Tag: risk

In case you hadn’t noticed, men have a pretty lackadaisical attitude toward their health—an attitude that contributes to the fact that roughly one in four men in the United states will die of heart disease, and a between 70 percent and 89 percent of all sudden cardiac events occur in men! And the situation is getting worse, with women outliving men by about five years.

Sounds pretty grim, doesn’t it? Well, it doesn’t have to be. The reality is that half of all premature deaths are preventable—but to accomplish that, men will have to make some pretty serious changes in the way they run their lives. Unfortunately, far too many men aren’t terribly interested in modifying their behavior.

"Pleasure is the object, duty and the goal of all rational creatures." ~ Voltaire

There is no time like long summer nights to cultivate the uniquely, profoundly human capacity for pleasure—especially sexual pleasure. Our pleasure response transforms our relationship to each other and even to life itself.  Focusing on pleasure not only changes how we see our opportunities for intimate connection, but also invites us into a deeper relationship with our erotic soul.

The saying that youth is wasted on the young may be especially true when it comes to saving for retirement. Too many people wait way too long to start thinking about how much they will need to finance their retirement.

In a way, that’s not surprising. Retirement seems so far away when you’re in your 20s and 30s, and it’s easy to think you’ll have plenty of time to worry about saving later.

Unless you are living in an isolated cave, social conflict is inevitable. Our needs, interests, and desires collide with each other, getting in the way of our happiness.

Conflict is not inherently bad, however. We need conflict to teach us, entertain us, and help us grow. We can probably do without Jerry Springer’s craziness, but a certain amount of conflict is healthy. On the other hand, we also experience unhealthy conflict; when the conflict becomes chronic and repetitive, it is toxic.

David and I never discussed the topic of risk before we got married. I never even thought to ask David about his risk tolerance because I never thought that it would play such an important role in our lives. But nearly nine years after our first date, I can attest to the fact that how each of us handles risk has become a constantly recurring theme—and debate—in our marriage.

David tends to act impulsively. Taking risks doesn’t phase him. He’s constantly dreaming up new ideas, willing to try anything, ready to move forward even if he doesn’t know where forward will take him. Because he embraces risk, he left his apartment, his belongings and his family in Paris in 2001 and followed me to California. He was ready to risk everything for me even though, at that point, we had only been dating for two months!