I couldn’t be this person now if I hadn’t gone through that difficult period of my life. It was a period of my life that really built or actually rebuilt my character...It’s a deep-seated confidence right from inside here.

When a loved one is making trouble for me, I've learnt through trial and error that sometimes I need to act, and sometimes I don't. But definitely the worse thing I can do is to RE-act...After a certain amount of time, the trouble fades away.

Identifying them is one part of it but because I know who they are I can “expect” to have trouble from them at any time and I can be ready for it...I just have to not take it personally.

Explore the correlation between pain and behavioural change. Understand how physical discomfort and stress can shape our priorities and decision-making skills.

Life changes from time to time, but in between these changes are long periods where things are the same. In the last ten years, my life has been changing in a good way and there have been some, what I would call landmark changes, mixed in with other smaller changes. The spaces in between the changes are important for me for a couple of reasons. They help me adjust and prepare for what comes next.

Every day, from when I wake up to when I go to bed, my life is a series of choices. And each choice is important. Recognizing the clues and what is a clue is the key for me. Just as important as choosing the right thing to do is recognizing when I should stop doing something.

Another thing that I involuntarily do is to think about different periods from my past. They are all things that I regret but when I'm stuck in this mode of looking back, I am able to see the experience in a different way to how I saw it before. And this can be quite jarring, but seeing what I did without any of the emotions attached to it is definitely a good thing for me.

The worst thing I can do to someone is to try to control them. Individual freedom is very important and nobody wants to feel like they can’t decide for themselves what to do. A lot of my trouble and conflict with people comes from me. Even the very small things, like how a conversation goes, requires me to be sensitive or even hyper-sensitive to the flow of the conversation and the motivations of the people involved.

Between periods of action, I've learned to cherish the times when I simply have to wait. These moments demand patience, as change - whether in family, job or everything else - can only happen in one area at a time. These small improvements and changes are the signs that my life is steadily progressing.

I've learned the importance of seizing the right opportunity at the right time. Recognising when I've chosen to do the wrong thing is as crucial as understanding when it's time to stop and change course. The timing of our actions can save us a lot of trouble.

I've come to understand that everyone has their own viewpoints. It's not about convincing them to adopt mine, but rather to appreciate the diversity of thoughts and ideas. By refraining from arguing and instead fully committing to what I've chosen, I've learned to win without necessarily needing to be right.

Acknowledging my motives has allowed me to view myself more objectively. This clarity has significantly transformed how I interact with those around me. Despite the optimism, I understand that people may let me down, and that's on me. However, resilience lies in getting up, dusting off and moving forward.

The repetitive scenarios in life are not always negative; sometimes, they're catalysts for growth. When an unwelcome situation repeats, we often dread that it would go as horribly wrong as the previous time. Yet, we find ourselves let off from the severity of the past. This is a chance to reflect on the steady improvements in life, nudging us towards better outcomes and resilience.

The small, seemingly insignificant incidents and interactions in life can echo in our minds, amplified to an unbearable volume. These repetitive thoughts can shape our perception, stressing us over minute details, which may seem like some form of mental torture. However, it's these micro-managed life elements that make us who we are.

We often grapple with uncontrollable situations, trying to steer them towards outcomes we deem best. Yet, it's crucial to trust the process and accept the way things turn out. This acceptance isn't always easy when confronted with unfavorable situations. However, keeping faith in eventual progress and acknowledging the current state as the best, for now, can slowly redefine who we are.

Criticism often poses an internal dilemma: Do we need to change? We're often shown areas for improvement through criticisms, nudging us to adapt our behavior. However, there's a thin line between self-improvement and morphing ourselves into someone else's desired image. As we navigate through this challenge, reaffirming that we've done the right thing underpins our self-confidence, helping us to maintain authenticity amidst change.

The future can be scary and unpredictable. What we CAN do though is to start looking at the patterns that our lives are following. So if we pay attention to the patterns and the way things turn out we will have a better idea of what will happen. And most importantly we can stop worrying so much and trust that this time, as it was last time, everything will turn out fine.

But the main way these things affect us is that they slightly change WHO we are so that the next time it happens we will react differently. After a difficult time we should notice these changes. Nothing has really changed on the outside but on the inside we are slightly different.

So our lives change and we change and this pattern repeats again and again until we are very different to the people we were at the beginning. But not only that, these changes are making us stronger for the next thing and the next thing. So that we are always able to deal with what is coming up. And in this way we can trust that the future is something we are ready for.

When we regret things that we’ve done we also see what we did right and what we did wrong in a situation. And when we revisit these situations as we remember them we strengthen what is right and what is wrong for us. This then becomes a powerful tool for us to use in the present, and it is especially useful when we are faced with challenging situations.