Munari, Cristoforo – Still Life with Musical Instruments and Fruit – c. 1706. Wikimedia Commons

“The real risks for any artist are taken in pushing the work to the limits of what is possible, in the attempt to increase the sum of what it is possible to think. Books become good when they go to this edge and risk falling over it when they endanger the artist by reason of what he has, or has not, artistically dared.”

Salman Rushdie

What is a calculated risk and how can it pay off for us? Thinking about whether doing something risky might work or not, is a part of ‘risk assessment.’  We do this in our lives, probably most days, consciously or unconsciously, even in small ways around our home.

As illustrated in the very old painting above, balancing ‘everyday’ objects on a table or in a cupboard takes a certain amount of risk-assessment, whether you are intending to paint them, play with them, or stack them.

Albert Anker. Child with Domino Bricks. 2nd half of 19th c. Wikimedia Commons.

On the Cliff – Charles Courtney Curran. 1910. Wikioo.

“You have to take risks. We will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen.”

Paulo Coelho

Without risks, life would be dull and boring. Taking calculated risks, weighing up the pros and cons, making mistakes and learning from them, all are necessary if we are to ‘seize the day.’ Managing uncertainty, not knowing how things will turn out, are not easy, but if we are able to cope with these, we can find that we become increasingly creative and feel more alive.

Boxing Day Plunge, 2001 (at Tenby) – Claudia Williams. 2002. Wikioo.

• Balancing The Pros and Cons

“Consciousness is the awareness that emerges out of the dialectical tension between possibilities and limitations.”

 Rollo May, The Courage to Create

Having realistic expectations, of ourselves and others, assessing risks, and not aiming too high, will mean that we will be able to function better in life. We will then also be able to focus on the possibilities, the opportunities and chances that are open to us.

The quotation above refers to the fact that life is about balancing opposites, managing the inconsistencies and changes that constantly make our lives interesting and colourful…. and, at times, difficult. The ‘dialectical tension between possibilities and limitations’ is a phrase that perfectly sums up the dilemma in all our lives. Whatever we choose, there will be losses and gains.

“Of course I’ll hurt you. Of course you’ll hurt me. Of course we will hurt each other. But this is the very condition of existence. To become spring, means accepting the risk of winter. To become presence, means accepting the risk of absence.”

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

If we love someone, we risk losing them, and having to face enormous grief. This is part of the life process, the human condition, taking risks in order to have good things.

The risks of love.

Love is
throwing yourself into a stormy sea
hoping there are arms to catch you
knowing that without the leap
there is only the safe
and lonely shore.

Atticus Poetry.

Having love in our lives does mean we expose ourselves to the possibilities of loss, grief, rejection, heartbreak and uncertainty.  When love falls apart, or is taken from us, we are left feeling broken and in pain. That is part of the risk of loving.

However, love may also mean that we can benefit from its rewards. Unless we ‘throw ourselves into a stormy sea,’ as the poet says, we will never experience real connection with others, genuine relationships and the rewards these have to offer us. 

Sometimes it can also be hard to know when it feels right to let go and move on. Letting go has different meanings for different people. It usually involves taking some risks.

Often we may feel it is easier not to let go, as it means facing some kind of ending, some kind of change… and risk. Remaining in the same problematic situation may be uncomfortable, but it is a kind of cocoon of the known, the ‘familiar unpleasant.’ 

• Taking the Risk Of Absurdity

“Only those who attempt the absurd can achieve the impossible.”

Albert Einstein

What did Einstein mean in his words above? How can risking being absurd have benefits for us?

What this great man meant was that, if we are sensible and sane all the time, and only consider doing only what is rational, safe and reasonable, we may be overlooking something important. We may miss the original and the new, the ways of thinking that can lead to invention and innovation. 

Perhaps at first our thoughts and ideas may appear fanciful or inconceivable, but that is no bad thing. For then we will take the risk of using our imagination to the full, which will help us gain new energy, leading us down ‘paths less travelled.’

We all tend come up with ideas that we, or others, discount as ‘mad.’ Sometimes, however, these so-called mad thoughts can lead to real creative projects. History shows us that what may have started out as a ‘crazy’ concept ended up being productive. Creativity involves taking risks, sometimes the risk of appearing ridiculous.

‘Mad’ Ways of Thinking  in this context refer to moments when we can lift the societal and cultural constraints on our patterns of thought and allow ourselves to have some uninhibited thought-freedom.

“For me, insanity is super sanity. Normal is a sick psychosis. Normal means lack of imagination, lack of creativity “

© Jean Dubuffet

Thought-freedom involves us ignoring practicalities and fears of being mad, absurd or stupid or worrying about the disapproval of others.

Absurdity Flying – Francisco De Goya. Wikioo.

“Am I crazy?” she asked. “I feel like I am sometimes.”
“Maybe,” he said, rubbing her forehead. “But don’t worry about it. You need to be a little bit crazy. Crazy is the price you pay for having an imagination. It’s your superpower. Tapping into the dream. It’s a good thing not a bad thing.”

Ruth Ozeki.

Where does clear, ‘sane’ thinking come into this? The French writer Andre Gide knew well that madness, as well as sanity, is a part of the creative process. We need both.

His quote, below, perfectly encapsulates the combination of mad and clear thinking that it is necessary to risk for creativity:

“The most beautiful things are those that madness prompts and reason writes. Essential to remain between the two, close to madness when you dream and close to reason when you write.”

• Taking risks in therapy: challenge.

What does taking risks in therapy mean? It can mean several things, but what I want to focus on is the dilemma of risking a response or an interpretation to the client that might feel a little challenging, but also feels as if it might just help the client move forward.

Of course, the therapist needs to abide by professional ethics at all times; the risks I am talking about lie within these parameters.

I can remember my own therapist making an interpretation that I did not understand. I felt dismissive and that she was ‘wrong.’ She took the risk of me rejecting her, as the remark was quite challenging.  She told me that, perhaps in time, it would make sense.

In retrospect, her taking the risk of making this comment paid off for me, though only later. I began to see that the reason I had not ‘understood’  and rubbished her words was because I couldn’t, at the time, face the issue. 

If a good therapeutic alliance had not been established, this might have caused a rupture in the therapy. However, her timing was, in fact, good; it just took me a while to get there. Weeks, maybe months, later, it all made sense.

Finding a balance between confrontation and care is not always easy; it is important to take the risk of making certain therapeutic challenges to the client in a gentle and empathic way. What is crucial in therapy is to try one’s hardest to assess the risk, having understood how much the client can manage.

I am thinking of one of my own clients, a CEO of a large firm,  (identity totally hidden and this is an unrecognisable blend of cases) whose mobile phone rang often in the session, and they answered the calls, each time going out of the room for a few minutes. The client was prickly, angry and dismissive, and I feared they would leave if I confronted this behaviour.

Yet I had to take the risk of wondering aloud to them whether they felt their own life was constantly interrupted in the way the calls interrupted the therapy. What would switching off the phone for 50 minutes mean to them?

In response I received a tirade of accusations of not understanding, not being in business, questions like ‘could I not appreciate that they were busier than I’d ever been?’ and ‘don’t you realise you and I live in a different world?’….. but the client did stay in therapy and did begin to explore with me their own behaviour and reactions.

• The Importance of Risk Assessment.

Great Risk for Small Gains – John George Brown.1878. Wikioo.

“The first step in the risk management process is to acknowledge the reality of risk. Denial is a common tactic that substitutes deliberate ignorance for thoughtful planning.”

Charles Tremper

Without risk assessment and management, we would remain unaware of pitfalls and real dangers. Assessing risk is crucial every day of our lives, and, of course, it is often central in the professional and business world.  

“All of life is the management of risk, not its elimination.”

Walter Wriston

It is important to be able to assess the risks we take in an informed and thoughtful way; sometimes we will have to learn from the risks that do not succeed, for these hold important lessons for us all.

We need to base our assessments on knowledge, understanding, self-control and experience. The calculation of risk also involves, as far as possible, ensuring that there is a safety net, in very many situations.

The Trapeze – Walter Richard Sickert. Wikioo

• Seizing The Day

“Life is inherently risky. There is only one big risk you should avoid at all costs, and that is the risk of doing nothing.”

Denis Waitley

We need to think about risk and to be discerning, in order to make the right decisions; not all opportunities and risks are worth taking. However, having made our assessment, gaining the courage to grasp opportunities when they present themselves is also important, for such chances do not occur very often and, if they do, they will not always be there. 

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow will be dying.

Andrew Marvell

The day will end, the roses will die, summer will fade into autumn and we will grow old……

Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May. John William Waterhouse. Wikimedia Commons.

It is, indeed, a fact that life is risky, as the Denis Waitley quote, above, says. Whatever we do, each day will involve taking some kind of risk. Without taking risks and playing safe all the time, our lives will be static and we will live only in our dreams.

We will never discover our possibilities- and our limitations- unless we dare to take some risks. For example, as mentioned earlier, when we love someone, we also risk losing them and being left with deep grief. The depth of grief reveals how much love there was.

Risking showing one’s feelings might be met with an unempathic response sometimes, but at others, it can be enriching and growthful.

Wanting to feel ‘safe’ at all times will mean that we are not really living, we are staying the same. According to Goethe, it is dangerous to feel too safe. Sometimes we need to leave our comfort zone and risk experimenting a little.

The Kiss – Jean Edouard Vuillard. 1891. Wikioo.

“Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”

 Helen Keller

© Linda Berman