Too Much of a Good Thing?

So here's a question for you: Is it possible to "Self Improve" to excess? I mean, really? There are some incredible resources out there for us to grow and develop ourselves daily. There are PLENTY of these resources. In fact, no one in one single life time could possibly get through each and every item available today, let alone all the other stuff coming out on a daily basis. You have everything from books, magazines, videos, interviews, seminars, etc. Can someone, then, who really loves this stuff, get too much of it?

I know people who self improve. Some more than others. Some feel the need to grow for themselves and other feel the need to "push" their newfound ideas on others. Some change their systems on a weekly basis due to new findings. Some do nothing differently at all. Of course, there are a select few, who actually study what they read, and apply what matters most to them, and you can see positive changes in their lives because of it.

So where is the line drawn? How much self improving can one do, before it really is just doing no good? Before the movie "BEYOND the Secret" (Basically a follow up to "The Secret" that helps you understand how you can actually implement the Law of Attraction into your life) came out, they had a panel discussion with some of the guests on the movie. Leeza Gibbons was the MC at the event and she preluded the evening with identifying several types of people who are interested in this kind of material.

She called one type of people "Secret Freaks." She tried to cover it up as an endearing term of people who are 'fans' of the Law of Attraction and view the teachers as celebrities of sorts. It dawned on me, that she might not be too far off.

I know when I pick up a Self Improvement book, I love it. I eat it up. Everything about the book usually gets me in an emotional and intellectual kind of 'high', but then, many many many a times, I put the book away and continue living my life as if I hadn't read a thing. Sometimes, I make changes, and I guess those are the times it counts.

Quite a few of the people in my life read self improvement material on a constant basis. Some of them can have a full day's worth of a conversation with you on the subject, and afterwords you would feel as if you've met an expert in that field. However, you look at their life and you would be hard pressed to take anything they say with any credibility.

Sometimes I wonder if simply reading and watching the stuff out there gives people that high that gets them excited about the stuff, and they pick up another book just to feel that way again. Not really changing much, but wanting to, keeping that hope alive.

I guess you could be doing too much self improving if all you are doing is self improving. If you don't take action on the material you learn, then really you aren't moving in any direction at all. We all know, 'when you are stagnant, you are dying.' I think this can happen whether you read two books a year or two hundred. The purpose is to act, to move, to really change from the inside out.

Even though this is one of our challenges as human beings, taking it one step at a time is all we need to do. Change a little bit, day by day, and then look at your life over the course of a year. You don't have to conquer the world this weekend, that will come in due time. Continue to self improve, but put a little bit of action behind each word you take in, and that is how we'll truly experience the goals we set out for ourselves.

In the meantime...DREAM BIG!