Self-Help Gurus??

At The Humanity Project, a big part of our mission includes encouraging each of us to help ourselves. We do that for free through this website, and we offer practical, common sense suggestions based on scientific research and the wisdom of great minds, past and present, and carefully examined personal experiences. Our goal is to convince as many people as possible that we each possess an undeniable human ability to improve our lives – and that we each have a responsibility to society to use this ability. If we want a better world, we each have to be better people. That’s our message.

There’s no question that many folks today are looking for answers in their lives. Self-help gurus make millions of dollars by selling their ideas about health and happiness. The other night, I watched several of them talking on TV about their theories. But I have to admit that their discussion made me a little uncomfortable. Yes, I felt they were smart people and much of their advice seemed basically sensible. (I think many self-help teachers have something to offer – with the possible exception of “Dr. Phil.”) But I was uncomfortable because some “experts” on this panel also offered advice that seemed too simple. And to me, that’s the big problem with the self-help movement.

I get the feeling that many self-help gurus decide their message won’t be marketable unless they dumb it down. So they tell people changing their life is easy. You know the kind of thing: “It all boils down to doing my Seven Steps to Self-Esteem” or whatever. I think the self-help movement does a disservice by making the process of improving our lives sound simple and quick. It isn’t. So people lurch from one self-help book to another – and never really feel healthier and happier. In my experience, I’ve found real personal change is tough. It takes persistent effort and self-discipline. But it can be done. The Humanity Project believes that’s the real message people need to hear: work at it and you WILL have a better life. The truth isn’t always marketable, unfortunately. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t still the truth.
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Five And Five

It’s hard to believe we’re already at Thanksgiving. But here it is, wow. The year’s almost over. As we enter another holiday season, there are so many subjects I want to write about in this blog space – and elsewhere on The Humanity Project website. These topics include how you can start “digging out” if you’re feeling snowed under by life and how to know when you’ve started to think too much about your problems. I’ll be getting to those subjects soon.

I’m also eager to complete the second chapter of our ambitious online book, “The Hidden Mind.” And more cantos of “A Human Drama” and lots of other material that may just help some of you improve your life. But for right now, The Humanity Project has to address a more immediate concern: holiday fundraising. (Don’t click away from us just yet, please. We have a suggestion that will cost you almost nothing, in time or money, as I explain below.) Of course, I’d rather concentrate on topics that are more useful to our readers. But the truth is that, unless we get donations, we won’t be useful to anyone for long.

So we’re starting a new fundraising campaign. We call it, “Five and Five.” Here’s our idea: Give us just $5 using our “Donate” button. It’s on the “Join The Project” page on this website. You'll need to fill out a brief one-time registration form that should take you no more than five minutes. In other words, give us $5 and five minutes of your time. That’s all we’re asking. If you can and want to give more, we’d be very grateful. But we’ll also be very grateful to those who take part in our “Five and Five” campaign. While you’re at it, please also read our brand-new “About Us” pages. They’re very short and may help you better understand what The Humanity Project is trying to do. If you like what you see, we hope you’ll help us carry out this important mission. Thanks so much … and Happy Thanksgiving from everyone here at The Humanity Project! – RSK

Podcasting 101

I’m often surprised how many people don’t yet know what a “blog” is all about. Since you’re here reading this, I assume that’s not an issue with you. But you might not know much, if anything, about podcasts. Most folks still don’t, it seems. We have a popular podcast on this website. So today, I’m going to blog about podcasting! Synergy at its best, right?

Seriously, a podcast is just an Internet broadcast. I always tell people it’s a radio program that is permanently posted online, waiting for you to listen or download whenever you want. As many times as you want. There’s no need to tune in between, let’s say, 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. anymore to catch your favorite show. Not if it’s a podcast. It’s there when you are.

You can find our podcast programs on this website by returning to the home page and clicking on The Humanity Podcast. Our latest show is called “Inside Our Recording Sessions,” and it’s a live look behind the scenes of a podcast. (“Live” meaning unedited, of course.) As a former radio and TV newsman, I really have enjoyed getting into this new form of broadcasting. I also write and perform the original music that opens and closes every podcast, different music for each show. You’ll hear me recording some of that music unedited in our latest podcast. And you can catch my interview with the owner and engineer at Zebra Studios in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where we record. Matt Corey is a great guy, a very talented musician and recording engineer. And a good friend. It’s all in our most recent podcast.

Of course, most of our podcasts deal with topics related to The Humanity Project’s mission. We’re trying to inspire, encourage and inform people to help them take more responsibility for improving their lives. We see this as an effective way to start improving society, one person at a time. So we offer practical, common sense thoughts on getting control of your health or thinking for yourself or other skills needed to live a healthy, happy life. We hope you’ll check out all our programs and come back each week for new ones. And please, tell your friends about us. We can only succeed if lots of people begin to understand what The Humanity Project is trying to do, and join in our hopeful work. – RSK

Thanks, Yellow Strawberry!

I’m writing an extra blog this week to thank the great folks at Yellow Strawberry Global Hair Salon in Fort Lauderdale. Our big cutathon fundraiser on November 5th was a real success. We raised nearly $2,000 for The Humanity Project in only four hours of hairstyling and coloring by the talented staff. That money is desperately needed now, as we add to our website and build our organization to spread the message that we each can help to change the world. A better world, and a better you at the same time. That’s what The Humanity Project is all about.

Yellow Strawberry’s owner and founder, styling icon Jesse Briggs, was on hand during our Cutathon for Humanity to cut hair and chat with customers about The Humanity Project. So was the renowned Maurice Tidy, who was creative director at Vidal Sassoon for 23 years. But I was just as impressed that Jesse’s great staff showed up to support our cause. I want to tell you their names so you know how grateful we are to each of these wonderful people.

A huge thank you to Megan Drust, Michael Orlando, Joy Schilt and Shelly Van Pelt for playing some key roles in attracting customers and handling various behind-the-scenes duties. And to the stylists and their assistants, another huge thank you for a job very well done: Roseli DaSilva, Cintia Nogueira da Silva, Miranda Hendricks, Elizabeth Burkhardt, Kenney Johnson, Kelli Ochs, Jessica Kunesh, Sara Schwalbe, Tree Daley and Michelle DaCosta. They sacrificed their free time and gave their talents to The Humanity Project. Everyone who came in the door went out looking better – and wearing a smile.

Yellow Strawberry remains committed to helping The Humanity Project. We’ve already discussed working together on possible future fundraisers. And Jesse is keeping a jar for customer donations on his station and talking to his clients about supporting our group. If you’re anywhere near Fort Lauderdale and want a great hair style or coloring, I suggest you stop by Yellow Strawberry. Just call 954-463-4343 for an appointment. Or visit their great website at www.yellowstrawberry.com. Thank you, Yellow Strawberry! -- RSK

Why CAN’T The Internet Be More?

That question has been on my mind a lot lately: Why can’t the Internet be more? Do more, offer more? The answer, obviously, is that it can. And in some ways, it already is. I’m not talking about increasing the volume of mindless “stuff.” I’m talking about better, more intelligent material on the Web.

You see, The Humanity Project offers our cutting-edge website in the belief that the public can learn to appreciate richer, fuller content on the Internet. We’re all so used to “surfing the ‘Net” that we’ve just accepted the idea that everything has to be very short, very quick, very loud, very flashy – but with little substance. Bang, bang, bang. “Hey, let’s check that out. BORING! What about this? Or that? Oh look, I got a new email. Maybe there’s a joke in it!” Of course, there’s nothing wrong with having fun or being entertained. But maybe the Internet also can enrich and improve people’s lives, like a good book or movie.

So our website challenges visitors a bit more than many websites. We do that deliberately because we think that the Web can offer quality blogs and podcasts, with good writing and good sound and good original music. We think that the Internet can provide a new way for artists to express themselves. (That’s what our feature, “A Human Drama,” is trying to do – using the Internet as a totally new medium, a hybrid form that offers a mixture of reading and watching a film and listening to a broadcast.) We also feel sure that people can learn to enjoy sitting at their computers to read quality writing for more than five minutes before surfing off to something else. (That’s what our other main feature, “The Hidden Mind,” is trying to give the public – a non-fiction book, published one chapter at a time, that will help people improve their lives.)

Try thinking for yourself about the possibilities of the Internet. Should technology with the ability to reach billions of people for free be merely a toy, as the Internet often is now? Or even just a tool for fast communication and dry research? Why can’t it also inspire and move and enlighten at the same time as it entertains? That’s what great books and films and music and visual art have always done. Maybe, just maybe, the Internet can too. At The Humanity Project, we’re creating our website in the belief that it can. -- RSK