Everyday we go about our business, often the same way we did the day before. We wake up, maybe we shower (if were not nasty), get some coffee (if we are normal), maybe some breakfast. We do what we need to do to prepare for the day. We do this, typically, in a static environment. Likely inside our home where everything is safe and consistent. Very little changes overnight in the typical American household.
However, as soon as you step foot outside of your home. Once you enter back into the wide world everything changes.
No longer is the environment static. You are faced with a constantly changing environment. How aware of those ever-changing factors are you?
Do you consciously decide where you will park when you go to the store? Are you aware of what vehicles are around you?
Are they are occupied? Does one of the vehicles look off? Just wrong. Does it match the other vehicles in the area? Is it just a bit too nice or a bit too broke down?
When you exit your vehicle are you aware of what is around you? Other people on foot, blind areas that you are unable to see around or thru, the panhandlers in the parking lot that may be of concern to you or your children?
Your ability to identify these threats and potential dangers is what is referred to as situational awareness.
So, what is situational awareness?
Situational awareness is the use of the sensory systems to scan the environment with the purpose of identifying threats in the present or projecting those observed threats into the near future.
The sensory system allows us to detect stimuli such as light and sound waves and comprehend them in a manner that can be understood by the human brain and nervous system.
The sensory system includes the visual, auditory, gustatory (taste), olfactory, (smell), somatosensory (touch, pain, and temperature), and vestibular (balance, spatial orientation) systems.
Every one of these systems play a crucial role in our ability to maintain vigilance and situational awareness when we are in public settings.
Consider the example of the grocery store parking lot. As we move through the parking lot, we begin to take in a flood of information from all of our senses.
We see the vehicles in the parking lot and people getting in and out of them.
We see people entering and exiting the store or loitering in the area.
We smell the car exhaust and other scents that may be mixed in the air.
We hear the engines of the cars, maybe people talking, or airplanes above.
We can feel the wind on our skin or perhaps the sun beating down.
All of these scents play a crucial role in our ability to recognize danger. We know that if we see a person doing something that is completely contrary to what everyone else in the parking lot is doing this might demand a bit more of our attention. We know that if we hear someone screaming in anger or in fear this also demands more of our immediate attention. If we smell smoke, we know there is likely a fire.
All these sensory stimuli combine to tell us that there is a clear and present danger, possibly an immediate threat to ourselves.
Lets change the scenario a bit. What if we are doing what so many others do every day. We tune the world out and proceed as if we are the only ones that exist. Before we park the car, we don’t even bother to scan. We take the closest, most expedient parking space available.
We don’t look around us to determine if it is safe, we are only concerned about convenience. Before we get out of the car, we put our earbuds in and turn the music up. That way it is clear that we have no interest in speaking to anyone. We know that this gives us an excuse to ignore the guy begging for change at near the door.
As we walk in we make sure to open our phone up to Instagram or Facebook or the social media of your choice and we bury ourselves in today’s events.That way we are not expected to look at anyone. This is our excuse not to engage. Sound familiar? I know I am guilty at times.
What is the problem with this?
You know what the problem is!!
In performing these actions, you are willfully cutting the world off. You are separating yourself from everyone and everything around you.
The problem is that it is all still there.
All the threats, all the potential danger, all the chaos and madness. It is all right there. The only difference is that you are unable to hear it, you can’t see it, and you choose not to acknowledge it. You have decided to allow the world to happen to you and in turn you are putting yourself at a massive disadvantage.
This my dear friend is a choice. You have chosen to allow yourself to become the victim. Maybe not knowingly but you have chosen. By doing this you have chosen to ignore the threat. The threat will never choose to ignore you.
I encourage you to understand and recognize the different levels of situational awareness and when they might apply to you. There are countless different charts and graphs that discuss the levels of situational awareness. Each of them is similar. There are an agreed upon five levels of awareness which typically range from white to black as you proceed up the scale.
Let’s take a look at what this scale would look like.
White = Tuned Out: a level which indicates a state of complete unawareness. Completely
tuned out to the world around you.
Yellow = Relaxed Awareness: A level which indicates you are paying attention but still loving life. You know that there is a world out there, but you are not concerned at the moment.
Orange = Focused Awareness: You recognize something or someone as a possible danger. You know it could present an immediate threat and you start to pay close attention to what is happening around you.
Red = Hight Alert: You were right. You have a confirmed threat, and you need to take action NOW. You now have no options but to act.
Black = Comatose: You are paralyzed by fear. You are in shock and unable to act or function. You find yourself unprepared for the threat and your body is unwilling to move.
The reality of our world is that we cannot operate at an orange level all the time. We do not have enough brain power to allow for this. We would exhaust ourselves and more than likely lose our minds. There is too much stimulation every day to operate at a high level of focused awareness 24/7.
However, we can easily operate at a level of relaxed awareness, yellow, when we are out in the world. When we are at the store, out with the kids, at dinner with our spouses, at the club with the boys, we must be aware.
We never know where a threat will come from or what form it will take.
The point of this entire writing is to encourage you to operate at a level well outside of the white zone. We cannot afford to tune out in today’s world. We cannot allow ourselves to become a willing victim when all it would take is a bit of active participation.
Keep your eyes and ears open. If you want to listen to music, get some headphones that allow the ears to stay open. Don’t burry yourself in your phone in the hopes to escape the world. It is still there and there are many in this world who are simply waiting for you to stop watching so they can take advantage of your lapse in judgement.
You owe it to yourself and those you love to keep your head on a swivel!
You have an obligation to your loved ones to come home each day. You have a right to be safe in your possessions and your domain.
However, all of this requires that you take an active role in being aware of our environment and your situations.
Practice your situational awareness skills daily. Make it a game for your and your kids. Tell them you are going to quiz them on what they saw in the parking lot, or the store, on at the stop light, and the one with the most details gets a small price. Make it fun but instill these skills daily.
Make the practice of situational awareness and threat perceptions part of your everyday routine.
This may just save your life!
Joshua “Rhino” Haynes
~Become the Predator to Protect the Prey~
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