What is awareness? Does being aware make me paranoid? How can I be aware during my every day routine without losing focus on my regular activities? How can I incorporate awareness into my day to day life?
Lets ask ourselves these questions before we encounter a dangerous situation or find ourselves at risk.
Many times, I find myself involved in conversations with someone who was recently been exposed to a dangerous situation such as rape, robbery or assault, and a common denominator among victims is that they think about how they could have reacted differently, how they could have avoided the situation, what if....
So what is awareness? Awareness is the ability to see and understand your surroundings. Awareness is not about feeling paranoid, but rather being in a constant state of alert without living in fear. Awareness means not letting yourself be caught by surprise but rather preempt situations.
As a parent for example, you are always aware and preempting possible risks and hazards. Is the toy the baby is playing with too small? Is the gate properly closed? we are always thinking ahead of children's curiosity. Now, let's apply that same principle to your every day life, while loading groceries into your car or searching your purse for the car keys.
So how aware should you be without becoming paranoid? The level of awareness that one person should have is entirely proportionate to their line of work, the place they live, places they visit, lifestyle. Not everyone and certainly not every situation requires the same level of awareness. Your level of awareness should change as your day and activities change.
Once you learn to manage your different levels of awareness, it becomes natural and you stop thinking about it. It becomes like driving, where you are aware of your surroundings, but the mechanics of accelerating and braking or turning the wheel are routine. You'll pay attention to the poorly lighted parking garage as you walk towards your car instead of shuffling through your purse looking for your keys; You'll look around before getting out of the car instead of being distracted talking on the phone; You'll put your groceries into the trunk of your car while at the same time looking at who might be approaching you.
This all requires practice. Make it into a habit to start looking for suspicious situations and changing your routine when running your every day errands. Soon, it will become natural.
By
www.awareselfdefense.com
