These are excerpts from the author’s book “Deep,” which contains eight of his small books published in the form of Wisdom Literature covering different aspects of life: Facing troublemakers, dealing with pain, personal financial issues, gastronomy, reading, criticizing, inspiring, and feeling always good to go.

Series 1: How to Better Manage Conflicts

Week 16: Dealing with Betrayal

• History repeats itself, but not with every single detail.

• When you face the same conflict again with the same people, scrutinize your mistakes from dealing with the conflict last time.

• When the same conflict is repeated with the same people involved, reevaluate their attitude; it could be the same faces with an entirely different behavior.

• Reassess yourself frequently; you are changing as well.

• When the same conflict is repeated with different people involved, you should better consider it as a new conflict necessitates a new approach.

• Conflict recurrence does not necessarily mean you are responsible.

• In many cases, a specific conflict does not actually reoccur; you just thought the conflict reached an end while it was still ongoing, maybe behind the scenes.

• We often tend to put our conflicts on hold and then become annoyed when they flare up again after a while.

• Even your past conflicts might not be enough to remind you when a similar conflict happened before. Do not be bothered by your weak memory; just focus on realizing the value of your subconscious and your rich stock of inspiration.

• Annual challenging business tasks are probably prescheduled recurring conflicts. Whenever you memorize lessons learned, be ready for surprises eliminating previous obstacles and adding unexpected new ones.

• More difficult than gaining trust is regaining it.

• Why make the decision to lose somebody? Let the other person take the initiative.

• Even if you anticipate it and believe you are prepared in advance, betrayal will still taste harsh when it happens.

• In order to avoid getting hurt by others, you do not need to sleep with one eye open—close both eyes while sleeping and keep your mind and heart open when you are awake.

• Betrayal is a feeling that people enjoy allowing it to exacerbate. Chances of success overtaking betrayal’s frustration increase when we are able to ignore frustrations and look at possible recovery and brilliant opportunities in the future or currently around us.

• Bad intention is not the only motive leading to betrayal. Other reasons include misunderstanding, miscommunication, fears, weakness, and genuine needs, among others.

• Betrayal from others needs to be carefully evaluated by you; not every betrayal necessitates breaking off relationships. However, a radical change in the relationship is a must after each betrayal.

• The first betrayal’s effects tend to be horrible. It is easier after that, not because you get used to it but because your expectations drop.

• It depends on your nature, but try your best to forget the betrayal and remember lessons learned.

• Do not let the satisfaction of the feeling of the victim of betrayal overwhelm you; this leads to nowhere. Try to look for practical alternatives.

• Reactions to betrayal need profound consideration more than just taking revenge.