"Only the true self can be creative and only the true self can feel real." -- D.W. Winnicott

The false self is a term that was introduced by Donald Winnicott. A number of authors have written of the pressures in one's working life to be something other than one's true self. Some of these quotes remain among the most poignant of any I've collected. In interviews with people who were dying the most common regret was: "I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me."

As Carol Bly writes in the introduction to her book Changing the Bully Who Rules the World: "It is based on literature because narrative is the best carrier of psychologically complex truths." [1] And as David Whyte writes in Crossing the Unknown Sea: "For real conversation we need a real language. To my mind that is the language not enshrined in business books or manuals but in our great literary traditions. Keats or Wordsworth, Emily Dickinson or Mary Oliver often say more in one line about the invisible structures that make up the average workday than a whole shelf of contemporary business books." [2]

Literature Collection

I've addeed Literature, which will augment the business collection. Actually, the literature collection will hopefully at some point become the core collection, and deservedly so. I'd like to give credit to my friend Ray, who is offered the role of WorkCreatively literary consultant, for originally suggesting this.

References

The following collections are available here, though not yet completely populated:

Business Collection
Computer Collection

Doing a search of this site will locate words or phrases from the personal notes I'm gradually adding for a number of the titles (primarily those in the business collection), including notable brief quotations.

For example, here are the search results for the word "blaming":

Fear and Other Uninvited Guests: Tackling the Anxiety, Fear, and Shame That Keep Us from Optimal Living and Loving

... Blaming is the easiest way to ruin your career. It's surprising how many people ...
Biblio - admin - 05/03/2009 - 06:23 - 0 comments - 0 attachments

Created a library collection tagged with "Business" imported from the corresponding library in the Alexandria software. A few duplicates to be eliminated due to multiple ISBNs getting selected for one book (possible software bug).

Besides online compilation of the business book collection, numbering in the hundreds, this will allow searching and citation using citekeys, like this [1].

References