I counsel about two couples per week on their marriages and find that I often have to give the most explicit advice. Rabbis are sometimes called upon to be marriage and sex councilors, and it is something we should not be ashamed of. Because they understand that religion is nothing if it doesn't provide guidance. What prompted me more than anything else to write this book is the glaring discrepancy, affecting nearly every life, between what we want to be and what we eventually end up being. All the great truths in the world are out there.
People are quite good at identifying the good from the bad.
But choosing and living according to the good seems so much more difficult by comparison. It's as if there is a natural bottleneck between our minds and our emotions. We are controlled by our passions rather than being in control of our passions. I may be wrong, but I believe that the most characteristic human emotion at middle age and beyond is that of regret. There are so many things we wish we would have done, so many things we wish we wouldn't have done, and so many dreams that remain unfulfilled.