This document discusses techniques for managing common fears such as poverty, old age, criticism, rejection, and death. It provides explanations of each fear and offers 3-5 steps to overcome each one. For example, to overcome the fear of poverty it recommends substituting thoughts of lack with thoughts of plenty, counting your blessings daily, and affirming that you are getting richer every day. For overcoming the fear of death, it suggests understanding life and death, studying death in detail, and embracing death as a long sleep. The document aims to help readers better understand and manage fears that are part of everyday life.

1. FEAR ManAgeMenT
D.V. Madhusudan Rao
Dept. MBA,
School of Graduate Studies,
Jigjiga University, ETHIOPIA
Poverty, Old Age,
Criticism , Rejection
and Death

2. Introduction
FEAR - MANAGEMENT
There is no feeling like fear that robs a man of
his peace of mind and tranquility. Millions and
millions of hours are wasted by mankind when
afflicted by fear. As Winston Churchill said, “We
have nothing to fear but fear itself”. The envy
thought of it saps the vital energy needed to
function as a normal human being.
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3. WHAT IS FEAR?
Fear is a feeling of alarm. It is an emotion
caused by the expectation of danger, pain, or
disaster. Therefore, it is clear that the
expectation or awaiting the arrival of the disaster
or pain itself is the culprit. If we can replace the
expectation of danger with any other harmonious
all kinds of havoc.
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4. HOW DO WE SPELL FEAR?
• F -- Factious (Imaginary)
• E -- Experience (Mental Drama)
• A— Acting (Perceiving {run and return})
• R— Real (Very vivid {by brooding over several times})
The more we dwell on fears the more substance and form
we give to those fears, making them real experiences in
life. The basic remedy for fear involves two things:
1. Be watchful of thoughts of fear when they arise.
2. Do not dwell on them - cast them out right away.
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5. TECHNIQUES OF FEAR MANAGEMENT
1. Develop faith
2. Cultivate fearlessness:
Act fearless and you become fearless
3. Daily affirmations
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6. 1. Develop Faith
• Perhaps the most effective technique of managing one’s
fears is through FAITH. Regardless of your race, color, or
religion, if you develop faith in God it will help you
combat fears more effectively. Faith helps to develop
certain disciplines in everyday life, such as prayer,
attending church, or going to a mosque on a regular basis
which in turn converts them into mentally strong people.
• A category of people happens to stumble upon the
principles of faith due to tragic personal experiences,
which opened their inner eyes to look at life from a totally
different perspective. They, too, become successful in
managing their fears on a day-to day basis.
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7. 2. Cultivate fearlessness
Cultivate fearlessness: Fearlessness is the opposite of
fear. Fear and fearlessness cannot coexist. When you exert
yourself to cultivate fearlessness, slowly the fears that
haunt you begin to go away. Fear will not become chronic
and habitual, to be transformed into a malady.
• Act fearless and you become fearless: Always
remember, you are what you think. If you think of your
fears and dwell on them day and night they assume
form and become real. The subconscious mind is an
obedient servant and it will work out the master’s desire
to its precision. The master says, “I am fearful of this
task, let me make sure that this task is impossible for
him”.
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8. 3. Daily affirmations
• Daily affirmations: A dose of daily affirmations is
like a dose of vitamin pills. It will keep you
mentally healthy and invulnerable to the mental
ailment called fear. A healthy and harmonious
mind will not entertain any fears. It is the weak
and unbalanced mind that is exposed to threats
of fear. So you must practice positive
affirmations, on a daily basis to keep the mind
clean and disinfected, so that even in a weak
moment fears cannot enter your mind.
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9. OUR COMMON FEARS
There are certain basic fears we all entertain from time to time,
depending upon our circumstances and our particular situation in
life. Half the battle with fears will be won if only we can be
prepared to tackle them no matter when they arise. Awareness is
the key to managing our fears, as it will build readiness to deal
with them, no matter what forms those fears assume. A brief
description to these fears and their common remedies will help us
to manage them on a daily basis. Some of our common fears are:
• Fear of Poverty
• Fear of Old age
• Fear of Criticism
• Fear of Rejection and
• Fear of Death
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10. 1. Fear of Poverty
Fear of poverty arises when thoughts of the lack of
money supply haunt someone day and night,
causing him see mental pictures of extreme
humiliation from his family and society as a whole.
He sees extreme poverty around him, reads about
it, and imagines that he will be confronted with this
deadly disease. Many people in our society steal
and become corrupt because of their fear of
poverty. People even develop greed as a reaction to
the fear of poverty. Poverty is mental disease, and it
would become fatal and deadly unless checked
before it assumes its full strength.
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11. HOW TO OVERCOME THE FEAR OF POVERTY
• Step #1. Substitute your thoughts of lack of wealth with thoughts of plenty.
Remind yourself that God is the only source of supply.
• Step #2. Count your blessings:
• Recite the following frequently day and night (at least seven times a day):
“I had the blues because I had no shoes until, upon the street, I saw a man
who had no feet.”
• Step #3. Oh, Lord! I thank Thee for these wonderful blessings you have
showered upon me. (Recite this at least seven times a day. Recite it loudly
before going to sleep.)
NOTE: A heart filled with gratitude is the only heart ready to receive more
blessings.
• Step #4. Never criticize wealth, or people with wealth, saying that they
have amassed it in the wrong way. Always rejoice in the success and wealth
of other people.
• Step #5. Recite the following affirmation: Day by day, in every phase of
my life, I am getting richer and richer. Thank you, Lord!
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12. 2. Fear of Old Age
• Fear of old age is another common fear we all harbor in our daily lives.
We secretly visit those fearful thoughts very often, especially after one has
crossed middle age, the midpoint in one’s life. The mental drama we stage
on the screen of our mind, life any other fear, makes it vivid and crystal
clear, resulting in the early onset of old age. Rather than looking at the
negative aspect of old age, we must accent the positive aspect of it. But it
becomes an extremely difficult task in a society possessed by the myth of
youth. But any student of Mental Science can overcome this fear by
constantly working at it diligently and with utmost faith.
• Always remember that the secret of youth is the power of thought. As long
as one can entertain youthful thoughts, one will remain youthful at heart
(and Mind), and the messengers of atrophy will not attack.
• A body is nothing but an extension of the mind itself. In fact, our bodies
exist only in our minds. Therefore, a young mind (filled with youthful
thoughts encased in imagination and excitement of life) is a prerequisite for
a young body, which can put a lid on the aging process or at least,
depending upon one’s degree of belief, prevent premature aging.
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13. How to overcome fear of Old Age
• Step #1. Fill your days with activity. An idle mind is the devil’s workshop. Write down short-
term and long-term goals.
• Step #2. Plan your retirement ahead. Do not consider it as the end of activity, but a change of
vocation. Great accomplishments came from individuals after retirement.
Study Biographies of:
1. Henry Ford
2. Thomas Edison
3. Michelangelo
4. John Milton
5. Winston Churchill
6. Mahatma Gandhi
7. Lee Iacocca
• Step #3. Pursue a childhood ambition-like becoming an author, speaker, teacher, priest, or the
life. Go to school if it is required to pursue new interest.
• Step #4. Be with young people. “Why look for the livings among the dead?” If you want to
feel young, spend time with young people.
• Step #5. Make your life exciting. Have something to look forward to, and live for. You might
even plan a second honeymoon. Excitement is the fuel that runs the engine of life.
• Step #6. Keep a “thought recorder”. Review it periodically and include thoughts in your
memories. It’s your gift to future generations.
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14. 3. Fear of Criticism
• Many people do not try to do anything new because of fear
of criticism. Inactivity and lethargy that we see prevalent in
the modern world is direct testimony to the fear of
criticism. Most of the time you’ll be criticized for doing
something out of the ordinary.
• The power of the fear of criticism is so influential that most
people abstain from it. It eats them from the inside out as
they watch the mental dramas of such fear taking a heavy
toll on their lives. It could be fear of criticism from the
immediate family friends, business associates, or society.
Unless and until corrective measures are taken to prevent
this fear from taking firm root in the soil of your mind, it
could destroy the harmony that otherwise reign in your
mental sphere.5/21/2014 Madhusudan Rao D.V. 14

15. HOW TO OVERCOME THE FEAR OF CRITICISM
• Step #1. Make a list of all possible criticisms you might
hear. Prioritize them on a scale of one to ten.
• Step #2. Write down a reply to each of these criticisms
in clear language. By the time you finish writing the
replies, you might muster strength to face those
criticisms.
• Step #3. Most of the time, you’ll have doubts in your
own mind about the worth of the cause. Review your
own convictions about the causes for which you are
fighting.
• Step #4. Once you are convinced that you really stand
for the cause, the shadows of fear will slowly begin to
disappear.
• Step #5. Pray for guidance.
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16. 4. Fear of Rejection
• Fear of rejection is one of the very common
fears that affect people of all walks of life. We all
need a certain amount of acceptance from loved
ones and society as a whole to perform our best.
When such acceptance becomes rare and not
forthcoming life becomes miserable and,
depending on the degree of rejection, people even
try to end lives. A clear understanding of this type
of fear, and various remedies available to combat
them, will help everyone to straighten out his or
her personal life.
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17. HOW TO OVERCOME FEAR OF REJECTION
• Step #1. Understand rejection. Ninety-nine percent of the
rejection that we feel is figment of our imagination. It is the
result of self-doubt.
• Step #2. Persistence is the only known remedy to overcome
fear of rejection. Keep on persisting until success comes at
last.
• Step #3. A daily dose of positive affirmations is a good
preventive measure for rejection.
• Step #4. Visualize acceptance. See yourself mentally before
the person having a harmonious conversation. Keep on
seeing the mental drama until it is a reality.
• Step #5. Bless the person “Rejecting you”. Release your
unconditional love toward that person.
Every time you experience rejection, practice the above five
steps and fear of rejection should trouble you no more.
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18. 5. Fear of Death
All other fears we discussed above are tributaries of the fear of death. As a matter of
fact, mortal fear is the mother of all fears that a human being consciously or
unconsciously harbors of life in this world, in this form and body, not much has been
taught about death.
• The only way to overcome the fear of death is to understand this phenomenon in
every detail, and be ready to face it finally when it approaches. He who entertains
the fear of death is consumed by it, making life impossible as a pleasant and
harmonious experience. To put it simply, fear of death is worse than death itself.
• Nobody can understand the phenomenon and the mystery of death without
understanding life itself, as death is part and parcel of life. Anybody who is born in
this world has to die one day, and as such dying is an integral part of life. The only
uncertainty about death is when, where, and how it will happen. Since the scientific
community has shown an increased interest in thanatology (the study of death)
during the last couple of decades, we all can hope that there will be adequate
research and dissemination of knowledge in this darkest continent of enlightenment.
• Fear of death is not different from any other fears as it emanates from ignorance or
unfamiliarity. So the first and foremost important task in our effort to contain this
mortal fear is to be thoroughly familiarized with the process of dying as an integral
part of life itself. Nobody can understand death without understanding life, as the
former is an extension of the latter.5/21/2014 Madhusudan Rao D.V. 18

19. HOW TO OVERCOME FEAR OF DEATH
• Step #1. Understand life; death will become familiar. Ask
the question “Who dies?”
• Step #2. Study the phenomenon of death in all its details.
Read any and all the books you can find on the subject.
Knowledge is power.
• Step #3. Death is inevitable. So why fear? Embrace it as
“Maha nidra” or long sleep.
• The most difficult task for any individual to undertake is
task of change; Most of us turn our backs to change because
of the uncertainties attached to it. Everybody welcomes
change, if he or she knows what to expect. This is the
moment of truth when falsities must drop, and you sincerely
want to change for the better. Remove your mask of
pretensions, as you do not have to convince anybody but
yourself that you can change.
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