Accept sad feelings like happy feelings, they just are
If I am happy, I do not try to find ways to make myself unhappy. Therefore, just like happiness, if I am sad, I should not always try to find ways to get rid of the sad feelings.

Be responsible for my actions and I will feel better about my successes and learn more from my mistakes
For the better part of my life, I have never felt truly successful. Because I did not take responsibility for the situation, the successes never really were my successes. On the flip side, I also never learned to take ownership for my failures because I never was responsible in the first place. In the long rung, I will feel better about myself if I learn to take the risk of responsibility.

Don't use people
There is a fine line between talking with your friends for support and using them as a place to dump out all of your problems. After learning this lesson, many of my relationships are now much healthier.

Learn to cope internally
This lesson is similar to the previous thought, but I tie this more to my parents. I grew up having parents who protected me from any type of failure. Now, at age 24, I am officially being introduced to the real world and learning to cope with my own issues. Learning to cope with life events internally is a major step that Dr. Ripp pointed out to me.

With regards to relationships, conduct yourself so that you would want to date yourself
After discussing my unhappiness with previous relationships, Dr. Ripp presented me with a unique perspective. He suggested that however I decide to conduct myself, I will attract people who conduct themselves in a similar fashion. Therefore, if I can learn to conduct myself like I want the people I would like to date to conduct themselves, I will be more likely to find a person that matches what I am looking for.

Living life by extremes are avenues for escaping reality
Whether I am purchasing the top of the line skis as an intermediate skier, or signing up for a triathlon when I have never been in a 5k race, Dr. Ripp brought to my attention that I live my life by extremes. It is these extremes that give me temporary happiness, but in the long term leave me empty.

Jealousy is like trying to live your life like a picture on the wall. You will never be able to achieve the exact thing that is displayed in the picture because it will always be someone else's life
If I like what I see in the picture, I should figure out what I like about it and create it in my life. If I am jealous of a certain friendship, I should figure out how to improve my relationship with the person as opposed to being jealous of the friendship that someone else has with that person.

Don't conduct your life based upon absolutes
After Dr. Ripp pointed out some new ideas to me, I began conducting my life by exactly what he said. I found that trying to apply a general idea to every specific instance does not work. It was at this point that Dr. Ripp pointed out that gray is acceptable. Everything in life does not have to be black or white.

If I do what I always do, I will get what I have always gotten
Finally, I read this thought above at the top of a brochure while sitting in the waiting room at Personal Growth Associates. Out of everything I have learned over the past 11 months, this made the most sense to me. Recently, this phrase has also been the most upsetting to me. While I felt I had come so far and improved upon all of the things I discussed above, I realized I have not come as far as I thought. Over the course of the past month I realized I am still running to my parents, I am still jealous, and I am still living my life by extremes. However, I feel I am better off now then I was before because now I can recognize what I am doing and work to improve myself. Going forward, I will continue to see Dr. Ripp and I look forward to learning more about myself.