Facing our daily fears…

Where do you turn to find the courage to face your day these days? 

We face much fear, uncertainty, and doubt as witnessed by the blaring news headlines, true?  The de-valuing of our 401k; global warming; job security; what our children post online.  In fact, it was the news of our modern day that stimulated the creation of my slogan: 

When life gets tough, you could get a helmet or … Arm yourself with the Peace & Power of a Positive Perspective.

Fear; uncertainty; doubt; often appear as a “surprise” in my life.  I hate surprises – even good surprises.  I’d rather be in “control”.  

My wife hosted a Halloween, surprise birthday party for me once.  All of our guests dressed in old people costumes.  It was great fun right up until everyone yelled, "surprise!" and my birthday cake appeared.  After the party I thanked my wife but admonished her never to throw me a surprise party again, Halloween or otherwise.  (BTW - my birthday is in February so I was definitely surprised.) 

Sometimes I find myself trying to “control” the lives of my children and grandchildren, too.  I try to protect them from those unknown, painful surprises impacting us all.  Impractical I know; I just can’t help but fear the unknown for me and others. 

I do turn to our favorite Unknown Sage often for encouragement.  He tries to help in the fear, uncertainty, and doubt department with a reminder: 

            Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is. 

German Proverb 

You should consider yourself very lucky if the size of the wolf in your mind has not grown during recent years. 

Perhaps modern man can learn how to face our difficulties from ancient societies.  The ancient Greeks believed their gods inspired man to approach the unknown without fear.  Imagine what our life would be like if we approached the unknown without fear.  

Imagine more faith; less control; more peace of mind; less fear; more courage, even in the face of less certainty.  Where the ancient Greeks emphasized faith and inspiration, are we emphasizing antacids and high blood pressure medication? 

One would expect that the advancement of modern science and our higher level of thinking serve to lessen the fear, uncertainty, and doubt while increasing courage in our lives.  David Ben-Gurion suggested that knowledge and courage are linked: 

Courage is a special kind of knowledge; the knowledge of how to fear what ought to be feared and how to not fear what ought not to be feared. 

OK then; we obviously have things we ought to fear.  We can’t think those things away; or will them away; or gain such tight control over every aspect of our life that we never have to worry about another "surprise".  

Can we apply business knowledge to better understand life’s fears? 

Two types of uncertainty plague most efforts to introduce major new products: known-unknowns and unknown-unknowns. 

Norman R. Augustine 

“Known-unknowns” and “unknown-unknowns”?  The wolf is getting bigger!  Where is an ancient Greek when we need one? 

Can the remedy for the fear we face in our modern lives really be as simple as having the type of faith that prevailed in ancient times?  

To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary.  To one without faith, no explanation is possible. 

Thomas Aquinas 

Thomas Aquinas, a 13^th century theologian and philosopher.  He may not be on Facebook, but he's still a little more modern than the ancient Greeks. 

GAP 

When life gets tough we could get a helmet… or… we could leverage the peace and share the power of a positive perspective.