Through the Law of the Circle, those who send out criticism, condemnations, and judgment attract much more misery than they originally doled out, as negativity gathers more of its kind through mutual attraction on its return trip back to the sender. As the law is impersonal, those who choose to send out happiness, abundance, and harmony are likewise the recipients of much greater joy and supply. Continued honest, quiet introspection into your life will reveal the truth of this, that the ramifications of our own behavior can be our greatest obstacle to happiness.

The creative faculties given to humanity, through free will, are the powers of attention, thought, feeling, speech, and action. How you choose to use them, through your power of qualification, shapes your life experience on this planet. You qualify the otherwise clean slate of an experience with your chosen perception, as no two people view the same experience in quite the same manner. Using the creative faculties can and will take you into the streets of despair or into the mansions of so-called heaven. What you choose to put your attention upon, you become. This happens automatically as your life force rushes out to meet whatever thing or condition you choose to focus upon, and its quality rushes back into your world to act. If you see a certain condition, and make the conscious or subconscious choice to accept what you see into your feelings, you make it real for you. You invite the external appearance, in whatever form it may appear, to take up residence in your consciousness, thus out-picturing or manifesting itself in your physical life. This happens regardless of whether the appearance you have drawn to you is a positive or negative quality. This happens regardless of your belief or lack of belief that what you're reading is true, just as the sun doesn't require your belief to rise each day.

How many times have you or someone you know been lost while driving around the city, looking for an elusive destination? Before the person becomes "lost," of course, he is completely sure that he knows where he is going. He has convinced himself with his powers of attention, thought, and feeling that the correct destination is right around the corner, or the next corner, or maybe the next. He is lost within his own reality, created by his own bias and, human nature being what it is, with its fierce desire to be right, supports the illusion of his act(ion). No amount of arguing or proof to the contrary can convince the lost person that he is lost, although it's painfully obvious to others.

Once your attention is drawn to something or someone, whether in the outer world, or to a quality within yourself, you will have thoughts and feelings regarding the appearance you witness. Every thought you think and feeling you feel are tangible forces. Almost everyone has had the experience of having their hair stand up on the back of their neck when caught in a creepy situation-"bad vibes," we might call it. Thoughts and feelings are not abstract things and you are accountable for all of them-good and bad-at some time in your experience. They contain much power and are stamped with your essence, so to speak, so the owner of the thought or feeling is always known. Those who think their bad intentions are a dirty little secret are fooling themselves because eventually their negative intentions will return to them with much more of the same.

Like attracts like, so if you choose to think negative thoughts, and energize those thoughts with negative feelings as they leave your consciousness, they eventually return to you with more of their kind. Other negative thoughts and feelings will attach themselves to yours, thereby gaining momentum. You will have much more negativity to deal with on their return flight back to you, their creator, than you originally dished out. Some have called this the action of cause and effect, "what comes around goes around," or "what you sow, you also reap."

To bring a structure into the world, the architect puts his attention toward a certain goal or idea. This mental concept, or thought-form, is the "cup" of the idea the architect wishes to have manifest. Having the cup, thought-idea, or blueprint, the architect then fills the project with his feeling. This emotion or feeling energizes or clothes the thought-form, eventually causing the desired manifestation to appear. All of this requires energy from the person. The home you live in was nothing more than a focus of attention and thought upon a piece of paper long before it came into the three-dimensional world. The line on the paper (one dimensional) became the ill.u.s.tration of your home (two dimensional), and with much feeling, effort, and energy, became the three-dimensional house you enjoy.

Through your attention, thought, and feeling, you govern your world. This experience can be harmonious or otherwise. No one, and I mean NO ONE has power over you and your world but you. The conditions that you experience in your life are your creation, your "self" with a small "s" projected out into the world generated by your attention, thought, feeling, speech, and action. From second to second, you experience nothing but your own inner state of consciousness.

When people look upon a forest in the wilderness, they all have different opinions about what they see. Some see the trees competing for light, all jockeying for the best position to tweak the most sunlight possible at the expense of the other trees and shrubs. Others see decay and death from rotting vegetation that litters the forest floor. Still others see the forest as pure harmony and order, everything in its place, all of nature cooperating with itself in one perfect expression.

Likewise, the tree in the forest remains a tree, yet people have varying opinions on how they view the tree. For some it means so many linear feet of lumber; for others, a home for wildlife; while others simply see the tree as beautiful. Just as the forest and tree are viewed as having different qualities, so, too, do people look at life through different-colored gla.s.ses. More than likely, the forest could care less and the tree goes on living contented within its "tree-ness."

Trevor's Rose-Colored Gla.s.ses "'WHERE MY ATTENTION IS, THERE I AM.' THAT MEANS YOUR LIFE IS ACTING THERE, AND 'WHAT MY ATTENTION IS UPON, I BECOME.'".

-MIGHTY VICTORY The qualified use of our attention, thought, and feeling, coupled with the powers of the spoken word and our actions, create the world we live in. This creation, or colored perception, corresponds with our emotions and how we view the world around us.

The close-up ill.u.s.tration of Trevor's rose-colored gla.s.ses shows how self-generated limitations color our perception. Think of the left lens as being a three-dimensional sphere, like an onion, each outer layer temporarily hiding or partially obscuring the other inner layers of awareness underneath. From the outer layer of guilt, to the inner layer of joy, each level of awareness contains a certain amount of energy and directly affects biochemical neurotransmitter changes within the brain. The closer to the center you move, the more energy you have, thus the more tools and inspiration you have to deal with problems. Much research and many studies of quantum physics have proven this to be so. The concept is rapidly approaching the mainstream school of thought and has even been featured in the major motion picture What the Bleep Do We Know? Where your attention is, there you are, and what you think and feel, you become, as your psychology affects your physiology.

As one exercises self-control and consciously governs his or her thoughts and feelings, replacing the negative with the positive, the outer spheres are trans.m.u.ted and all that is left is joy, illumination, and beyond. The gla.s.ses have no "filter," no color to alter one's perception, and all human-caused limitation ceases to act and is transcended. The spheres are not static and can interpenetrate each other, to a point. Where there is joy, there is no guilt or anger. Yet one can easily experience guilt and anger together.

These perceptions become self-perpetuating within the individual. If you ask a person experiencing grief what the world is like, he will see the world as a sad place. The attention, thought, and feeling of sadness is projected out onto the world and bounces back to the senses, resulting in a change of perception. The projected sadness, before it makes its return trip to the sender, gathers more sadness, thus justifying to the person that this is indeed a sad world-like attracts like. The result reinforces the person's emotional state, so now, with even greater intensity, the person sends out and experiences the world as sad.

If you choose to see the world as a fearful place, and fearful things happen, you might say, "See, I told you so, it's a fearful world." Such reactions prove that the little self, ego, or personality is right, and the personality loves to be right, as it strengthens its validity in the world of the person. Reflexively, the intellect justifies any position the person holds. It rationalizes and defends the quality to make it sound sensible. Conversely, a person experiencing happiness sees the world as a happy place, and is rewarded with more of the same. This self-created projection happens throughout the emotional spectrum of the spheres of influence.

The minute someone demonstrates courage and tells the truth, she has moved within the spheres of influence to a point where her inner world changes and the person begins to have an increase of her personal power and integrity. While the negative feelings have not all disappeared, the person has greater energy to handle nasty situations. She is no longer living in the world of victimhood. When someone will not acknowledge or tell the truth, she lives within her own creation of lack and limitation. Without truth, unconditional love is not possible, as people are ruled by their own selfishness, in which other people are merely objects to satisfy their needs and wants.

As we progress more and more into the center of the sphere, we become aware that happiness is something that is generated from within us, and we are no longer affected by the limitations of the outer world. We are empowered and consciously take full responsibility for ourselves, deeply aware that we create our own reality every second. Such is the incredible power, and responsibility, of our qualified attention, thought, and feeling-which always precede our speech and actions.

Within the outer spheres of Trevor's rose-colored gla.s.ses, people avoid us, as we're an energy parasite, sucking at others in an attempt to get our needs met. It's what you have in the material world that counts for people seeing through these gla.s.ses. Toward the middle of the sphere, we are tolerated and it's the status of what you do in the world that counts. At the center of the sphere, people seek us, and it's who you have become as a person that matters-and it's all due to the quant.i.ty and quality of the energy given off by the individual.

The Creative Power of the Words "I AM"

"I AM IS THE CREATIVE WORD; THE INITIAL WORD THAT PROVIDED CREATION AND FROM WHICH ALL CREATION SPRINGS.".

-A. D. K. LUK The two most powerful words in the English language are the words "I AM." The use of the words "I AM" denote individualized being. Upon using these two words, you decree into your world anything that comes after them, whether positive or negative. When used, they draw forth and release more energy into your world to perform the act or thing you desire. Their power of creation happens regardless of your conscious use of the words. They don't even need to be physically spoken; thinking or feeling the words "I AM" will also have an effect in your life.

Think about these two words for a moment. Within them is the proof that no one outside of yourself has any power over your life. Absolutely no one else can say the words "I AM" for you. Only you can say those words to define what you want to enter into your life. When you use "I" or a form of it such as "me," "myself," "my," or "mine," never use a negative word or statement after it. When you become aware of the creative power of these words, you will notice throughout the day how many times you and your loved ones think or say negative things after them. After the words "I AM" come the habitual, unconscious phrases such as "not good enough," "not rich enough," "not pretty enough," "not healthy enough," or whatever. Notice how people will affirm their misery, lack, and sickness with the use of the two creative words. And, because the power of manifestation within them acts regardless, they get what they ask for: more misery, more lack, more sickness, and more painful experiences in life. Why? It doesn't take any more effort to say positive things after the words "I AM" than it does to say negative things. Even if you don't believe what you say at first, because you have temporarily accepted in your feelings that the physical appearance world rules your life, fake it until you make it. I AM perfect health. I AM rich, filled with abundance and supply. I AM the success I wish to be. I AM perfect harmony and fearlessness.

Once you change the subtle habits of decreeing negative things into your experience by your thoughts, feelings, and conversations, you will begin to see a positive change in your life. You might whine at first that nothing is happening, that no change is taking place, that this was all just a bunch of BS. After having said "I AM stressed" thousands of times, how can you expect things to shift after saying "I AM perfect relaxation and harmony" a few dozen times? If your life seems to be c.r.a.p and you specialize in affirming how c.r.a.ppy it is, you've already proven that this stuff works! Like everything else in the world, you get out of it what you put into it. Even if you're enjoying your low self-esteem for whatever reason, and couldn't possibly affirm anything positive about your pathetic life, at the very least STOP thinking and saying negative I AM statements! Soon, when some of the negativity has been neutralized from your not giving it so much power, you will gather the strength and courage to actively make positive "I AM" statements. Eventually the habit will grow, and affirming positive things in your life will become a part of your everyday conversations, both externally with others and inside your head.

Knowing that by using the words "I AM" you force into your physical life whatever statements you put behind it, why would you say anything negative after these words? People's habits are powerful, and most of the world has strong, oftentimes subconscious habits about thinking they're wormlike losers. Many of us have that soft spot that loves to be self-pitied and affirm how s.h.i.tty things seem to be in our lives. Habit is acc.u.mulated energy that has been charged with a certain desire. Get over it and stop being a victim of circ.u.mstances that you have created in your life. Gently but with great firmness and determination, demand that positive habits replace unproductive ones. Don't fight the negative habit and give it any more power than it already has. Simply focus your attention on what you would rather have, hold it there with unwavering conviction, and support its certain manifestation with positive "I AM" statements. Negative habits will dissolve when they are no longer being fed by your powers of attention, thought, feeling, spoken word, and action. Thus, change your habits and you will change your life.

Your Responsibility to Life "WE ARE WHAT WE REPEATEDLY DO. EXCELLENCE THEN, IS NOT AN ACT, BUT A HABIT.".

-ARISTOTLE To put the above teachings into practice regarding the goal of this book, it's important that you don't focus your attention upon disaster and chaos. This is not denial; it's common sense in dealing with the impersonal Law that shapes all of our lives. Don't focus your attention on lack and limitation. Don't focus your attention on survival situations and fear. Don't focus on things that you don't want in your life, as "where your attention is, there you are."

This book is meant to encourage you to take a joyous, positive, proactive stance about your family's preparedness. This is a book about creating a positive mind-set and self-reliant skills that contain the energy, courage, and confidence to shatter doubt and fear. I'm not saying that you won't be scared in an emergency-you will be-but don't compel fear into your experience by dwelling on doomsday scenarios so common in the world.

I'm not saying that ignorance is bliss, either. Pay attention to enough of the world news to keep in the loop regarding important information for the welfare of your family, but keep your focus riveted on the positive. Do not get bogged down in the negativity happening in the world. If you find yourself enmeshed in the chaos again, gently yet firmly switch your attention to something positive without beating yourself up. Once you make the act of dwelling on the positive a habit through repet.i.tion and refuse to give in to negative influences, the gathered momentum will make it much easier to stay peacefully centered in the face of emergencies. It takes the same amount of effort to think about something positive as it does to think about something negative. Yet the energy return you get by dwelling on the positive far outweighs your initial investment; increased positive energy will a.s.sist you in all aspects of your life. In summary, preparing for a disaster doesn't mean you should help create one with your powers of attention, thought, feeling, spoken word, and action.

The Att.i.tude of Grat.i.tude "MAN TAKES THE GIFT OF A NEW DAY TOO LIGHTLY.".

-KUTHUMI There is a powerful force that you can use to keep your feelings positive and attract to you all that is required to be happy. This force is the self-generated feeling of grat.i.tude within the individual. All of us, at one time or another, have indulged in the destructive, self-centered activity of self-pity. We whine and pout that we are not good enough, not pretty enough, not rich enough, not whatever enough, to ever be happy and complete. We do our complaining in heated homes, with full bellies, having almost everything we truly need, while an unexplained force beats our heart and allows us to breathe.

Many people have become numb to what they have and how fortunate they are. While rarely acknowledging the source, we take for granted the abundance in life we receive, and we have a selfish expectation that it will and should always be there for our use. All of us have done so and all of us have experienced the repercussions of "you don't know what you have until it's gone." People who enroll in my longer field courses on primitive living skills and survival skills find out quickly how very challenging it is to get one's needs met from the wilderness. In short, we almost always get our a.s.ses kicked and return to civilization with great humility. At the same time, my clients' feelings of grat.i.tude go through the roof. They are filled with thoughts and feelings of thankfulness and truly FEEL, some for the first time in their lives, how fortunate they are, and how very little a human being needs to be happy. Using simplicity and blunt truth, Nature has retaught them to honor what they have and generates within them inner grat.i.tude and appreciation, along with greater personal strength and insight.

The magic of grat.i.tude is that it attracts more abundance into one's life. The very power of heartfelt grat.i.tude freely poured out to the world in acknowledgment for all the gifts you enjoy initiates more wealth. Like attracts like, remember? If you're feeling down in the dumps, put your attention back onto the things in your life that you're thankful for. Hold your attention there and you will feel better as you'll instantly begin to generate uplifting feelings of grat.i.tude and appreciation. The average American will have hundreds of people, places, and things for which they are truly thankful. The vibration of grat.i.tude, and all productive feelings, are tangible, positive forces that will help keep you shielded from many troubles in the first place.

Why am I rambling on about this "esoteric hippy stuff" and not talking about what kind of food and ammo to buy? Please wake up and accept your eventual freedom! Dealing with the cause of an emergency is far superior to dealing with its effect. You are your most important survival tool! The prevention of emergencies begins with your life and how you choose to use your powers of attention, thought, feeling, speech, and action. Your ultimate safety and security lie in the right use of these powers. You are the master of your own world, so stop complaining, blaming, justifying, and pa.s.sing the buck. Refuse to buy into other people's fearful nonsense! Refuse acceptance of their limitations. It is only their opinion and it has no power! Most of all, refuse to live within a self-generated world of limitation and victimhood. Cowboy up, gently yet firmly correct your self-limitations, and own your power! Psychological self-reliance is truly the cake upon which all preparedness gear is but icing, and you know what happens when you eat too much icing. Survival scenarios are 90 percent psychology and, to a large extent, your psychology dictates your physiology, in which lies the chemical c.o.c.ktail called stress and fear.

Gettin' HAMMERED by STRESS and FEAR.

"It's not stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it."

-Hans Selye.

Estimates claim that nearly 40 percent of Americans will be exposed to a catastrophic event during their lifetime. As you can imagine, such an estimate would be much higher for developing countries around the world. Low-level stress and anxiety will be guaranteed during disasters, and while not yet manifested as full-blown fear or panic, they will psychologically and physiologically affect the body in much the same way.

During and after a disaster, people will display a wide variety of bodily responses: from extreme courage or panic, to disbelief, to total apathy, as they try to process and make sense of the chaos. Survivors (and ultimately their rescuers who may become "secondary victims" from working long hours under h.e.l.lish conditions) will display various types of physical, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral changes that are decidedly different from their normal mannerisms. Acute feelings of loss, whether the loss is a loved one or a beloved physical object, will play themselves out on the screen of the human psyche in many ways. Some survivors may numb out. They are often called the "walking wounded" and appear dazed and confused, while others seize the moment and exhibit altruism in their a.s.sistance to others. Like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates, "you never know what you're gonna get" with your loved ones' behavior after a major catastrophe. Even the most psychologically tough, professionally trained disaster experts are no match for the extremes of what can happen during and after a major calamity. Because of this fact, many emergency response personnel, both civilian and military, have mandatory "debriefs" after traumatic events.

After the disaster has pa.s.sed, loved ones may exhibit headaches, sleeping problems, apathy and depression, moodiness and frustration, anger, changes in appet.i.te, guilt, isolation, and the feeling of being completely overwhelmed and powerless. Children will especially be influenced by the chaos. They strongly depend on daily routines for normalcy in their lives. They may revert to behavior from their earlier years such as bedwetting, thumb sucking, or having nightmares. They may cry and scream and become clingy, or withdraw altogether into isolation. It's also been reported that some children disa.s.sociate from the experience completely, pushing the disaster entirely out of their memory.

UNIVERSAL REACTIONS.

TO TRAUMATIC.

EXPERIENCES.

Physical Reactions: Headaches Dizziness Nausea Stomach upset Constipation Diarrhea Teeth grinding Fatigue Jitteriness Hyper responsiveness Disrupted sleep patterns and nightmares Mental Reactions: Confusion and disorientation Loss of memory Denial Inability to make decisions Lack of concentration Emotional Reactions: Shock Fear, panic, and extreme anxiety Depression, apathy, and sadness Crying and screaming Feeling overwhelmed Guilt Numbness, denial, and a feeling of unreality Behavioral Reactions: Isolation and withdrawal Irritability Extreme talkativeness or silence Increased or decreased eating patterns (binging/fasting) Suspicion and paranoia Destructive behavior to self and others Increased smoking, alcohol, or drug use Easily agitated and argumentative Change in s.e.xual needs or functioning.

Although the focus of this book is mostly physical in nature, concentrating on the goods required to maintain life in the physical form, I have stated several times the supreme importance of maintaining your psychological health. No physical supplies or skills matter if you're a psychological wreck. After a traumatic experience, it is very important that your family take the time to talk about how they're feeling. Talking with each other will relieve stress and help everyone know that they are not alone in this predicament. As you communicate with each other, listen without blame or judgment. The last thing survivors need is another helping of guilt or more "what if?" scenarios floating through their heads. If you're a lone survivor, either at the start or the finish of a calamity, search out others for communication. Keep busy and stay active but not at the expense of cloaking your feelings that should be shared with others. Take care of your body; give it rest, feed it, and keep it well watered. Survivors that seem h.e.l.l-bent on saving the world can implode from self-generated stress unless forced to take a break. Any tribe is only as strong as the weakest link, so everyone must watch out for the welfare of everyone else.

Kids are especially vulnerable to survival stresses. Don't let children fall through the cracks and allow you, or them, to ignore their feelings. Talk with them about their feelings and listen to what they say. Give kids as much information as they can understand about the emergency: how it happened, that it's over, and that they are now safe. Spend extra time with them and hug and touch them often, rea.s.suring them that the situation is over. Kids will watch you like a hawk to see how you react to an emergency. If you BS them, they will quickly pick up on it, so be honest, but you must also demonstrate a commanding presence to make them feel like you have things under control. . .even if you feel that you don't.

Men and women deal with stress differently, and some of the results may surprise you. Don't let mom or Aunt Martha mother everyone else at the expense of her own health. Dad and Uncle Pete may come from a generation that expected men to tough it out and not talk about their feelings. During the Great Depression, it was often my grandmother who kept the hope fires burning as my disheartened grandfather slumped at the barren kitchen table, head in his hands. Be as supportive, tolerant, and loving as you possibly can in this time of strain for the entire family. When everyone knows they're on the same page by having the courage to share like feelings after a disaster, the stress can be carried upon many shoulders, not just a person or two.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is often thought to only involve combat veterans, but nothing could be further from the truth. PTSD affects hundreds of thousands of people and can be experienced by anyone (research has shown that more females are affected than males) who has undergone or witnessed life-threatening events such as serious accidents, disasters, violent a.s.saults, or war. In fact, 10 percent of the U.S. population has been affected at some point by clinically diagnosable PTSD. In essence, PTSD is a powerful physical and emotional response to reminders of a traumatic event, the effects of which may last for weeks, months, or even years after the initial event.

People at greater risk for developing symptoms of PTSD are those who were "in the middle" of the disaster itself, had multiple stressors at one time, and/or have a past history of trauma. Recent traumas may also trigger old pain and unresolved fears. Events such as direct threats to life, exposure to grisly deaths or maimed bodies, extreme destruction and loss, lack of family support, and the effects of fatigue, hunger, thirst, and sleep deprivation during an extended catastrophe will hammer a person's ability to function.

The symptoms of PTSD can occur years after the traumatic event but usually appear within three months after the incident, and fall into three distinct categories: reliving, avoidance, and hyperarousal. Reliving refers to "flashbacks" of the past disaster that come up unexpectedly in a person's life. These flashbacks can be mild or severe and can heavily influence an individual's normal lifestyle. Some flashbacks can be so intense that the person will think they are living through the experience all over again during waking hours. Nightmares are also very common. Avoidance is common in people with PTSD, and they will often avoid building or maintaining close relationships with friends or family. They will also go to tremendous lengths to avoid situations that resemble the initial trauma. People with PTSD may have trouble working out their anger, grief, or fear, which can continue to affect their behavior without their being aware of it. People affected may also become hyperaroused and feel constantly threatened by their initial trauma. They may have trouble remembering information, a difficult time concentrating, and a hard time sleeping. Their "fuse" may be short and they may get angry or reactive with little or no provocation.

Statistically, half of those with PTSD recover within three months without formal treatment. People who feel they can't regain control of their lives and who have persistent behavioral changes for more than a month should consider seeking professional mental health a.s.sistance.

The Physiological Fear Factory "WE CAN BE AFRAID OR WE CAN BE READY, AND AMERICANS ARE NOT AFRAID.".

-FORMER SECRETARY TOM RIDGE, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY During any traumatic emergency, be it in the backcountry of Idaho or downtown Chicago, you will be scared. Get used to this truth now, and the effects of anxiety and fear will be far less paralyzing when they happen to you and those you love.

While the body's initial response to fear has saved countless lives since time began, the long-term stress of fear and the damage it does to the human body has been clinically proven for decades.

FIVE FACTORS DICTATING.

THE SEVERITY OF AN SNS.

TOTAL-BODY TAKEOVER.

Severity of the perceived threat Time available to respond Personal confidence in skills and training Level of experience in dealing with the threat Amount of physical fatigue combined with present anxiety *

When the brain perceives a "threat to survival," the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) goes nuts by immediately releasing loads of stress hormones-called adrenaline or epinephrine-into the circulatory system. This reflex action to stress happens automatically and is virtually uncontrollable. The chemical c.o.c.ktail is the basis for the body's fight-or-flight mechanism and is characterized by several factors, including an increased heart rate and cardiac output, higher blood pressure, and increased blood sugar. Blood is diverted from organs to the larger muscle groups, resulting in increased strength capabilities and enhanced gross motor skills while the breathing rate accelerates, thereby transporting greater amounts of oxygen to the newly recruited muscle fibers. At the same time, sweating increases to cool the muscles. Minor blood vessels in the arms and legs constrict to reduce bleeding from potential injuries, digestion ceases, and muscle tremors take over. The pupils dilate, reducing depth perception, while axillary muscle performance takes a nosedive, creating blurred vision. And, as if this isn't enough, the field of sight narrows, producing tunnel vision. To a greater or lesser extent, time appears to pa.s.s more slowly, called the Tache-psyche effect, allowing for increased reaction time to the perceived emergency.

Researchers have spent years figuring out why stress deteriorates performance in combat soldiers, ultimately linking an elevated heart rate to the poor execution of fine and complex motor skills. They found that a heart rate of 115 beats per minute or faster severely compromised fine motor skills. When the heart rate exceeded 145 beats per minute, complex motor skills began to suffer. In contrast, in times of high stress, gross motor skills were relatively unaffected! That's one more reason to keep your family's preparedness plan and the items you choose to store simple in design.

Once the physiological chaos begins, the SNS rules the body with an iron fist, controlling all voluntary and involuntary systems until the survival threat has been eliminated, personal performance takes a dump, or the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) regains control. The more freaked out you or your family members become, the more the SNS takes over your world. Before busting down the door in the middle of the night, police officers on a raid routinely experience low levels of SNS activity, resulting in increased heart rate and respiration, muscle tremors, and a heightened sense of anxiety. Being rushed by a hungry, one-eyed, one-armed flying purple people eater and its pet Zygot, however, will cause very high levels of SNS action due to the qualities of in-your-face potential death coupled with decreased response time. Such circ.u.mstances cause extreme failure of the body's visual, cognitive, and motor-control systems.

Additional problems surface when one realizes the body's physiological response to extreme stress and the PNS payback occur as a result of the demands placed upon it. The SNS mobilizes body resources to deal with the perceived survival scenario. It is the body's "physiological warrior," instantly heading to the front lines for battle regardless of your opinion. The PNS deals with your body's digestive system and its recuperative processes. It is the physiological equivalent of the body's nurturing caretaker, accomplishing everyday tasks for the present and future.

When your body is subjected to stress, the natural balance between the two nervous systems goes down the tubes and the physiological warrior starts to raise h.e.l.l (fight-or-flight mechanism). As the body's energy is redirected to ensure its survival, its caretaker is thrown into battle as well and nonessential PNS activities suddenly take a dump, sometimes literally. As a result of PNS shutdown, thousands of World War II veterans admitted to urinating or defecating in their pants during combat operations.

A: Constricted Minor Blood Vessels B: Dilated Pupils C: Increased Breathing Rate D: Increased Sweating E: Increased Heart Rate Dumps Adrenaline into Circulatory System F: Digestion Ceases G: Loss of Bowel Control H: Blood Diverted to Larger Muscle Groups *

PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL FEAR FACTORS.

While the reactions to fear and stress or anxiety are largely the same, anxiety is usually not as intense as fear and persists for a longer length of time, leading up to a specific threat or fear. For example, listening to an emergency radio broadcast of an approaching tornado will stress you out and make you anxious. Feeling your house shake violently down to its foundation when it strikes will cause fear.

Physical symptoms of fear: Increased heart rate Shortness of breath Tightness in chest and throat Dry mouth, higher-pitched voice, stammering Increased muscular tension, trembling, and weakness Sweaty palms, hands, soles of the feet, and armpits Dilated pupils b.u.t.terflies in the stomach (hollowness), feeling faint, and nausea Oversensitivity to noise Psychological symptoms of fear: Shock, numbness, denial, helplessness Confusion, forgetfulness, and the inability to concentrate Irritability, hostility or pa.s.sivity, stupor Talkativeness leading to speechlessness Restlessness Panic, flight Feelings of unreality, social withdrawal, and depersonalization Sadness, crying, sighing Auditory and visual hallucinations Disrupted sleep and appet.i.te *

PSYCHOLOGICAL SYMPTOMS OF FEAR.

It's a lot of work for the body to maintain such an intense state of alert. At the end of the crisis, the PNS demands attention and the physiological payback commences in the form of feeling amazingly exhausted on all levels. But there's more. An urban survival situation is a continuous roller coaster of ups and downs, thus the hapless survivor is a slave to repeated chemical c.o.c.ktails of intense adrenaline spikes and their PNS paybacks. Bit by bit, the body's once-natural and useful response to danger starts to chemically wear the survivor down, pitching the person into a state of immense physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion. In summary, human beings have three primary survival systems: visual, cognitive processing, and motorskill performance. Under stress, all three go to h.e.l.l in a handbasket.

The physiological responses to fear can be broken down into four crucial factors for the survivor: 1 Fear inhibits your metabolic process. Your body produces heat by digesting the calories in the foods you eat. If this is impaired, your body has a harder time regulating its core temperature in your frigid living room when the gas heat shuts off. Thus, the onset of hypothermia or low body temperature can manifest much more rapidly. By metabolizing food, your body creates energy that can be used to create a warmer microclimate in your home, help a neighbor gather and split firewood, or dig a sanitation trench in the backyard.

2 Fear impairs your circulation. Basic first-aid training stresses the importance of the ABCs (airway, breathing, and circulation). Your circulatory system is how your body feeds itself, delivers oxygen to cells, eliminates waste products, and keeps itself warm and cool. In cold temperatures, blood flow is the primary means by which your body maintains its peripheral temperature, which is automatically restricted by the SNS's response to stress. Compromising circulation puts your odds for living into a serious tailspin in both hot and cold climates. In addition, your circulatory system may already be impaired due to dehydration.

3 Fear impairs your good judgment. Good judgment is your number one tool for preventing or dealing with a survival predicament in the first place. Poor judgment calls, without a doubt, are the hallmark of every single fatality during an emergency. Occurrences such as auditory exclusion, tunnel vision, irrational behavior, freezing in place, and the inability to think clearly have all been observed as by-products of survival stress. Do all you can to chill out and calm yourself and your family, redirecting your energies away from the fear factors.

4 Fear impairs your fine and complex motor skills. Although these phenomena have been observed and doc.u.mented for hundreds of years, and formally studied since the late 1800s, there is very little understanding by researchers as to why stress deteriorates performance.

There are three generic cla.s.sifications of motor movements or skills involving coordinated action from your body. They are gross, fine, and complex motor skills. Gross motor movements signify action involving the larger muscle groups of the body, such as the arms and legs. Running, jumping, pushing, pulling, and punching are some examples. Fine motor skills involve some type of "hand-eye" coordination, such as threading a needle or using a cell phone. Complex motor skills comprise a whole string or series of motor movements, such as performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or changing a tire. The problem lays in the fact that fine and complex motor skills deteriorate rapidly under stress. Highly detailed activities, such as striking and lighting a paper match in the wind to ignite a camping stove, become nearly impossible to perform under psychological pressure and the physiological flow of adrenaline, rendering all but the simplest of tasks out of the question. Once the proverbial bullets start to fly, the survivor stops thinking with his or her forebrain, the part that makes us human, and instead depends on the "mid" or mammalian brain, the primitive part of the brain that's unrecognizable from that of an animal.

In contrast, gross motor skills are performed very well under extreme stress and are easier and quicker to learn, often taking just a few minutes of practice to begin forming a motor pattern. For this reason and others, purchase or make survival gear that is simple in design-gear that can be operated using gross motor movements. For example, pay a few extra bucks when purchasing a camping stove and get the model with the push b.u.t.ton or turn-dial spark lighter instead of having to fumble with a match. If the spark lighter wears out or breaks, you can still use a match to light the stove. Unfortunately, much survival training ignores this fundamental truth by continuing to promote complex, detail-oriented skills and behaviors that have little application in a real-life emergency. These training mistakes are many times responsible for a person's failure to use what he or she has learned when faced with a scary situation.

It's long been a cliche that fear kills, and now you know why. Knowledge and practice is power. The more training you have dealing with situations that could jeopardize your family's life, the more efficient you'll act if placed within that situation.

Helpful Hints for Dealing with and Controlling Fear Reading other people's true survival stories is all the proof you'll need that when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Throughout history, people have dealt with and surmounted virtually every possible fear imagined. For optimal results in the field or the city, work at cultivating the following tips until the behavior becomes a natural, automatic reaction.

Controlling Fear in Yourself Be prepared. Accept the fact that a survival situation could, in fact, happen to you and your family and plan accordingly. Aside from physical practice, being prepared involves advanced planning, cooperating and communicating with loved ones, mental and physical conditioning, discipline, and an intimate understanding of the emergency gear you propose to have on hand.

Get the family together and train! Accepting that a deadly scenario could happen is not enough. Learn all that you can about urban survival and what your body can endure. Recognize and understand what your reactions to fear will be. Practicing skills builds confidence and strengthens a "can do" att.i.tude regarding your tribe's ability to survive.

Don't run from fear. When you're afraid, take a step back from the fear and just notice it. Ignore the urge to a.n.a.lyze, judge, criticize, evaluate, or try to figure it out. Stepping back provides emotional s.p.a.ce and reduces much of the charge around the fear energy.

Stay aware of your surroundings. Learn to recognize the early warning signs of dangerous situations. Gain knowledge to reduce the perceived threat of the unknown.

Stay constructively busy. Conserving energy as a survivor is key, yet do all that you can to make your situation more comfortable, reducing difficulties that encourage fear. Staying busy keeps the mind off fearful circ.u.mstances and gives you a sense that you're in control of your destiny.

Keep your imagination in check. Stick to the known facts by separating the real from the imagined.

Adapt to your surroundings. Prepare yourself to think and act instinctively, like an animal, without judgment over your actions. In a sense, if you can't beat fear, join it. Formulate plans B, C, and D before they're needed but don't become attached to any of them.

Discipline yourself to think positively. Even when talking to yourself, strive to use positive "I AM" statements, such as, "I AM going to make it out of here with my family" and "I AM going to be rescued."

Adopt a positive survival att.i.tude. Keep things in perspective and focus your attention firmly upon the goal of keeping you and your family alive and safe until rescued.