The Talmud brings a teaching that a pregnant woman who feels a powerful craving for a specific food on Yom Kippur may be allowed to taste the food. This is because unfulfilled cravings are considered dangerous to both her and the fetus.
We see from here the power of cravings, urges, and desires. Even on Yom Kippur, the holy day of atonement, people may feel an irresistible urge to eat. Someone may feel they are in mortal danger of they do not act on their desire.
Be aware of your own desires in order to retain intellectual mastery over your physical cravings. Know that you and others can be in situations where emotional urges can overcome logic.
The Talmud explains that we let the pregnant woman taste because only three commands cannot be waived in the face of death: idolatry, forbidden sexual relations, and murder. The Gemara gives an amazing source for giving your life rather than engaging in idolatry:
Rabbi Eliezer says: If it is stated: “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul” (Deuteronomy 6:5), why is it stated in the end of the verse: “And with all your might”? And if it is stated: “With all your might,” why is it stated: “With all your soul”?
To teach that if there is a person whose body is more beloved to him than his property, it states: “With all your soul.” The verse teaches that one must be willing to sacrifice his life to sanctify God’s name. And if there is a person whose property is more beloved to him than his body, it states: “With all your might.”
Most people want to protect their lives over all else, but some men indeed value their wealth more than their safety, and may rush into their burning home to save an expensive painting. The Talmud (Yoma 85 and Sanhedrin 43) notes that men will risk their life to violently defend their possessions from thieves.
In Jewish wisdom, we teach to ask yourself what you are willing to die for. This is your ultimate goal or priority. Then focus on that and ask yourself how you can live for it each day, not just your last.
What is your true purpose? Are you aiming to develop your body, mind, or wealth? Or all of these, each to a different extent. Some men find success through their appearance, others through wealth, a few through social acumen.
Know your own priorities, work on your weak areas and play to your strengths.
Red Pill Rabbi 
An Introduction to the Rif learning on the High Holy Days. טוב
יומא פרק ג’ משנה ח: בא לו אצל פרו; ופרו היה עומד בין האולם ולמזבח, ראשו לדרום ופניו למערב, והכוהן עומד במזרח ופניו למערב, וסמך שתי ידיו עליו והתוודה. וכך היה אומר, אנא ה’–עוויתי פשעתי חטאתי לפניך, אני וביתי; אנא ה’–כפר נא לעוונות ולפשעים ולחטאים, שעוויתי ושפשעתי ושחטאתי לפניך, אני וביתי: ככתוב בתורת משה עבדך לאמור “כי ביום הזה יכפר עליכם, לטהר אתכם: מכול, חטאותיכם, לפני ה’, תטהרו” (ויקרא טז,ל)
On dof לו: the Gemara brings the famous מחלקת between Rabbi Meir and the Sages on the matter of a making a confession of dedication unto HaShem. R. Meir brings the language of Moshe, whereas the Sages bring the NaCH sources to support their opinion.
אמר רבה בר שמואל, אמר רב, הלכה כדברי חכמים. פשיטא?! יחיד ורבים הלכה כרבים
When does this כלל apply? In all rabbinic disputes. Hence the language of the Shemone Esrei does not bring within its language the rabbinic dedication unto HaShem. What separates and distinguishes a וידוי דרבנן from a וידוי דאורייתא? This distinction, perhaps it explains how the Rambam in his Book of Commandments includes tefilla as one of the 248 positive commandments.
The B’hag, too held that tefilla qualifies as a mitzva from the Torah. It appears to me that the B’hag learns from oaths, based upon the other name for the Shemone Esei – Amida; the gemara of Shevuoth learns that a person has to stand before a Safer Torah to swear a Torah oath. To make a ברכה requires שם ומלכות. Why?
The latter key terms of k’vanna (שם ומלכות) raise a lower order ‘praise’ to a higher order ‘blessing’. A blessing qualifies as the “offspring” of oaths. If so, how then did the B’hag learn the above quoted Mishna and Gemara? In קפ”ח הלכות יום הכיפורים the B’hag prioritizes the dedication of intent over the lower order of casting blood upon the altar. But there he does not elaborate the distinction between a וידוי דאוריית כנגד הוידוי דרבנן.
Therefore, based upon the B’hag’s opinion wherein he lists lighting the lights of Hanukkah, lighting the lights of Shabbot, and reading Megillat Esther as mitzvot from the Torah. The logical דיוק made therefrom, that raising halachic rabbinic mitzvot to positive time oriented commandments, defines the k’vanna of making a וידוי דאורייתא.
Hence all halachot affixed to a given Mishna, and that given Mishna, in its turn, affixed (as a consequence of learning either Aggadita or Midrashim, to ascertain prophetic mussar) to a specific blessing within the language of the Shemone Esrei … this k’vanna of dedication raise all rabbinic halachot unto positive time oriented commandments from the Torah. The term תרי”ג commandments takes on new meaning.
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