We all go through pain in life, but not all of us discover our purpose in our pain. Basically, there are two critical decisions that must be made regarding pain. The first is what to do during your pain, and the second is what do with your pain. The first has to do with you, while the second has to do with others.

A few months ago, we talked about “setting healthy boundaries.” Primarily, we discussed how to identify when boundaries are needed. For example, if you are prone to pleasing others, you may need to set boundaries to protect yourself by learning to say “No.” On the other hand, how do you know when you’re being emotionally manipulated?

What is leaned helplessness? A recent article in MEDICALNEWSTODAY states “In psychology, learned helplessness is a state that occurs after a person has experienced a stressful situation repeatedly.” These individuals come to believe that they are unable to control or change a situation, so they do not try—even when opportunities for change become available.

Think back to elementary school in your social studies class, when your teacher showed you a map and explained that certain lines represented boundaries between states and countries. Sometimes there would be a natural feature, such as a river that would divide one territory from another.