Too often we look without actually seeing. In other words, we fail to process what is right in front of us. Because of this we may let an attacker get too close to us simply because we don’t see him as a threat until he makes an overt move. Sometimes there may be an understandable reason for the overlook; we may be busy, or tired, or simply not feeling well. However, it could also be because we are simply not paying attention.
Those of us who are life-long hunters may have a bit of an edge on this problem. Focusing on the task at hand, we scan the woods for movement or look for color shades or shapes in the brush that don’t fit in. Once we spot an animal we have to determine if it is actually a deer. Then we want to know if it is a buck. And finally, we try to determine if it is the kind of buck that we would like to harvest. Only at this point do we take action, but we have closely observed the animal throughout the observation and thought process.
A similar example would be a rancher who is just riding through one of his pastures. He may appear to be just casually looking at his cattle, but there is a lot more going on. Ranchers never pass up a chance to count their cattle. They are also looking for any one of the animals that might be sick. They may also be looking to make sure that they are all his cattle and not some of the neighbor’s that strayed over.
The hunter and the rancher weren’t born this way; they trained themselves to be observant. Just like you and I have to train ourselves to actually pay attention to what is going on around us. At first, the concentration may seem tedious, even tiring, but eventually it will become second nature.
Thinking back, we might realize that things that caused us to go into Condition Orange turned out to be no threat at all. Still, each time you observe something that could be a problem, and it turns out to be nothing, you need to give yourself a pat on the back. You weren’t being paranoid; you were being observant. The harder you work at it, the harder it will be for a threat to ever get right in your face before you are aware of his presence.
Learn to look and actually process what you see. It’s an important defense skill.
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