What will effect my life next? (Part II)

I have read a lot of self help books over the years. Some were good, some half-way decent, most very repetitive and filled with cookie-cutter anecdotes and case histories. Most could have been summarized in a few paragraphs. I am currently reading one though that is really really good. Psycho Cybernetics is that book. It's a classic in the field, written in 1960 and still in print. I'm a couple of chapters into it and so far it's quite readable and not to fluff filled. Quite pleasantly my B.S meter has only gone off 1 or 2 times. For me, with most self help books it goes off every other page. It focuses on the power of imagining and visualizing to improve one's self image. I feel that the power of this technique comes from the same source that the power of religion comes from. When one reads a religious creed, from an academic viewpoint, it just seems like a curious set of stories. When one takes it to heart and truly believes the stories then the religion can have a deep emotional impact. Similarly, Psycho-Cybernetics is about creating those images and believing them so they can have that kind of personality changing transformative impact. Previously, I had read a number of cognitive behavioral books, which talks about interrupting negative thought patterns. They were disappointing in that they seemed like a bunch of words games and didn't really offer a bigger picture. Psycho Cybernetics seems to fulfill that promise.

Spinal Discs...

Well my doc said that my back needs surgery and I should go and get it when I get sick of the pain. Bleah! Being in enough pain really brings me back down to earth. I stop thinking about myself as a software developer, an american, a guy, whatever and I start thinking of myself as being an organism that has a body that has a problem and that's it. No way to ignore it, the pain is always bugging you every minute, telling you you gotta think about it. After this goes on for a while, the idea of somebody cutting you open to fix it starts to seem somewhat appealing. On the other hand, I'm doing pretty well for myself though, at least I'm in a modern country with access to good medical care and have insurance so don't feel too sorry for me :) .