When Something Doesn’t Feel Right
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There are times when we all experience that persistent sense that something is off and instinctively yearn to escape from those situations as swiftly as we can. Moreover, there have been individuals who have allegedly confessed to experiencing a certain “intuition” that they disregarded just prior to encountering unfortunate events that affected either themselves or someone dear to them.
How would you like to develop your ability to harness that sense? Let’s delve into this topic further. We will explore the root cause of this feeling, its importance, and how to enhance it for a better sense of situational awareness. By doing so, you will be able to better anticipate and handle adverse situations in any setting.
What Is Situational Awareness?
Situational awareness, from a grassroots perspective, refers to the essential skill of constantly observing and attentively engaging with one’s surroundings.
This skill is comparable to the unwavering vigilance of Jason Bourne, the protagonist of the movie, who, in order to elude capture, lived a life of constant awareness and astuteness. He had to accurately assess the level of danger in every situation he encountered.
In military terminology, situational awareness is commonly known as “the bubble,” representing the understanding of one’s surrounding environment and the ongoing events within it. If you lose focus, the likelihood of making mistakes and encountering accidents significantly increases. The Coast Guard attributes 40% of accidents to a lack of situational awareness.
It is essential to understand that situational awareness refers to the capacity to remain fully aware of our environment, including the level of threat posed by the elements around us. Being aware of this fact can give you a competitive edge over 60% of people. But if you truly want to outperform the remaining 40%, let’s delve even further into the subject.
Levels Of Situational Awareness
Condition White: Imagine yourself as the average American, leisurely strolling through the bustling mall on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Your mind is free of worries, without a hint of concern about potential dangers or anyone acting suspiciously. However, be warned, my friend! This state of unawareness is one that you must absolutely strive to evade at any expense.
Condition Yellow: This state is commonly referred to as “relaxed alertness.” It occurs when there is no apparent threat, but you remain vigilant and aware of potential dangers. When practicing to enhance situational awareness, this should be considered as your starting point.
Condition Orange: If you have detected a clear and imminent danger, it is crucial to immediately assess your options and mentally prepare to take decisive action. Regardless of the scale of the threat, you must maintain this state of readiness when confronting it. Mistakes are more likely to occur when you let excitement take over. Therefore, it is best to respond to problems with a calm and composed mindset.
Condition Red: The most perilous situation among these conditions is the color red, as it symbolizes overwhelming anger. Acting impulsively out of anger can lead to catastrophic consequences, as very few individuals can claim to have accomplished anything admirable while in such a volatile state. If you find yourself getting angrier rather than just engaged, take a step back and calm down. It’s common to hear the phrase “I wasn’t thinking” in situations like this.
Grey/Black Condition: Fear and paralyzing fear are closely intertwined, as both can have debilitating effects. It is important to recognize that inaction can be just as harmful as making poor choices. Therefore, it is crucial to prevent this condition from taking control of your life whenever you can. In moments of crisis, it is natural to feel paralyzed by love and the fear of causing harm to our loved ones. However, it is important to remember that taking action is often the best course of action!
General Uses For Situational Awareness
As a parent, it is absolutely crucial to be vigilant of your surroundings to protect your children. This level of attentiveness is similar to the vigilance required by those in the military, who also prioritize avoiding any avoidable harm or casualties.
Improving your sense of situational awareness has the power to elevate your presence in everyday situations and enable you to make wiser decisions in life. This valuable skill is not exclusive to covert operatives or government assassins, but can benefit anyone. It’s just another way of increasing mindfulness.
By cultivating situational awareness in your personal life, you can enhance your overall attentiveness and refrain from entering situations that may pose a significant risk to you and your family. Having this skill can be crucial for preppers who have accumulated valuable resources at home. It could save you from unknowingly falling into a trap and potentially losing everything you have worked tirelessly to secure.
Personal Benefits
Your ability to pay attention enhances family safety as you can anticipate the needs and actions of your loved ones and adapt quickly to any situation.
General Benefits
Consistently practicing will result in a significant enhancement of your overall memory. This will enable you to become a highly respected individual in your community and lead a safer, more purposeful life.
How To Train for Situational Awareness
As previously mentioned, the skill of utilizing situational awareness is not limited to only highly skilled military and government assassins. It is a capability that can be developed and honed through dedicated effort and practice. There are a few key points you need to understand first:
Position Is Everything
If your awareness is limited, there is little room for improvement. It is crucial to seek a vantage point when exploring new places, so that you may observe the activities and movements of others to the fullest extent. Positioning yourself at the front of a room with the crowd behind you is a truly terrible choice.
Yellow Condition
When you finally find the perfect spot, it is essential to ensure that you are in the Yellow Condition. This means that you are fully engaged with your surroundings, absorbing every sight, sound, and emotion in the room. Avoid behaving in a manner that exudes madness or paranoia while clandestinely listening to others in an attempt to obtain valuable information. Instead, maintain an openness to your surroundings and embrace a composed demeanor.
Establish the Baseline
Every place you visit carries its own distinctive atmosphere. Take, for instance, strolling through the bustling streets of New York City. The ambiance there is characterized by individuals being engrossed in their own thoughts, marching with determination, and maintaining a sense of solitary focus. If you come across someone who appears to be walking with a faster pace than others, constantly checking over their shoulders, and just seems out of place, then you have stumbled upon someone who stands out from the crowd.
Have A Plan
You are in a church on Sunday, observing your surroundings and establishing a sense of familiarity. However, you notice someone who stands out from the usual happy atmosphere. This person is briskly walking towards the front of the sanctuary, disrupting the baseline of the congregation. What do you do?
Examine the locations you frequently visit and prepare for situations that deviate from the norm. If you frequent a coffee shop where bike enthusiasts gather daily, and you happen to observe a car parked in front of the shop, engine running, containing several visibly anxious individuals, it would be wise to devise a plan for this situation, as well as other potential scenarios.
Situational Awareness Training Exercises
Memory Exercises
Engaging in memory exercises is a fantastic way to enhance situational awareness, coupled with indulging in brain-boosting games. It is crucial to begin with memory strengthening exercises to elevate cognitive acuity, ensuring you have a reliable mental archive to rely on, especially when faced with the misfortune of misplacing your grocery list. Begin by memorizing simple items such as a grocery list or food orders. Once you have mastered these, challenge yourself with more complex tasks that involve multiple variables.
Drawing a map from memory can improve memory exercises and enhance overall situational awareness. It is essential to remember that these activities work together to boost brain function, provided one is also dedicated to training situational awareness.
Study Human Behavior
Van Horne’s book, Left Of Bang, details how Marines and other military personnel enhance their senses for identifying threats and reacting swiftly on the battlefield. It focuses on six key human behaviors. The most important is when people try to “act natural.” This is almost impossible unless you are completely comfortable in your environment. If you notice someone is having a hard time being natural that should raise some questions.
Mock Scouting Trips
Once you gain some real experience, these endeavors can become incredibly enjoyable. Create a mission for yourself by envisioning a specific target and crafting a detailed description, down to the color of their socks.
First, set up a location and time frame. While it might appear juvenile, you will discover that this can actually be an excellent exercise. However, it is crucial to avoid appearing suspicious. If the person you are watching realizes you are staring and you make it obvious, you will be detected and fail.
Body Language Indicators
When it comes to improving your situational awareness, one of the most significant factors to consider is a person’s body language. It is a compelling form of communication that operates on a subconscious level. You probably know the stories of men who stand trial for murder. When questioned about whether they actually committed the crime, they would answer “no” with their words, but their heads would betray them, subtly nodding up and down as they spoke.
When it comes to situational awareness, there are two important postures to remember, and this is when you’ll truly appreciate the value of paying attention during high school geometry class. There are two distinct body positions: concave and convex. The guilty party is often associated with the concave posture, as malicious intentions cannot even be concealed from one’s own conscience. Therefore, individuals with a body type that appears hunched and evasive are likely to be the culprit.
A convex posture signifies a person’s openness, with nothing concealed. It reveals their emotional vulnerability, as they transparently display their innocence through their actions. Although it is not an absolute rule, with practice, you will be able to discern these subtle differences between individuals.
Practice Makes Permanent
Cultivating situational awareness on a daily basis is crucial to avoid hasty accusations and prevent others from seeing you as paranoid. Make it a daily routine to remain vigilant and always maintain a state of heightened awareness, regardless of your location, to ensure the safety and security of yourself and your loved ones. By doing so, you can be certain that you will never be caught off guard.
Eventually, you will come to the realization that the majority of “threats” are not significant for the typical American. However, there are instances when these threats are indeed real. In such situations, you must question whether you will be the one guarding and protecting others, preventing the wolves from preying on the innocent sheep.
As human beings, it is our responsibility to protect the vulnerable and ensure that the strong do not succumb to the weak. However, as a species, we must also strive to prevent the weak from overpowering the strong.
For more information on this topic, see our post What’s Your Home’s Threat Level?
