Great points and insights here Nathan, thank you so much! Certainly, we should view the "self-help" domain as a wonderful world to assist us in journies to grow physically, mentally, and spiritually but not rely to heavily upon any resources.

At the same time, some of the amazing resources out there like TED talks and many books produced in the self-help space are certainly the real deal--offering unique points from numerous points of view and also numerous gems of deeper truth and insight.

But it is really hard to know the difference between a master class and a connect-the-dots book, so you really have to follow the guide of experts and certainly keep an open and critically inquiring mind.