Humber mud and self-help

Humber mud today, south bank

There are two sorts of people, those who read 'self help' books and those who don't. (But I really prefer, as I read somewhere recently: "There are two sorts of people, those who divide people into two sorts, and those who don't; I don't".)

I suppose there are some people who never buy a self-help book, and I imagine they think quite scornfully about those of us who do; the ignominy of having to resort to a book to help one get on with one's life; why not just... get on with it? And do they work anyway? Somewhere we have a book called 'Organising for creative people'; I did come across it the other day on a shelf, but I think it has now lost itself again. I remember though that it said something about creative people not being able to 'see' things that are filed away upright in filing cabinets etc; things have to be displayed horizontally with the titles visible, or we simply don't believe they exist any more. A bit like how I used to have to find transparent cake tins in which to put my home baking, since our boys would never look in an opaque tin; the stuff had to be immediately visible or the cakes, however much they liked them, remained uneaten.

But do self-help books work? I don't know, because I don't know what I'd have been like if I'd never read one. The ones I go for tend to be all about organising space and time, and getting rid of creative block, which for me are all aspect sof the same thing. Some people can create in a mess; I can't.

Humber mud, N bank

A self-help book I'm on with at the minute is quite old, from 1994, called 'The Artist's Way: A Course in Discovering your Creative Self' by Julia Cameron. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Artists-Way-Discovering-Recovering-Creative/dp/0330343580/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319919651&sr=1-1 I picked it up intending to tidy it away to a charity shop, but then started to read it, and working backwards I began to be impressed with it, as it suggested solutions which are things I already do and which seem to work; so I figured that if it recommended things that I already know work for me, then the things I haven't tried yet might also work. Thus the book recommends that every morning you write three pages of stream-of-consciousness stuff, which can be total rubbish, and somehow it is supposed to - supposed to - I'm not sure quite what it's supposed to  do; (that reveals me as a book-skimmer) - ah, it says it will lead me to a 'connection with a source of wisdom within'. Ummm! Just the kind of b*llsh*t to put me off this book. I even skimmed the last few pages to see what is supposed to happen to me if I follow this programme faithfully, and I saw the words 'sacred circle' and I was even more put off!! But I will try writing these 'morning pages' that are allowed to be total rubbish; no, I haven't reproduced them exactly here, no; they are supposed to be kept secret, even from me.

Tile yard, with car park

But the thing that I already do and helps me, that the book recommends, is to trot off on some physical exercise session. So today conditions seemed just right for a bike ride across the Humber in search of porridge oats from the health food shop in Hessle; quite the best porridge I know. Passed the tile yard on the south bank below the bridge, which is being developed as a tourist attraction; jolly good, but was it necessary to concrete over what seems to be a whole field for a car park? Aren't there greener-looking alternatives?

Some sadist in the bridge administration lot had decided that only the west path was to be open, and this meant that on the way back I even had to pedal hard in first gear in the teeth of a southwesterly to get me downhill.While out trying to stay afloat/moving forwards or whatever, you do at least get a bit of respite from the worry of wondering whether you ever had any good ideas.

Just the thing for the camino?

But I will try this self-help thing and report back on progress, and we shall see. I'm doing it for you, so you don't have to! In the meantime, I stuck a few pics on the blog from my ride to the exotic county to the north. No, I didn't get one of the tiger jump suits, tempted though I was; in thick fleece, just the thing for writing in, or anything, but....