Each of us experiences fear.

The question is “How do we conquer it?”

Recently I wrote about fear and the use of a contrarian mindset as a way to prevent personal fears from becoming societal fears and eventually triggering violent acts. In order to be able to become the voice of reason, we must be able to conquer our own fears. Easier said than done?

Chapter 23 of the Chandogya Upanisad says “Where one does not see another, does not hear another, does not know another, that is abundance. Where one sees another, hears another, knows another, that is smallness. Abundance is immortal: smallness is mortal.”

What does this quote have to do with fear and our need to conquer it? Fear is egocentric. Whether I’m afraid of losing power, influence, customers, a valued employee or vendor, the love of my life, a child or financial stability, I’m focused on my needs. That bespeaks smallness on my part. All that I’m concerned with are my needs, my wants, my desires. With that mindset, virtually anyone I see, hear or know poses a threat. I’m going to examine everyone – even those I love – to discern whether they’re a potential rival for what I desire or what I fear I might lose.

Let’s contrast that mindset with the earlier portion of the upanisad – “Where one does not see another, does not hear another, does not know another, that is abundance.” When I’m free from fear what I see are possibilities, not just for myself but for others as well. There is no me versus them; no zero sum game where one person must lose for the other to win. There is plenty of power, influence, love and financial wealth for all to enjoy. I don’t create opportunities just for me; I just create opportunities. I understand that the more opportunities I create the better off we’ll all be.

When I create abundance for others, abundance is assured for me as well. That’s one of the messages of this upanisad!

It’s natural for us, as human beings, to experience scarcity, fear and smallness from time to time. I wish that I could tell you that I’m exempt, but I suffer the same human frailties everyone does. I have, however, found ways to overcome these natural tendencies.

It’s counter-intuitive, but we can train our minds to quickly recognize when we’re feeling scarcity, fear and smallness. With that realization comes a choice, “Do I continue to focus on myself and perpetuate the fear I’m feeling? Or do I choose to begin exploring possibilities for a new, bright future for all of us?” The choice becomes easier over time.

It won’t take long for you to get a sense for how much fun it is to be able to create possibilities at will. Soon your mind will quickly make the shift from the smallness of fear to the largesse of abundance. That’s when you’ll know you’ve conquered fear; that’s when you life will seem fuller and richer even in challenging times. This is my wish for you – a sense of abundance drawn from the abyss of scarcity. Enjoy your freedom from fear!

The 7 Steps to Becoming INVALUABLE program is designed to help you see more effective ways of doing business – ways that dramatically improve your bottom line while making your life easier. In today’s blog I used Step 6, Eclectic Education, to gain new perspectives from the upanisads, spiritual teachings pre-dating most organized religions, regarding the difference between the immortal and mortal aspects of our nature. I also used Step 4, See Similarities, to apply these concepts to the fear each of us experiences by virtue of our humanity. Finally, I hinted at Step 3, Suspend Judgment, when I spoke of “challenging times.” After all, times are challenging only if we decide to judge them to be so. For more information on the 7 Steps to Becoming INVALUABLE visit www.furtwengler.com/7steps.htm.

If you’d like to receive a weekly email reminder with a link to The Invaluable Leader blog or if you’d like me to address specific topics, please send me an email at dale@furtwengler.com. Please share your experience with our readers by posting a comment.

For ideas on how to apply counter-intuitive thinking to your company’s pricing strategy, visit my new Pricing for Profit blog at www.pricingforprofitbook.com/. Enjoy!

Good news – My latest book, Pricing for Profit, was released 9.9.09 in the United States, Canada, U.K., Italy, France, Germany and the Netherlands.  It’s available in all the major bookstores – Borders.com, BarnesandNoble.com and Amazon.com.

Happy Thanksgiving!