What kind of mental training does everyone here do?

it's a good question.
I dont know what others do, but I know how I re-act in dangerous times... as I have been mugged , I have been hijacked, and I have also been tied up in a home invasion for 2 hours.

I have never shut down, I have never panicked and I have always reacted the best way for the situation... I dont know why that is I am not entirely sure what to attribute it to... but when I go through something I remain level headed and dont panic...
I generally emotionally deal with that situation long after that fact, but doesn't really hit me that hard.

 

LOL LOL LOL...AnthonyRaison,

did you work on a bomb squad or such. LOL LOL....just kidding.


But that is a good skill or instinct to have...not being easily prone to panic.

I know too many people who do exactly that.


I too tend not to panic easily....and it takes a lot to get to me. But when it does....keep away.

Working in a shipyard and handling specific procedures and governing specific work....tends not to get one to panic but think things through and stick to the knowledge and procedures which has served one well.

Some call that history...."Lessons Learned."

That is also the good thing about certain books...you can learn a bit about other peoples mistakes by the knowledge of their experiences.


I have learned by specific experience that in certain situations the worst thing you can do is become nervous and panic. You tend by this to compound your mistakes....particularly if you become out of control emotional....and deviate from certain patterns in thought and experience.


Thanks,
Watcherchris.

 

Don't attack someone who is ambivalent about the whole wanting to be alive or not thingy. I own that muddy turf nowadays. If someone looks like they have given-up and might as well go out in a blaze of glory, leave that person alone. Really, honest to God, if people knew how much broken stuff is in my head, they'd leave me the #### alone. People have been talking to me and get a strange look on their faces. Often they leave. My friends tell me that I said some whacked ####. I didn't notice. Can't really say I ever knew that fellow in the mirror. Now he is really distant. Don't even know if my memories are my own. I'm melding with the dead.

 

I don't know about mental training but I do know that understanding what makes people tick is important. I do know that if you can look death dead in the face and smile it seems to unnerve people. Crazy can be at times a good defense. Even the native Americans didn't mess with crazy people.

I received a sort of mental training as a child. When I was a kid a "MAN" was supposed to be tough and control their emotions. My Dad probably whipped me for crying more than anything else until I sort of lost that ability. Being able to hide your fears makes you look pretty crazy in some circumstances.

Twice I've been in positions where I was threatened with attack by a large group of people. Both times I "bluffed" my way out of at the very least a beating by smiling and telling them that it was a good day to die. I always have a knife and it is always RAZOR sharp. I slide it out and shave a few hairs off my arm and then nick it to draw blood and grin. I tell them that whoever gets to me first I'm going to gut and maybe the second one as well. Then I laugh and tell them that after I have my escorts to lead me and serve me in hell I honestly don't care what they do to me.

I can tell this with my big blue eyes wide open and never blinking. So far nobody has ever wanted to be first and I walked away untouched. Honestly I think it works in part because it isn't totally a lie. I have no fear of death and Pain means very little to me. I am afraid of nothing physical except open heights. Don't ask me why because I don't know and it has forced me to do a lot of jobs that required me to be high up. I still feel the fear but do it anyway. I was taught that a coward's death was to be feared above anything. Death before dishonor actually means something to me.

My only real fear is to fail my loved ones and to die a weaklings death.

My Dad might by today's idea have been harsh... probably today a lot of it would be called abuse but I never doubted that he loved me and know that if things ever go bad his training will serve me well. I've been to hell and back there is nothing left to fear.

 

Whahahahahaah, no I dont work in the bomb squad, I live In Johannesburg South Africa and these things are rather common place with many here.
I have been bullied and teased all my life in school, after a while you decide well you not going to let it effect you that much, or at least I did
Also I think doing 7 years of Martial arts and a bit of stunt work, kind of gave me a bit of self confidence in myself.
But really generally I dont know why it is I dont lockup or panic or freeze.. its just a trait I have.
I dont know if meditation helps I really dont know what can help,
its just the Reaction I have from experiences.
I hope I never have to loose it.

 

Sounds fairly similar to my upbringing and experiences.
So I can relate to this.

 

I think training one's situational awareness, whether it be through basic memory skills, watching films and testing yourself on details quizzes afterwards (you can find these online) and watching people and how they interract in a casual cafe setting.

 

Good point,
Well I get out a lot with the Wilderness survival School here in southern africa
So We practice a lot in the field with minimal kit and have to acquire all our food and water and shelter via natrual resources, and we have to treat common aliments and various injuries also (as they happen) out there also,
Now and again we run a lot of mock rescue scenarios, like make improvised streachers, or state this person has x issue then we run through that scenario whilst we there.. we also practice naviagtion off maps and compass, signalling, and various things in the bush.
I recall the one mission we spent a bout 6 hours on a proper raft right about 1km out into sea, and had to swim that back through the breakers and the Rip tides, and spent a night in heavy wind and rain on the beach, we also practiced Life saving in extremely choppy water..
here is a video of that one outing...

 

Texdanm,

LOL LOL LOL...yes..I recognize this MO...indeed....

Yeah..I've had to go up on heights on these aircraft carriers....and I mean up there. But I know if I don't ..someone else will have to do it. It also means that if you back out in fear....you may be passed over on weekend work...overtime.

So you suck it up and try not to get up there and freeze...making more danger to yourself and others who must work with you.

I've had to help a man who lost it in a tight tank...to get out and not panic which would have made it bad for both of us....someone has to keep a steady head and hand in certain circumstances.


My Dad too was, at times, harsh with me...but in my older years ...I learned that better than most I was able to walk alone....think them through...to do things alone...no help and no safety net.

Over time and the struggle which comes with working alone....solving problems alone....I came to understand that my Dad was very very familiar with this process....


From my Mother I got the love of reading books...not just for entertainment but for knowledge and thought/thinking via my father...details...

And from My Father ....it was the doing.....carrying out what I learned.

And the learning continues to this day.

He was harsh on me because this was a way of getting me to "Survive" at times...alone. To bring home the bacon.

I came to understand that this was his way of Loving me...to give me the tools to survive a certain harshness for which many males would back out.....retreat.

That was a long hard lesson to grasp...in my foolishness of youth...pride. But I got it...one day....and never looked back.
This awareness...totally changed the way or manner with which I looked upon my father.
Suddenly and before me there stood a man for whom I had never before recognized as a great man. A man among men. A man's man.
Love and respect....Honor.


When you are a man in a man's shoes......many times you walk alone....no one is coming to help you ..no one is coming to "Rescue " you. You need to develop the tools to think, to navigate, to survive, to get it done, to bring home the bacon.....often alone and my father instinctively understood this. Sometimes in life you just have to suck it up and go it alone....LOBO...the lone wolf.


So often in our lives this is what it means to be a man..........to walk alone....in this world.
This is a knowledge, an instinct, and wisdom far beyond any movie and television education/cheap merchandizing/bling which is what often passes for manhood today....and this instinct is far more valuable to me than any bling.


This too was hard learned....hard earned mental and spiritual training.

I too have a high pain threshold and I have noticed it compared to other males.


I have also learned by so much reading....that I can read at a faster paces than most.

None of this makes me better than others....only different.


Thanks,
Watcherchris

 

With the... I hesitate to call it "proper" approach pain can become a pleasure. It will open up your adrenal glands and cause a massive dump of endorphins into your bloodstream. This is a high that junkies try for to some extent and can be addictive. With enough experience you can learn to induce this state to happen and become totally without pain or fear of pain for a little while. The native Americans were masters of this and many of their manhood rites were done to train this response. The Sioux Sundance Ritual includes being suspended from hooks in the flesh. Even in Christianity you have the rites of self flagellation where people use cat o'nine whips to beat their own backs bloody. In most primitive cultures the ability to turn aside pain and glory in it is looked at as a religious experience. I have a lot of scars. Some were self inflicted.

 

I m not exactly sure as to why or how but I've noticed that I have a certain pain and discomfort threshold different than do others.

Up to a certain point I can turn it off or disregard it...and this threshold seems to be higher than many....cold and heat..even pain....my threshold seems to be different from many. Once I reach that threshold it becomes very uncomfortable...and distracting.

It is as if, up to that point, you can turn it off...not let it distract or control you.

Now I've never found pleasure in it is as you describe Texdanm....but there is a certain satisfaction in being able to reach or achieve your goal....or complete a task under such circumstances of discomfort....hardship. Knowing you still have the "Right Stuff."


LOL LOL LOL.....I never went along with this "Christian Stuff" of beating yourself up to make a point....self flagellation.

Life itself will more than beat you up in your daily routines....and particularly when you meet these harsh and hardship experiences/tasks for which you often have to reach down deep in your soul and for strength, knowledge, and wisdom to stay focused and accomplish.


I've come to admire people who can do this kind of work and suffer certain discomforts which would break many people out here.

I've come to realize that many of these people paid a high price in harshness to learn these skills which to many of us seem so easy when they do it with such fluency....smoothness...almost routine.

You never quite know what was their learning curve in harshness/difficulty to reach such a fluent skill level....which, to many of us, looks so easy in the way they do it.


My .02,

Watcherchris.

 

Pain is nothing more than an alarm that is warning your brain that something is wrong. The human brain is an incredible thing that is capable of so many things not normally experienced. Pain is sort of the point of say defcon 4 or 3. You are warned but the brain has not decided that it is life or death yet. When the situation is determined to be a lot more serious the first reaction is a reduction in pain and a slight increase in adrenaline levels. You get a little stronger, faster and more alert.

At the net stage your adrenaline levels skyrocket and there is a dump of all sorts of endorphins into your bloodstream. This is the point where people can do wildly unlikely things like a woman lifting a ar off her child when obviously that isn't possible. Part of this stage is a total shutdown of the pain signal. One thing that you almost never hear about is that the people that do incredible feats of strength often later have severe damage to their backs and joints.

The last stage hits when your brain feels that death is imminent and only the most extreme measure can save you. Deep cut that sever veins suddenly stop bleeding as the muscles around the cuts contract and shut down the blood flow. Time seems to slow down and you shift into a gear that throws everything into a do or die state. Your blood pressure drops as the blood is directed to the brain and blood loss is minimised.

This is the point that you occasionally hear about where basically dead people just keep going. This is also the stage where a relatively minor injury that you think is deadly can in fact cause your body to kill you. People often die from gunshot wounds that while looking bad actually didn't hit anything immediately dangerous. They die of SHOCK. The brain decided that things couldn't be worse and so does things that while good in the short term are lethal in the long term.

People that have a high tolerance for pain actually possibly don't. What they have is a sensitivity to pain that starts them down this path at a lower level of pain than others. This can be a natural thing or it can be a trained reaction. People that experience a lot of pain learn to do this sooner. Once you fully understand the process some people can learn to control it to a surprising extent. Many of the forms of meditation are actually a part of triggering this and it is experienced as a mild euphoria.

You can learn to slow your heartbeat and massively reduce your respiration levels and from that begin to move into the middle stages of the "panic" response while still actually calm. I had a lot of fun in the hospital one time setting off the alarms. I was waiting to go into surgery and was fully wired for everything. That machine would just flip out when my heart rate dropped below 40, my respirations rate fell to 2 breaths per minute and my blood pressure started to drop. Hey, I was bored and it isn't often that I get to actually watch what is happening when I start to slide into a meditative state in graphic detail. The second time I did it my wife pinched the hell out of me and told me to stop it! She told the nurses that I was doing it. I don't think that they believed her and after checking all the "connections\" decided that it was some sort of machine malfunction.

Pain has been a regular thing for a lot of my life. I started doing a lot of this on an instinctive level but then got interested in it and learned a lot about it. It is a cute trick but not without dangers. Reduction of the ability to feel pain is what causes diabetics to lose toes and feet. The blood flow is restricted there and they get sores that they don't feel. If it reaches a certain septic level the only thing that can be done is to remove the affected part. Leprosy is another disease that causes the loss of the pain sensation.

There, all you never wanted or needed to know about pain...