I remember a group therapy session when one of the patients was reluctantly turning his corner. He would accept it, he said, but he wouldn't like the idea of having to solve problems every day for the rest of his life. My co-therapist told him that it was not required that he like it. She shared her own displeasure, saying: 'I remember that when I first discovered what life was like, I was furious. I guess I'm still kind of mad sometimes.' (135)

We are all born into families and cultures we didn't choose, given names we didn't pick, instructed in behaviour and values we might not have freely chosen, and too often we end up expected to live lives designed by others.

All significant battles are fought within self.

For each of us, the only hope resides in his own efforts, in completing his own story, not in the other's interpretation. (63)

Again and again I find that my own inner counselor, my secret dreaming self, is not only wise and helpful but usually amusing as well.

Each person's only hope for improving his lot rests on recognizing the true nature of his or her basic personality, surrendering to it, and becoming who he or she really is.

You can't make anyone love you. You just have to reveal who you are and take your chances. (105)