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Issue of Risk in Life

In Risking, Dr. David Viscott analyzes the issue of risk in life and considers the fact that living is itself a matter of risk. He begins with the proposition that any change in life will entail risk, and in order to accomplish any improvement at all, it is necessary to take risks. People fear risk, however, and it is dispelling this fear that Viscott proposes to accomplish so that people will be free to improve their lives. He offers this book as a way to helping the reader understand his or her fears of risk and ways to overcome those fears and make the reality of risk work for them instead of against them.

Viscott first considers the fact that it is always necessary to take a risk in order to change or to grow. He says that growing and risking involve the same basic processes--giving up false beliefs, compromised allegiances, misdirected investments, superficial attachments, and destructive habits. None of these elements in itself is outrageous, and there may be good reasons for all of them. Yet, it is necessary to get past them and to surrender them rather than to surrender to them in order to achieve anything worthwhile. Every risk also involves an unavoidable loss, something that has to be given up in order that we can move ahead. There is the danger of getting hurt, and there is a feeling of separation anxiety that Viscott says is related to the survival instinct. In fact, there are any number of ideas we may have, emotions we may feel, and concerns that may plague us that can stand in the way of our taking risks, and the act of taking risks really does involve a certain peril. At the same time, Viscott points out that none of us would be where we are today without our having taken risks in the past.

Viscott discusses what he calls patterns of risking. He notes that while there is always a loss behind the taking of a risk, defining that loss is not always easy. Each personality is shaped by pain, and pain bu...

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Issue of Risk in Life. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 00:40, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1689857.html