Awareness

[bushido_man96]

I was out driving the other day, and I got to thinking about awareness a bit. One spawned this thought was sitting at a stop sign of a one-way street. I instinctively looked both ways, just because we are taught that from the time we are old enough to walk. However, if one is aware enough to know that it is a one-way, then it is only necessary to look the way of the oncoming traffic. Or is it? Just because it is a one-way street, it doesn't mean that we should discount looking the other way, because someone who took a wrong turn, or is fleeing from pursuit, etc., may be coming down that street the wrong way.

So, I have run the gamut of awareness here, as far as one-way streets are concerned. Is it good to be so conditioned to look both ways like we do? I think it is better to know that the street is a one-way, but to look both ways because we do it in a state of awareness, rather than out of habit.

Thoughts?

[Sam]

I think this is pretty closely related to the discussion on senses going on in the internal arts thread, how much does social and mental conditioning early in life affect our ability in perceiving and consciously acting on threats, or simply just judgement on what constitutes a threat....

[Patrick]

I think it's definitely a good thing. In that scenario, there is a margin of error. Like you said, just because it is one way street doesn't mean cars will only be coming one way. It's kind of like driving. You can be the best driver in the world, but if you only are watching what you are doing, you're not driving like you should be. If you're a good driver, you're not the problem - it's the bad drivers that are the problem and when they crash and burn, they are often taking people with them. So, you need to make sure that not only you are abiding by good driving practices, but you also have to watch everyone around you and be ready to react to their movements.

[NewEnglands_KyoSa]

I'd definately say it's a good thing, only because i have been one to have the rare things happen to me at very inconvenient times. So yes, i think its a good thing and yes, i do the same thing. No one's ever gotten killed from being over-prepared...under prepared on the other hand...

[tallgeese]

Always a good thing for stuff like this to happen. It means that conditioning is working. It's a great example and I now plan to use it when explaining awareness . The automatic looking around lets you spot other threats from outside. The fact that this is working even in more constrained situations is operant conditioning at it's finest.

There is a similar strategy going on in firearms trainin circles now that you may have heard of. Now after firing the perscribed amount of rounds on a course of fire, we move the weapon to a ready position and scan the area. Not just the 45 degree arc in front of us, but we look over our shoulders as well. This not only break up the tunnel vision associated with combat, but allows us to look for other threats as well.

[bushido_man96]

Always a good thing for stuff like this to happen. It means that conditioning is working. It's a great example and I now plan to use it when explaining awareness .

Cool, thanks tallgeese.