Developing your personal security awareness.

Possibly, one of the most underrated competencies when it comes to managing your personal safety and security during travel is personal security awareness. So, what is personal security awareness and why is it important? It’s probably easier to start by explaining what it isn’t. Personal security awareness is not an attempt to turn you in to Jason Bourne; teach you tradecraft or prepare you to become a CIA operative. In simple terms personal security awareness is being aware of ones surroundings and honing your ability to actively identify threats or hazardous situations before they occur. 

It’s more a mindset than a hard skill and one of the prerequisites for establishing this mindset is to first recognize and accept that threats and hazards exist and that you are at risk. Ignorance or denial make a person's chances of quickly recognizing an emerging threat and avoiding it highly unlikely. While it may not be a frequent occurrence, bad things do happen and apathy, denial or complacency will significantly increase your chances of becoming a victim. 

When fostering a personal security awareness mindset one of the most important attributes you can possess is common sense. Many of the strategies we will discuss in this blog post will not be new, in fact much of this material will seem obvious, however it’s amazing how many people simply fail to put these practical strategies into action and fall victim to situations that could have been easily avoided. 

Another important facet of personal security awareness is learning to listen to your intuition or "trust your gut". Often times a person’s subconscious can pick up on irregularities or subtle signs of danger that the conscious mind has difficulty quantifying or articulating. Numerous victims have described experiencing feelings of danger or a sense that something wasn’t quite right just prior to an incident, but chose to ignore these warning signals. Listening to your intuition and electing to avoid a potentially dangerous situation may occasionally cause a bit of inconvenience; but ignoring these signals can have much more dire consequences. 

Finally, fostering a security awareness mindset requires discipline, meaning it takes practice and a conscious effort to pay attention to your environment and listen to your intuition when you are busy, tired or distracted. Even obvious hostile activity can go unnoticed when you are distracted, so we need to learn how to be observant even while doing other things. We also need to realize that in certain situations our personal security awareness requires our complete attention which isn't as simple as it sounds.

The negative effects of technology on awareness

You see many of our basic survival skills are being impaired or lost as a result of technology and modern life. People have become so consumed by their smartphones, laptops and other devices that they no longer pay attention to their surroundings and frequently miss the cues that signal danger. Put simply we are losing our ability to be aware. If you need proof of this just look around you next time you are on public transport or relaxing in a public space. How many people are totally absorbed in their mobile device and not paying attention to their surroundings? 

We have all heard the growing references to “mindfulness” or being in the moment and the ability to bring your focus back to the present. Awareness is closely linked to this concept but unfortunately the pervasive use of technology has eroded our innate ability to connect with this important state of being. Don’t worry, I'm not advocating that you embrace your inner luddite and dispense with technology all together, however, I would encourage you to consider creating some common-sense rules around the use of technology, as this will greatly enhance your personal safety and security during travel. 

Another important distinction related to awareness, is the difference between seeing something versus observing something. While these two terms sound interchangeable, the act of seeing is very different from observing; we see automatically; a stream of sensory inputs that requires no effort on our part, except to open our eyes. And we see without thinking, absorbing countless elements from the world around us without necessarily processing what those elements might mean. 

However, when we observe we are forced to pay attention. We transition from passive absorption to active awareness aka mindfulness. This critical distinction is true for everything, not just sight, but each sense, each input, each thought. Our powers of observation can be developed by cultivating the habit of watching things with an active, inquiring mind. While this may sound a little onerous and requires a conscious effort to begin with, over time, with practice our ability to observe our surroundings will become automatic and require minimal effort to do effectively. 

In a future post we will explore some of the critical elements that underpin what I like to refer to as "total awareness" including; cultural awareness, personal awareness and most importantly situational awareness. These elements combined can have a significant impact on reducing your exposure to risk and enhancing your overall understanding of your operating environment.

Remember "knowledge dispels fear"..... stay safe.