Not exactly self-improvement

Facing my busiest time of year, I've found myself going where I never go, to those blogs that specialise in tips on managing your life better. Despite deep scepticism, I've found two or three that make me less uncomfortable than most and provide both some well-written and comforting words and a few helpful suggestions.

Extreme selectivity and extreme wariness are in order here, I think. Selectivity both because each of us is different and must know ourselves and find what works for us, and because it's only realistic to try a very few new strategies at a time, especially when you're very busy. Wariness, because, well, self-improvement is an odd concept. Any of my buddhist teachers, and a great many wise psychologists and psychotherapists, would certainly tell you that it's not your self you need to improve. On the contrary, believing that the person you are right now is fundamentally okay and deserves a decent life is the first prerequisite for any kind of progress, any kind of thriving.

Health, mood, habits and approaches, though, can of course be improved. And there are a few sites whose overall ethos I like and whose concrete suggestions include some that resonate. Notably Slow Leadership, Zen Habits and Goodlife Zen. (All of which, incidentally, I like much better than their titles made me think I would).