This is the second piece of an interview of Landmark Forum leader David Cunningham by Nigel Pierce, of a Cape Town, South Africa radio station.

Nigel Pierce:     This is Good Hope FM with Nigel Pierce. David Cunningham, communications expert, leader for Landmark Education. How do human beings overcome fear, fear that often holds us back?

Cunningham:   It’s one thing to have fear, and it’s another thing to be stopped by it. So, when people get that their fear is a natural part of being human – in other words, I don’t know the human being that doesn’t have fear. I don't know courageous people. So, what courage is isn’t the absence of fear. What courage is is when people are in action while they’re afraid.

So again, I don’t know a lot of fearless people, but I do now a lot of courageous people, people who are willing to be in action while they’re afraid. And that takes just acknowledging that fear is a natural part of being human. It’s not something to be ashamed of, and it’s not something you have to overcome. It’s something that you acknowledge – “Yeah, I’m afraid” – and take action.

Nigel Pierce:     How do we clear the path to receive abundance? Lots of people want the fancy house, the fancy car, the fancy university. Is it a good thing to be chasing all the time?

Cunningham:   It’s a good thing to have big goals and have a vision for one’s life – something that one is up to. If you don’t have a future that you are causing for yourself, then you’re not called into action. It really is the future we see for ourselves that literally pulls us up or pulls us down. If you love the future you see for yourself, it gives you life right now. If you don’t love the future you see for yourself, it pulls you down right now. So, to be able to create a vision for one’s future is very, very important.

Nigel Pierce:     And where do you write that? Where do you put that? Do you store it in your head? Do you write it in your diary? Do you tell people about it?

Cunningham:   Oh. Very important is to tell people about it, share about it. The more you share about it with others, the more real it becomes, and besides, you’ll find that other people get behind you on it so that the more you share it with people, other people will want it for you. You’ll find that people will make connections for you. You’ll find that other people have ideas that you didn’t have.

So, a lot of times when we come up with something that we’re committed to, we’re either afraid to share about it, or we’re embarrassed to share about it for fear of what people will think. It’s really important that we share about it with other people so (a) they can get behind us, and (b) they’ll have resources we never even thought of.

Nigel Pierce:     A lot of people have a vision with the Cape Town context and probably the world over, David, where their vision is to do drugs, to become a gangster, to land up in prison. That’s for some people, actually an achievement. It’s a goal.

Cunningham:   There’s got to be something for people to see some opportunity for themselves to be productive, to make a contribution. It’s when we can see we can make a contribution to others, Nigel, in some way – there’s nothing that’s more empowering than knowing we can make a difference – we can contribute. So I think the predicament there and what there is for all of us to get behind is to somehow provide every person some opportunity that they see for themselves to make a difference, to contribute.

Nigel Pierce:     David Cunningham, thanks for your time. Really appreciate it.

Cunningham:   You’re welcome. Wonderful to be with you.

Read the first piece of the interview here.