Self-help

what do you really want what do you mean what did you mean i didn't understand that if if you're not absolutely clear about what somebody says don't jump to the conclusion that that it's a negative maybe they're just trying to communicate better with you maybe they're they're not angry with you they're just upset and they need to help to help make the relationship better

You won first place in the Global Awards for Self-Help Motivational.

What do you hope a reader takes away from our relationship for suckers that they cannot get from a typical romance novel or a Hollywood

movie? Well, I actually feel that my book was written because it's real, because it's lived, because I've done it, been there, done that, lived through it.

It's older than you think.

So it was sort of largely popularized in recent years by Amway and Self Help and Alcoholics Anonymous.

Really? That's where it came from.

And it's been adopted by popular culture to describe what a lot of influencers do.

And the person being interviewed is Dr. Cassandra Vieten, who is talking about imagination and manifesting.

But, uh, so there's going to be quite a lot of her showing up in this decoding, which I think is actually okay, Matt, because this is quite representative of the self-help genre and Mel Robbins' output overall.

She is primarily a bit like Oprah Winfrey, somebody who interviews other people.

She does have her own, you know, self-help empire and, and books and, and little slogans and whatnot that we'll, we'll get to.

Like, it's not my taste.

Regarding, like, wearing zany socks as a fun thing, like, it comes across...

The cruel word to use would be, like, basic, right? But I also think that, you know, if you are reading Warhammer 40K novels or if you're reading, like, mystery thrillers or watching Murder She Wrote or these kind of things, there's plenty of people that enjoy all sorts of little things, right? And I think the self-help genre, it is more popular with women, and there is, and I remember the core demographic here, I think, is, like, middle-class white women, and she's speaking to things that they enjoy.

I'm not saying all middle-class white women.

In this episode, managing your relationship as a human who engages daily with the seven deadly sins.

When I first laid eyes on a book with the title, "Self-Help from the Middle Ages: What the Seven Deadly Sins Can Teach Us About Living," I immediately interested myself.

Even more when I found out that the author is an expert in medieval times.

Uh, so Peter Jones, he's a writer and academic.

The point is not whether we engage with them, 'cause we do, it's what our relationship is with each of them, or rather how our, how our relationship is with each.

So coming up next is my conversation with Peter Jones, and again, that our engagement with the seven deadly sins.

[chime] Peter, getting, uh, the next book across my desk, and here comes one that says, "Self-Help from the Middle Ages: What the Seven Deadly Sins Can Teach Us About Living." Almost a no-brainer.

Said, "I've got to talk to whoever wrote that book." And then as I got into it, I mean, this has ties to my upbringing in religion and Christian religion, and my interest in humanity and our tendencies, and our...