You save reusable people
You do not handwrite who that person is every time a case appears.
Step 3: create relational entities and solve problems with Apply
After working on problems with yourself, the next step is to stop re-explaining from scratch the key people in your world. `Relational entities` let you save other people as reusable pieces and then take them into `Apply`.
Core idea
The other person stops being improvised text
When a problem involves another person, the quality of the file changes a lot if that person already exists as a saved entity: with name, role, observable behavior, conflict style, needs, triggers, and example scenes.
The bond gains thickness
Apply no longer works only with your identity, but with a second identifiable human piece.
You can use the same entity across cases
That allows you to compare conflicts, decisions, or conversations with the same person without losing consistency.
Create the entity
In `RelationalEntities/Manage` you define name, category, relationship type, free-form role, base description, observable behavior, attributes, conflict style, needs, triggers, example scenes, and notes.
Complete the base for Apply
The card itself shows whether it already has enough base for Apply. If density is missing, it helps to complete signals before taking it into the case.
Use it inside Apply
From `Apply` you can select available relational actors and let the file be built with that second human piece already prepared.
What the card contributes
Which signals are worth saving about a person
- Who they are and which role they occupy in your life or in the case.
- How they behave observably, not only how they make you feel.
- Which conflict style they usually activate.
- Which needs or triggers seem to move their behavior.
- Which example scenes help keep context alive.
- Which structured attributes you want to reuse later.
Apply
What changes when you take a relational entity into the file
The case stops being only 'me facing my problem'. It starts being 'me, with my identity, in interaction with one concrete other person'.
You can focus the bond better
It helps with difficult conversations, hierarchies, couple dynamics, friendship, family, partners, or people who appear repeatedly.
External AI starts with less ambiguity
When exporting the case, the other AI receives an already structured relational piece instead of an improvised description.
You can see patterns by person
By reusing the same entity across different files, you can better see which part of the problem is yours, which is the other person's, and which belongs to the bond.
When it helps
Ideal cases for this step 3
Repeated conflicts
When the same person appears again and again in your files.
Important bonds
Partner, family member, boss, partner, colleague, or key friend.
Conversation preparation
When you want to order a bond well before speaking or deciding something.
Practical route
How to walk through this guide inside SELFTRACE
Relational inventory
Check whether the person already exists or create a new entity.
Complete the card
Make sure there are enough signals so Apply does not work with an empty silhouette.
Apply
Select the relational entity inside the file and work the case.
Next step
After other people, collectives come next
After working with concrete people, you can also incorporate collectives, groups, or broader human frames inside `Apply`.