A good friend of mine works in marketing and we have discovered over the years that I am the 'typical' shopper. For example, the 'typical' shopper goes to 4 supermarkets regularly. I agreed that I shop between Tesco (although am not proud of it...but it is the largest one in the West and is 20 mins from where I live), Lidl (they are my two - 'big' shops and prob only go every few weeks), Londis in my local town and the petrol station/Mace on my way home - they are my more 'regular' everyday shops. I know people say that the prices are higher, etc, but I find I waste more money/time by going doing a 'big' shop in Tesco because I have to drive to it and then fill my basket in order to make it 'worth my while'. So, I tend to stick to local butcher and supermarket for my everyday groceries/perishables and like the idea I'm supporting my local industries in addition to probably not wasting as much food.
So, what has that to do with books? I'm not sure. Oh yes, me being 'typical'. So I think that 'self help' books are huge with 'typical' people...and I'm no different. The Secret, Diet books, etc. But lately I've been getting into more unusual self help like:
Gretchen Rubin's Happiness Project which is a nice 'readable' story about someone who decided to take on a task every month to make her happier. Some were as simple as 'start the day with a song' I haven't got to the end of it yet...am not sure if I'm ready to be 'happy' just yet.
So then we go deeper - philosophy. Not something I have much of a clue about, but have decided to learn more about Stoicism. Which lead me to attempting to read more about Epictetus, Aurelius, although they were the ones that came in the post yesterday, so I can't say I know much about it yet.
I started with A Guide to the Good Life, which I began last night and found quite easy to read so far.The stoicism thing I find interesting. I think I might be a bit naturally stoic (and not in the dictionary sense of the word, which is a bit 'unfeeling'). From the brief bit I know it seems it's about focusing on the positives and aspiring to be cheerful. We're going through a bit of a rough time at the moment, and I was worried that I was 'dealing' with it all too well. So (being typical!) I googled it all and found that while it might not be normal to just be able to accept that bad things happen, some people (aspiring stoics among them) try to accept and move on. I will put all this in context at some stage, but it's a bit difficult at the moment. And all this is obviously subject to change at some point.
The way I work through things (which seems to compare with the stoic idea, even though I never knew anything about it up to now) is to try to accept that Sh*t Happens. (OK not pleasant, but this is my blog and I can curse if I want to!), 2. Control the Controllables (accept that there's no point worrying about things outside your control. Also controlling your emotions might be the way you can still have 'control' even when you can't control the other stuff...make sense?) and 3. Realise that It Could be Worse. And even if it's really bad, it could be worse.
So, aside from my newfounded interest in Philosophy (imagine, I was reading about Aristotle and Plato last night...who knew?!) I also got some new crafty books:
The Handmade Marketplace cos I'm debating about participating in a Christmas Fair...but would need to get the skids on (as we say!). From a read of the introduction, it seems quite good and practical. Also lots of other crafters have given their advice and so I'm sure there'll be some new blog hopping to be done at some stage.Finally, The Creative Entrepeneur, which is not really what I thought it would be....but will have to delve into it. Maybe not yet, as it's about creating a journal, asking yourself questions about what you want to be, right brain/left brain development, etc.
As I mentioned before, I'm taking part in Shimelle's Class Learn Something New Everyday for the month of September...so that will be my focus for a few weeks. (unless my philosophy gets the better of me!)
No comments:
Post a Comment