Got a piece of junk mail today selling a local seminar on self help. It came from a guy who sells help on PBS which has become the ancestral home for this kind of canned assistance.
As it happens I'd also seen his PBS pitch. Watched for a few minutes until the Platitude Meter redlined and I switched to Honeymooners reruns. Ralph Cramden's self-help-program-du-jour made more sense and didn't involve any investment in courses, CDs or tapes.
I should say here that I have no problem with anyone getting help from a CD. I can personally recommend Mott The Hoople.
Now back to the junk. The flyer invited me to attend a seminar. Then I read the fine print. Turned out the guy whose picture was on the flyer and whose name was on the program was not going to attend. Apparently he'd helped himself to enough cash from his "educational" courses to afford a sabbatical.
Self-help is a big, profitable business and that's OK. If you can get a new lease on life for whatever you've got leased and grabbing a hand to pull yourself up doesn't cripple you (emotionally or, this case, financially), do it.
But what's one of the best ways to help yourself?
Help somebody else.
You can make your life better by doing what you can to make someone else's life better. Volunteer at a hospital or nursing home. Go out of your way for a neighbor. Mentor a kid who needs it. Natural disasters leave a lot of people in their wake who need your help.
Tap into the real, personal wealth you can offer. The shortest path to self-enrichment starts when and where you look beyond yourself.
Remember Harry Bailey's toast: "...to my brother George. The richest man in town".
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