am not a Kindle girl. I prefer the real book. And here's my current list:

Indignation by Philip Roth
The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs
Web 2.0: A Strategy Guide by Amy Shuen
The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss
Blogger: Beyond the Basics by Lee Jordan
The IT Girl's Guide to Blogging with Moxie by Joelle Reeder & Katherine Scoleri
The Complete Idiot's Guide to The Law of Attraction by Diane Ahlquist
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Mindfulness by Anne Ihnen and Carolynn Flynn
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Psychology of Happiness by Arelene Matthews Uhl
How We Lead Matters by Marilyn Carlson Nelson
You're Broke Because You Want to Be by Larry Winget
The Compassionate Samurai by Brian Klemmer

I'll be reviewing some of these books in the coming weeks or months ahead here. If you've read any of these, let us know what you think.

Day of rest

It's Sunday, the day of rest. It's not often I'm able to actually use this day for rest. Today's no exception. I'm working today. Not all day, at least I have that.

But I'm curious.

What do you do on your day of rest, if you can manage to take it?

If I'm not actually working on a story, blog entries, or cleaning out/the yard, I'm off working on marketing my work...and more. It's a busy life, with not much time for rest. When I do take time off, I take it OFF. I don't post. I don't get online. I don't do anything remotely related to technology, except maybe answer my phone. And that's a big maybe. I'll let the voice mail take the call first, usually.

But again, on your day of rest, what do you do?

I'd like to get some dialogue going because I know down time is important, and it's always good to have options for how to manage it.

Just curious. And maybe others of you out there will be, too.

Jackie

The lone seagull

I just returned from a week on the East Coast. I spent several days with my boyfriend in Maine where we drove from Boston up the coast to visit friends, see the leaves change in New England, and otherwise spend some quiet time together.

And I was, of course, capturing as much of our time and space on film as I could.

But try as I might I could not get the perfect shot of a seagull. This was my one best shot. The rest are close ups of gulls who would not fly, far away shots of gulls that are blurry, and far away shots of geese who were flying in formation. But I couldn't capture the whole flock in time, so their formation looks a bit off.

I heard myself call out several times, "Stop, bird, stop!" Rick even laughed at me for it. But I wanted that one perfect shot, the one where the bird is close up, and you can see the feathers on the wings. There is action. I was shooting them in Ogunquit, I was shooting them in Camden, I was shooting them whereever I could spot them quick enough. But they're not cooperative birds. They fly on their schedule not mine. I waited several minutes once for one of those birds to take flight. He was perched not three feet from my legs, but he wouldn't budge. Not even when I walked right past him. He would not budge. He wasn't ready. "Go, bird, go," I told this one. But nothing. "Fly. Please." Nope. Not a movement on his feathers.

So, I wound up with this shot. It has action. You can see it's bird. But you can't really tell it's a gull.

It's not bad. You can see the sky was gray and dark. It was a stormy day, really, not monsoon stormy like here in Arizona, but misty, sometimes cloudy, and slightly cool.

But I got my gull.

He's in the air, wings outstretched, and he's just a tad bit too far away. But the photo's clear enough.

Taking these shots involved an act of patience. I didn't have my 35mm camera with me, the one that I can point and shoot several shots in a second. I had a simple digital camera, nothing too expensive, nothing impressive. But it did it's job. It helped me get a shot of a seagull in flight.

It's a good example of not getting exactly what you want but being able to be content for what's available.

I'm happy with this shot. I'm happy I was photographing birds. I'm glad I was able to spend time with the one I love.

Patience is a good thing. It's a virtue that can really come in handy during troublesome times. The next time you happen to be in the presence of a seagull, maybe you'll think of that.

A good message for the man in your life

There really isn't anything more to say than that. You can see for yourself by clicking on the link below. If there's anything you'd like to add to the dialogue, please do:

http://bikewithjackie.blogspot.com/2008/05/body-image-unzipped.html

Catching up

I'd love it if you'd start from the beginning and read through all the posts, as I suggested in this post:

http://bikewithjackie.blogspot.com/2008/02/just-joining-us.html

But who has the time?

What you can do is do a search through the archives and see if something sticks out for you. No matter how you found me, no matter what keeps bringing you back, I hope the journey thus far has been meaningful for you.

If you've read something that is particularly memorable, would you share it with us? If you know of a blog that is similar, would you post the link? I'd love to visit other blogs that share self-improvement, personal/professional development ideas, and exist to help others live a joyful life.

Thank you for visiting and trusting me with your time.

Question for you

To break up the re-posting of past posts (Can you say that three times fast?), I thought I'd ask you a question:

What are you working on right now, today, that you think is going to impact someone else's life? Now, how meaningful is that for you? I'd love to hear your story. Would you post it below?

Books, books and more books

Can we ever learn enough? I think not! Here's a post from the not so distant past that lists out some very good self-help books I found most useful in my personal growth. I still read and rifle through many, if not all of them, from time to time:

A very good reminder...

...that we need others in our lives who appreciate us. It's all here in this post, and I'm thankful, that my life is going well right now, and that I have a friend who cares enough to let me know it:

http://bikewithjackie.blogspot.com/2007/06/hows-ride.html

And I need to shout out a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO RICK!