My reply above was more than a little tongue in cheek but thanks for the extra information. A lot of what was said in the article rings true to me, the fact that you live in a certain place with a certain group of friends etc. without really making a conscious decision about any of it. That's the external part of it which you have accepted and adapted to. Berne seems to approach the same topic from an internal perspective; how the individual internalises events which then shapes how that person views the world. In either case when reading I couldn't help but wonder if my current situation (both the good and the not so good) is a result of my conscious decisions or whether events happened and I drifted along. Did I steer the ship or simply log the journey to allow it to make sense in retrospect.