What's the Best Self-Help Product for You?



You'd think the writer and editor for a self-help online superstore would have no problems in responding to a question like, "What's the best self-help product for me?" wouldn't you? Well, I'm slightly embarrassed to say you'd be wrong. You see, that question spontaneously demands the answer to another, more interesting question.

When you enquire, 'What's the best self-help product for me?' what specifically do you mean by 'me'?

Now I don't want to get enmeshed in an existential debate, here. The nature of reality and identity will have to wait for another day. However, just think back over the last handful of days. Think about a situation when you were relaxed (taking a deep bath, maybe). Consider a situation when you were stressed (your computer kept crashing). Think about a situation when you were angry (your computer still kept crashing and the technical support people suggested you try switching it off and back on again). Think about a situation when you were in high spirits (drinking perfect coffee with loving friends). Contemplate all those times: was it in actual fact the same 'me' who occupied each of those little moments in time? Is the seething 'me' the same as the contented 'me'? For most of us, the answer is no. We aren't the same individual from one day to the next, and on our more hapless days, we're not even the same person from one moment to the next.

Walt Whitman put it most succinctly, I think, when he wrote 'I contain multitudes'.

We all do. We all 'contain multitudes'.

So, why then do you think (or even hope) there is a self-help product out there that is absolutely created for you, a best self help product?

Which 'you' do you mean?

Mercifully, there is a whole range of self-help books and inspirational products available, multitudes in fact. And not only could you find the best self-help product for you, you could find the best self-help product for all the' yous' you contain.

Best wishes. To all of you.