self-help

one of my (many) shameful secrets is how much i love self-help books.

i'm reading and working with several at the moment:  shawn achor's the happiness advantage, julia cameron's the artist's way, and the latest, the mindful way through depression by williams, teasdale, segal, and kabat-zinn.

i also count yoga as a self-help book in poses.

and i count almost anyone i admire as a self-help guru.

here are today's nuggets:

1)  "make our nervous system our ally instead of our enemy"--william james

2) "it only takes one breath in and one breath out to come to a place of peace" --tanya the yoga teacher

3) "habits are like financial capital--forming one today is an investment that will automatically give out returns for years to come."  --shawn achor

4) "if you're afraid of butter, use cream." --julia child  & "the only real stumbling block is fear of failure.  in cooking you've got to have a what-the-hell attitude."

5)  "the only cure for the fame drug is creative endeavor.  only when we are being joyfully creative can we release the obsession with others and how they are doing."  --julia cameron

6) "if something is boring after two minutes, try it for four. if still boring, then eight. then sixteen. then thirty-two. eventually one discovers that it is not boring at all."--john cage

7)  "no writer can justify ruthlessness for the sake of his work, because being human to the fullest possible extent is what his work demands of him."  --may sarton