What’s sexy today? How do you achieve strength? Do you have courage? I see strength in the news today and boy is it sexy. Use this blog entry to heat up your love life. I’m talking about having an aha moment around the courage to have straight talk, people. Let me explain. In recent news, Tennis pro Serena Williams aims to equal Steffi Graf’s record and undefeated bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey accepts an invite to the Marine Corps Ball. In my opinion, these women are the epitome of what strength and sexy are today. They not only maintain strong bodies, but are focused, committed straight talkers on a mission. Are you? Strong? Sexy? A straight talker? I assert they’re connected.

Take note of how society defines values like strength. Or sexy. Ponder how society shapes us and the values we pursue. Then share with others. If you’re seeking a public platform for yourself, share your sound bites, stories and ideas also with media friends. Evaluate how people pursue strength or intimacy for themselves. I did that in my most recent YouTube vlog entry, “Sharing is caring,” where I talk about how I arrive at my own sense of strength (I use Spinning, Spartan Races) and why I pursue sharing with another person as an avenue toward intimacy.

In fact, sharing with at least three other people this week what I hope to accomplish the next three months is in fact my homework from a new Landmark seminar called “Breakthroughs, Living Outside the Box” I started last week.

I was not only inspired to create the video from my seminar homework, but also after reading a blog Reuters recently published by Lynn Stuart Parramore entitled, “How capitalism turns love into addiction.” It explores societal and historical influence on human addiction, love, connection and choice. Since the public hack, millions have evaluated the Ashley Madison adultery site and evidently there are more robots than women on the site. That’s not a big surprise in the age of phishing. It’s an example of how we’ve digitized our experience of love, or I should say sex and intimacy. Parramore’s view on how capitalism, love and addiction are entwined fascinates me. She may be right in her analysis of capitalism. However, no matter how society conditions you, I believe the main path to personal and relationship strength is courage and the ability to talk straight. In other words, when you’re having a one-on-one conversation with a loved one in your life, do you say what there is to say or do you hide behind small talk regarding the weather, your house or current events?

Rousey and Williams look strong. We can all look strong. What matters is the courage to be strong when challenging conversations arise in relationships. How do you experience intimacy – true intimacy with another one-on-one? Whether it’s a lover, a mother or a friend, do you have the courage to knock out lies? To backhand BS? To put a choke-hold on made-up stories about another? You know what I mean. So many people are afraid to have a straight conversation with their spouse about the dishes in the sink and then over time, their inability to communicate can lead to division, separation and then divorce. What if we did our daily workouts with communication like Rousey and Williams work out at the gym? Could we then draw intimacy to us? Talking about the dishes in the sink may seem like a mundane task, however, do you have the courage to speak up about what’s important to you?

Speaking straight takes courage. It takes strength. That’s sexy. That’s real intimacy.

Share with others – especially media friends who influence many – what you think makes up real intimacy, courage and strength.Then we’ll all benefit from your insights. Have the strength to share.