How to mentally prepare to defend yourself? There is a certain mental state of mind that takes over when you find yourself in a threatening situation. Experts call this Tachypsychia.
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Tachypsychia is a distorted sense of size and time and it is very common under stress. Movie makers use slow motion at some critical moments to try to convey this mental state. Another very common effect of stress, one that can occur with tachypsychia or alone, is tunnel vision.
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One victim describes this sensation very well. “I didn’t know anything about anything that was around me. Indeed, I was aware of what was in front of me and of him. I knew exactly that I had a gun in my hand, and I knew where he was. Other than that, I couldn’t have told you anything. It could have come upon a blizzard in the middle of the parking lot, and I wouldn’t have noticed. I thought I was going nuts!”
How to Mentally Prepare Yourself? Know what happens.
It’s almost as if life is happening around you, but you are invisible. The world begins to occur in slow motion and you are acutely aware of sounds like your own breath or the bead of sweat that is falling from your forehead.
You may feel paralyzed and out of control, but the exact opposite is true. You are in full control, you are just at another level of consciousness – that of taking your life into your own hands and holding on to it with all your might.
AI Doorbell with Person DetectionPrepare Mentally for the Physical Reaction
Also called the “fight or flight” response of the body to an event our mind considers threatening, tachypsychia is believe to include some or all of, but is not limited to, the following occurrences:
- The autonomous nervous system is stimulated causing the adrenal glands to release the hormone epinephrine (or adrenaline) directly into the bloodstream which affects the body in various ways.
- The cardiovascular system responds with increased heart rate and blood pressure. Your pulse will race and you will be susceptible to fainting.
- The respiratory system will dilate the bronchial passages allowing a higher absorption of oxygen. Your pupils will dilate to allow more light to enter. The tunnel vision will result in a loss of peripheral vision, but you will have greater focus.
- Glucose will release into the bloodstream thus releasing extra energy by raising the blood sugar level.
- You won’t hear much around you although you might have intensified hearing when in the midst of gunfire. You can actually hear the individual empty shell casings hitting the ground.
- And you may find yourself with an increased level of pain tolerance, a loss of color vision, a bit of short term memory loss, loss of fine motor skills, and an inability to communicate.
- You could lose the ability to reason effectively along with not knowing the right thing to do – a loss of common sense.
- It is also normal to have a decrease in coordination along with a loss of the ability to walk or run.
- Above all else, you will have a misperception of the passage of time. A second will seem like an hour. When under extreme conditions of stress, the condition of tachypsychia is common and normal, although it won’t seem like it at the time. You will recall this later, but not while it is happening. However, if you know that the condition will present itself, while it is happening to you, you won’t be taken in by it. You will just react the way your body wants you to. .
Cooper’s Code of Color – How to Mentally Prepare to Defend Yourself
“The Cooper Color Codes, as Jeff Cooper promulgated them, were not a system for describing levels of potential danger, but rather a technique to enable a law-abiding citizen to overcome a natural reluctance to use lawful deadly force against another.”
Mindset: The Cooper Color Codes
As you can see learning and be aware of these stages can really keep our minds engaged with a fight for our life. Hopefully, we are all in the white zone, when Netflixing and enjoying popcorn, right? But when the front door burst open and a stranger comes in – what zone are you in then??
In our culture it would be foolish to go about in public less than Yellow.
Awareness is our first and possibly most important defense.
Mentally Prepared =. Peace of Mind
Acknowledging reality in a proactive way can bring us a deep peace of mind. Frankly, this is the opposite of fear mongering. We can spend a little time, a little brain space and a little money and gain from that skills and tools that can save our life. Or perhaps, the life of our loved one.
That is a security that is worth every penny and every minute. That is confidence and courage to admit we live in a fallen and violent world. But to keep living and moving forward, making the most of what we have available to us.
What Would You Like to Protect? Your Home? Business? Your Family? Armor Concepts Trusted Home SecurityHow to mentally prepare to defend yourself? But accepting the world as it is, not as we wish it was.
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