Today I made an important step for unwrapyourmind. I released all copyright on my content. I uncopyrighted the page (this term was coined by Leo Babauta who did an experiment with it on his site zenhabits.net). You can read my own uncopyright policy.
Now besides this being a courageous step for me, there is a lot to learn for each of us, since dropping your copyright is also about letting go of the fear of scarcity.
The Fear of Scarcity
The fear of not getting enough, of lacking, of scarcity, is deeply ingrained in our societies. Coming from our parents and ancestors, who experienced a physical lack of several kinds (food, houses, clothing, etc.) in several wars, this is a very understandable fear. But unless you experience the lack in your situation right now, let's take a look at where it has brought us.
What Has the Fear of Scarcity Done to Us?
The fear of scarcity can be found on all levels of human life. I have picked 3 randomly.
1. Nutrition:
It is a known fact, that we eat too much. We stuff things inside us and have lost all touch with our own physical feeling of hunger. We became an obese society just because we have an inner fear of "someday all the good might be gone". That's why we subconsciously have an impulse to store things. So we store food as fat in our bodies.
2. Economy:
We just witnessed the collapse of the greed-driven (and behind greed, there is always the fear of scarcity) economy. Now some people will actually experience physical lack. They have lost their jobs and are not sure, how to feed their families, etc. This is a sad situation, but we must be aware, that this situation did not happen due to any lack of resources. This whole crisis did not happen because of scarcity, but because of fear of scarcity. Our whole financial system was so afraid to lose, that the greed was driven to such an extent, that a collapse was possible. Let's face it, there are enough money and any other kind of resource out there, that we all (including all the people in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th world) could have much more than the essential for living. That doesn’t mean, that we need to give up something, abundance is a natural component of life.
3. Copyright:
We see traditional marketing and sales system not working any longer since the internet changed the game. This is apparent in the music industry, where the influence of iTunes and the internet, changed a whole industry upside down. And they have to find their place and their business model yet. This is a time of instability and looking out for new business models. The music industry fights their copyright issues with any legal possible tool they have, but I am not sure, how long they can sustain it. Even big musicians start to turn away from major record companies and start doing their own thing.
Why Is the Fear of Scarcity Keeping You from Experiencing the Life You Want
I truly believe that, unless you master your fear of scarcity, you cannot experience the growth you want.
It all comes down to the question, whether you trust in life to take care of you?
If you trust:
that you will get the money to feed your family
that you will get the customer you need to sell your products too
that you will be taken care of
that needed resources will be there by tomorrow (that does not mean you shouldn't care about the environment)
that there is enough for anyone
that there is no lack
that, even if someone takes something away from you (legally or by stealing), this will not harm you, because the universe will take care of it
Unless you learn to trust in the universe that much, you are driven by fear.
Some signs of fear are:
you think that there is not enough for everyone
you think that since there is not enough, you need to fight for the resources
you have to protect what is yours from others stealing it
you need to steal from others, to get what is scarce
you need to be tricky to get an advantage in life
you might even think you need to lie to customers to trick them into buying
Trust Is a Decision
Like anything else in life, you cannot wait, unless you were given trust by some outside force. You have to develop it inside of you. You have to build it step by step.
What are some steps to build trust in life?
do some charity work
give money to charity
learn to enjoy giving away things
start working on a project that inspires you (and don't think how this could pay your bills)
keep a gratitude journal, where you write down, what you were grateful for on that day
in your journal write down, every situation where you felt guided. Look out for the lucky situations that happen to you.
if you have a blog or some other creative material, uncopyright it (or if this is a step to brave think about Creative Common License)
learn to focus on giving way more before asking for what you get out of it
Disclaimer
Now, this doesn't mean, that you must do this for everything.
I might not uncopyright every product I have (and I will charge for services or products in the future to pay my bills), but by focusing on giving first, I am not afraid of any lack of potential customers, who like added products, service or support.
So if you like this or any material you find at unwrapyourmind.com - check out the uncopyright policy and share it with the people you like. And yes, I'd appreciate it, if you give me credit and link back to this site.
Update:
Also if you added some value to it or if you've made a translation of one of my articles I would really love to get your link. I might link back to it if I find it useful to my readers. Just send me a direct message via Twitter.
