Are you "prepping" your brain?
https://www.shtfplan.com/emergency-...-mind-will-either-make-or-break-you_08262019?
https://www.shtfplan.com/emergency-...-mind-will-either-make-or-break-you_08262019?
How You Train Your Mind Will Either Make or Break You
Tess Pennington
August 26th, 2019
The mind is a very powerful muscle in the body. In fact, it’s the strongest muscle and has the capacity to make or break you. It can either propel you through a challenge or paralyze you into inaction. Therefore, having control over the mind gives you the wherewithal you need to withstand biological and emotional stressors during disasters or life events, as well as better adapt to the situation at hand. In fact, Navy SEALS use this technique in their training which is why they are always cool and collected when in dangerous environments.
Survival is all in the attitude
If the mind is untrained, it can easily go to a place of hopelessness and negativity where eventually a person gives up altogether.
If you’re caught in a situation in which you feel powerless, there are two scenarios that could play out: 1.) You can imagine yourself as a hero, figuring a way out, or 2.) You can imagine yourself as a victim, suffering and waiting for rescue. Which would you choose? (The answer is that you are going to figure a way out and survive!) Remember, it’s all in your attitude!
A key strategy for having the right attitude is through mental repetition. Repetition is an effective measure in preparing the mind. Repeating positive reinforcing statements such as, “I can do this”, “I will succeed”, or “I will get through this”, trains your mind and prevents it from wanting to give up. This creates resiliency.
Being resilient does not mean that a person doesn’t experience difficulty or distress. In fact, developing resilience is likely to involve considerable emotional distress. It is what gives people the ability to come back from disappointment and failure stronger and more determined than ever.
Resilience is not a trait or characteristic that you either have or don’t have. It is a learned ability, one that can be learned and built and developed by anyone. Resilience relies on different skills and draws on various sources of help, including rational thinking skills, physical and mental health, and your relationships with those around you.
Resilient people not only survive and bounce back after a setback, but they also come back stronger and wiser. People who are highly resilient are excellent at finding the silver lining in any situation. They excel in finding the lesson each negative experience has taught them and applying what they learned in future endeavors.
Training the mind to overcome
When playing stories out in your head, your mind does not know if the story is real or not real, it just plays the story out as it unfolds. If you imagine yourself being decisive, controlling your fears, and behaving rationally, then the mind will only know to act this way in the future. If you imagine yourself hiding, terrified and meek, then you will train your mind to act in this manner.
Maneuvering through a worst-case scenario takes mental preparation and working through emotions we would rather not deal with. Ultimately, one of the emotions you must conquer is fear. Fear and negative thinking can quickly spread like a virus infecting yourself and others around you. Having overwhelming fear can take you to a fight or flight status and literally cause the brain to be paralyzed into inactivity. One way to circumvent this is through visualization.
Visualization techniques are effective exercises that one can do to safely put themselves in a dangerous situation in order to desensitize oneself to the stress of the situation. In turn, you break through the fears and anxieties of the situation and begin finding plausible ways of dealing with it. These mental “dress rehearsals” are similar to what athletes use to give them a greater edge in performance and countless research studies back this up. In fact, as far as athletic performances go, using visualization exercises improves performance by 45%! Why not use this time tested tool in mentally preparing for emergencies?
In an article on the subject, “By repeatedly facing threatening situations under calm, controlled emotional conditions, we learn to respond in desired ways, free of threat. A good example would be someone who is paralyzed with germ-related phobias, washing hands, showering, and changing clothes dozens of times daily. By encouraging that person to rehearse cognitive reframing and relaxation methods while gradually exposing themselves to sources of germs, a therapist helps build a sense of safety and mastery. Step by step the work proceeds to tackle greater challenges, from looking at germ-laden objects in the toilet to quickly touching doorknobs to shaking people’s hands and beyond. Quite literally, desensitization reprograms our emotional responses by rewiring our brains.”
The steps below are 9 steps to help better prepare you for a disaster and revolve around the idea of visualizing an incident before you are faced with it. Doing so helps to diminish stress and your performance will increase. With time and practice, this simple meditation process can be trimmed to be done in about 5 minutes, and in this manner, you can face challenges in a few hours in the same manner that you can face them with several days or weeks to prepare.
After an event, do the same thing, focusing not on what happened but on what is in front of you.
- Sit in your chosen quiet place in the most comfortable position possible (laying down, sitting back, or sitting cross-legged, for example.
- Consciously allow your muscles to loosen up and physically relax them
- Breathe in deeply and exhale slowly: nothing forced, just try to introduce some regularity in it.
- Focus your eyes upon a stationary object that is “tranquil” and non-moving
- Clear your mind, yet think briefly about what it is that you face. What you are doing is imprinting the event and making it more harmless in your mind.
- Allow your eyes to close, focusing upon your breathing, and regulating it
- Think positive thoughts: that you will overcome the upcoming challenge
- Minimize the challenge: tell yourself that (even if it is not good) it is not so great that you cannot overcome it.
- When you feel ready, end the session and stand up slowly
I have found that it is necessary to clear your mind and focus when you are preparing for a significant event, as well as after the event occurs. There are several elements to performing this, and they can be used for just about anything you may face.Events that occur suddenly and without warning are a little harder to prepare for, and some of them not at all. Stress is something that can build up to a degree that renders you incapable of doing anything, if you do not learn how to deal with it.
Staying positive with controlled and purposed action
The enormity of training your mind to act in times of difficulty is hard especially if you do not have a starting point. But breaking that into smaller, more achievable goals makes the goal easier. These small victories are purposed actions that keep your mind moving in a positive stream. In a dire situation, where multiple people are affected, having these small victories keeps the morale of the group up so that everyone is working toward a common goal – surviving the event.
A starting point is one referenced above – visualizing the event and all that it entails. Think of the challenges, the societal or community implications the emergency will have, the supplies you will need, how long you think the emergency will last, and how your family can come together to get through. Further, you need to think of the darker side of the disaster and start coming up with controlled and actionable steps – this is the warrior mentality!