Seven deadly sins, from greatest to slightest - Pride, Envy, Wrath, Sloth, Greed, Gluttony, Lust; seven heavenly virtues as antidotes - Humility, Kindness, Patience, Diligence, Charity, Temperance, Chastity. Looking for a book that gleans from ancient teachings and applies them in modern context.
You've probably heard this frequently, a lack of touch - not verbal or textual contact via any form of communication, as in "keep in touch", but physical, skin to skin contact - with other human beings leads to oxytoxin deficiency, suboptimal mental state, sadness and other consequences. So I wonder:
You've probably heard this frequently, a lack of touch - not verbal contact, but skin to skin contact - with other human beings leads to oxytoxin deficiency, suboptimal mental state, sadness and other consequences. So I wonder:
I'd say don't bother, and let no one join together, not social pressure or your own lust. Chalk it up as fate and submit to it.
My strategy is to subtly shift the subject from the abstract CONCEPT of marriage to a specific partner which may or may not exist. It's like they ask you, "when will you make an investment against inflation?" "when will you travel around to see the world?" "when will you go for an audition?" These obviously raise a series of questions, in case you fail to notice - "invest in what, do I even have the money?" "travel to where, why would I, do I have the time and energy?" "what audition, what are you even talking about, how do you assume I have the talent?" Likewise, if I'm not dating anybody in the first place, and nobody's interested in me, whom am I supposed to marry? Myself? My cat?
If you are dating someone, or you're set up on a date with someone, however, then you can give a report on your progress, whether you or your partner is marriage material, whether your partner is a good match, whether they're serious for a relationship, whether you two are compatible, whether they share the same value, whether they like you or not, whether they have marriage in mind as the end goal, that sort of thing.
So as you can see, if you follow their lead on the subject of marriage, you're on the hot seat, you have to reveal your attitude on marriage, and it could go political, ideological and thus very ugly, at least uncomfotable; but when you shift it to the reality of your situation or the merit of your partner, then you're off the hot seat, you're not married simply because there's nobody to marry, or your partner doesn't want marriage, it's not entirely your choice any more, it's just fate.
These were two popular genres of "smut" books boomer grandmas used to enjoy reading. In my experience, the first is mostly about mutual affection or clever schemes in the polite society of aristocrats, usually set in late 18th to early 19th England, some are retellings of classic fairytales, popular authors include Eloisa James, Lisa Kleypas, Nicole Jordan; the latter is in a darker theme set in the American wild west or the era of Atlantic piracy, with a typical damsel in distress being either abducted, rescued or seduced by the tall, dark, handsome, brooding hero, who's usually a cowboy, pirate, renegade soldier, but could be a nobelman as well, popular authors include Jennifer Wild and Johanna Lindsey.
If you're a fan of this kind of romance novels, I wonder what draws you in, what are the attractive element. For me it's not the fantasy of the carnal pleasure between the hot heroine and hero, but the nostalgia for a romanticized bygone era and subtlety of language, especially when it comes to the spicy parts. Furthermore, these stories are usually character-driven, which is always superior than plot driven ones.