41Fear is both useful and harmful. This normal human reaction is used to protect us by signaling danger and preparing us to deal with it. Unfortunately, people create inner barriers with a help of exaggerating fears. My favorite actor Will Smith once said, “Fear is not real. It is a product of thoughts you create. Do not misunderstand me. Danger is very real. But fear is a choice.” I do completely agree that fears are just the product of our luxuriant imagination.

42If you are surrounded by problems and cannot stop thinking about past, try to focus on the present moment. Many of us are weighed down by the past or anxious about the future. You may feel guilt over your past, but you are poisoning the present with the things and circumstances you cannot change. Value the present moment and remember how fortunate you are to be alive. Enjoy the beauty of the world around and keep the eyes open to see the possibilities before you. Happiness is not a point of future and not a moment from the past, but a mindset that can be designed into the present.

43Sometimes it is easy to feel bad because you are going through tough times. You can be easily caught up by life problems that you forget to pause and appreciate the things you have. Only strong people prefer to smile and value their life instead of crying and complaining about something.

44No matter how isolated you might feel and how serious the situation is, you should always remember that you are not alone. Try to keep in mind that almost everyone respects and wants to help you if you are trying to make a good change in your life, especially your dearest and nearest people. You may have a circle of friends who provide constant good humor, help and companionship. If you have no friends or relatives, try to participate in several online communities, full of people who are always willing to share advice and encouragement.

45Today many people find it difficult to trust their own opinion and seek balance by gaining objectivity from external sources. This way you devalue your opinion and show that you are incapable of managing your own life. When you are struggling to achieve something important you should believe in yourself and be sure that your decision is the best. You live in your skin, think your own thoughts, have your own values and make your own choices.

41You may decide it’s best to hold off on voicing your opinion. Maybe you haven’t finished thinking the problem through, or you want to get a clearer sense of what the group thinks. If you think other people are going to disagree, too, you might want to gather your army first. People can contribute experience or information to your thinking—all the things that would make the disagreement stronger or more valid. It’s also a good idea to delay the conversation if you are in a meeting or other public space. Discussing the issue in private will make the powerful person feel less threatened.

42Before you share your thoughts, think about what the powerful person cares about—it may be the credibility of their team or getting a project done on time. You’re more likely to be heard if you can connect your disagreement to a higher purpose. State it overtly, contextualizing your statements so that you’re seen not as a disagreeable subordinate but as a colleague who’s trying to advance a common objective. The discussion will then become more like a chess game than a boxing match.

43This step may sound overly deferential, but it’s a smart way to give the powerful person psychological safety and control. You can say something like, “I know we seem to be moving toward a first-quarter commitment here. I have reasons to think that won’t work. I’d like to lay out my reasoning. Would that be OK?” This gives the person a choice, allowing him to verbally opt in. And, assuming he says yes, it will make you feel more confident about voicing your disagreement.

44You might feel your heart racing or your face turning red, but do whatever you can to remain neutral in both your words and actions. When your body language communicates reluctance or anxiety, it undercuts the message. It sends a mixed message, and your counterpart gets to choose what signals to read. Deep breaths can help, as can speaking more slowly and deliberately. When we feel panicky, we tend to talk louder and faster. Simply slowing the pace and talking in an even tone helps calm the other person cool down and does the same for you. It also makes you seem confident, even if you aren’t.

45Emphasize that you’re only offering your opinion, not gospel truth. It may be a well-informed, well-researched opinion, but it’s still an opinion, so talk tentatively and slightly understate your confidence. Instead of saying, “If we set an end-of-quarter deadline, we’ll never make it,” say, “This is just my opinion, but I don’t see how we will make that deadline.” Having asserted your position (as a position, not as a fact), demonstrate equal curiosity about other views. Remind the person that this is your point of view, and then invite critique. Be open to hearing other opinions.

In an effort to support restoration programmes, specialists are developing supplies of seeds and seedlings, maintaining gene banks and sequencing the genomes of indigenous trees and other crops. Their work deals with one of the problems that could block major restoration efforts in different parts of the world. “Where’s the planting material going to come from? That’s one big bottleneck,” says genetic-resources specialist Ramni Jamnadass.

Asia is arguably the region most neglected by global efforts to increase diversity in restoration and to study native species. Christopher Kettle, Biodiversity International’s director for forest genetic resources and restoration in Rome, says that the need for infrastructure—things such as mechanisms for collecting and storing seeds, and nurseries to raise seedlings—might be most desperate here because many trees are ‘masting’ species, which don’t produce seeds every year. People need to be ready. “Otherwise, you miss the boat, you lose all the seed and you’ve got to wait another seven years,” says Kettle. “This is a really, really critical issue for restoration in Southeast Asia, because many of the most important timber species and tree species—the ones that will lock up the most carbon—they’re all masting species.”

Climate change is a driving factor in the push to restore forests, but it also raises questions, such as where trees can thrive in the future. Climate change is also expected to alter relationships between trees, insects, diseases and other forest species. “Insects that today are a minor problem may become a major problem if they can produce three or four generations in a year,” says John Stanturf. This remains a significant knowledge gap. “We know enough to know that this is a concern, but we don’t know enough about how to respond to it yet. That’s a great area to be doing research.” So is soil, says Cindy Prescott, a forest ecologist at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. “If you don’t look at the soil at the start, you can spend a lot of money and time putting in species that aren’t going to survive there.”

With so much research left to do, leaders in the field have been doing some soul-searching, and acknowledging that restoration can be motivated by—and designed to meet—different needs. “When you talk about conservation or restoration, the first question has to be restoration by whom, for whom?” says Daniel Janzen, a biologist at the University of Pennsylvania.

The question can have more than one answer. Much of the global funding for restoration is dedicated to developing it as a tool to mitigate climate change, notes restoration ecologist Pedro Brancalion. “But if you ask a farmer in Brazil if he or she is concerned about climate change, they would say, ‘No, I am concerned about water,’” he says. Their interests as stewards of the land need to be better integrated with those who have the money to support restoration.

That has been the strongest lesson of all for forest ecologist Robin Chazdon. Restoration is about more than what gets planted in the ground, she says. “Yes, it’s about forests, but it’s really about people. They are the agents of restoration.”