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Spring is here. Flowers are in bloom. The honeybees are flying. Gentle spring showers turn to thunderstorms and then tornadoes, flooding. Followed soon the inevitable hurricanes.
Denial: Hoping nothing bad will happen.
Personal accountability: Adult action, taking measures to protect self and loved ones.
But how? It is sooo hard! I don’t have enough time. Easy, revert to denial or take one simple step at a time.
First, get good information. Go to EmpowermentReadiness.com and click on buy from Amazon. Second, read one page a day.
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The secret to avoiding “Panic”.
Hard to believe it has been nearly 4 months since Joplin MO.
Since we have had the torrential rains of Irene and flooding in the North East as well as the interminable drought and subsequent wildfires in Texas.
There have been avoidable deaths. There will continue to be avoidable deaths. If learning from the mistakes of others is the mark of a wise man (woman). What does this say about us?
Lesson one: When faced with imminent danger the emotion of fear can petrify the uninitiated. There is a simple technique to save yourself and your children. No special tools or degrees are needed.
During the devastating tornado in Joplin there was much loss. As a nation and humans we grieve for those affected. That loss and pain can teach and subsequently save the lives of those willing to learn. For example: The story goes, that a husband at work received a text from his wife, at home, in the path of the tornado. Text: “I think a tornado is coming. What do I do?” Response: “Get into the tornado shelter.” Whether his response was received is unknown. She was never seen again.
It seems the couple had a tornado shelter. In her fear, panic eliminated the ability for rational thought.
How to gain from this loss: We did/do it in school. The military does for all personnel. Firefighters do it. You know you should do it with your children, your wife, your elderly parents, even yourself, but don’t. “Just don’t have the time.” Practice and Drill. Perform monthly household fire, tornado, evacuation packing drills, and where to meet if separated drills.
Everyone I have ever met has 7 days a week and 24 hours a day. Yet some find the time to do more than others. Why? We make time to do what we want!
What is your priority?
An excerpt as published in the new and upcoming book "Empowerment Readiness".
DRILLS
Practice and Drill
When we were back in school we had fire drills. We had tornado drills and if you are old enough you might have had nuclear bomb drills. Why all the drills?
Members of the military train, train and train. It seems they are constantly training. General training and mission specific training. Why all this training?
Training and practice allows us to take action instinctively. Training and repeated practices relieve us from having to stop, think and reason. This is especially important when we have to act fast. When the chaos of the moment makes thinking rationally difficult or to time consuming. Drills allow us to react rather than respond. This ability to react without the emotion of fear clouding our thought process is especially important for children.
During a recent tornado event in a neighboring state, a text message was received by a husband "I think a tornado is coming and I don’t know what to do." He responded "Get in the tornado shelter." She did not receive the response and was never heard from again.
I acknowledge his loss. But a lesson can be learned from this. They had a tornado shelter. But panic interrupted the thought process and it cost a life. In hindsight, regular practice drills could have saved her life.
Practice! If you have children start with daytime practices. Make a game of it and make it fun. The goal here is not to instill fear but to create an atmosphere of confidence, a desire enjoy the drills and continue. Once everyone has gotten the hang of it throw in some changes, barricade a regular escape route and force the use of an alternate route. Then do it in the dark. By all means make full use of the acronym KIS MIF (Keep it Simple Make It Fun).
Do these practice drills for fire, tornado, earthquake, or any other likely disaster possible at your location.
Remember to practice your evacuations too. Practice loading the car/truck. Time the event in order to improve upon it.
Complete each drill by accounting for everyone at the designated meeting site. A site predetermined as a meeting location. No one leaves unless everyone is accounted for.
Each drill should conclude with a debriefing. Discuss the drill, the events. What went right and what could use improving. Remember, especially with children, keep the atmosphere of fun.
Acting without thinking can be a good thing, if the action was thought out, planned and practiced before it was needed. Training and drills allow you to act on conditions that have been pre-thought and pre-planned. So technically you are not acting with out thinking you are acting with pre-thinking.
Drills are a dress rehearsal. Practicing and drilling allow you to find the fault with your plans, while there is time to make improvements.
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Superstitious much?
“Whew, that was lucky!”
“Don’t do that, it is unlucky.”
Ever carry a good luck charm?
Avoid walking under a ladder?
What about opening an umbrella inside?
Walking under a ladder is not unlucky just dangerous.
Ladders are often work platforms. Workers carry items and possibly drop tools while ascending and descending ladders. Walk under enough ladders and the odds are, sooner or later, something will get dropped on your head.
Opening an umbrella inside is not unlucky, just rude.
Umbrellas are often wet and unwieldy in tight spaces. Damage enough entryways and you will find yourself not invited back.
I used to carry a “good luck charm”.
My good luck charm was a multi-function Swiss army pocket knife. The rational being... "Having good luck is just a matter of hedging the odds toward my favor." I now find I can do the same job with fewer tools because of greater skill and knowledge.
Want to have incredible good luck?
Play the odds. Be smarter, know more, have the proper tools available for the job at hand.
Most of all know that you don’t know and ask an expert for assistance.
Remember to check out the manual “Emergency Disaster Preparedness & Survival” or just “buy it now”
“The more you know the less you need.”
I love chocolate.
Evenings after supper, I have a chocolate bar.
Now, lets play a word association game. I say a word and Instead of you replying with another word, convey the images it brings forth.
. . . Discipline. . .
What do you see?
A spanking?
The judicial system?
Perhaps learning a new task.
Learning to play a musical instrument.
A new weight loss diet or physical fitness.
A job related task.
Developing a discipline is easier when we have vested interest. When we have an emotional attachment. Disciplines become more difficult as the outcomes are more distant in time or the results more obscure.
I found that self-discipline can be the hardest to achieve; I am my own judge. The times that I would rather not perform a task or duty, I only must answer only to myself. As it turns out rationalization is a most useful tool. As I often say “When you do not want to do something, any old excuse will work”.
No one is born with total self control. Self-discipline is an acquired taste. The discipline of self-control is cumulative. Task requiring large self-disciplines are more easily obtained when built upon a history of smaller successes.
How to build a history of success. Start small, make a game of it. Take off the pressure to succeed. After supper I eat one chocolate bar every evening. Two disciplines come into play here. First I place one square of milk chocolate on my tongue and allow it to MELT. The alternative is to chew it quickly, to eat the whole bar in a couple of mouthfuls. The end the result is the same. I eat the bar. The difference is that the bar doesn’t last a long. The second self-discipline is to eat only one bar per evening. If I give into my desires I could eat the entire package of 6 bars in one sitting. Resulting in my going the rest of the week without chocolate.
Success in small disciplines bring larger rewards. By devoting 15 to 30 minutes of writing every evening, I end up with another publication. It is true fifteen minuets a day takes longer to completion than sitting down eight hours a day for a solid month. But not nearly so long as if I procrastinated.
The lesson here: Set a goal. Do small things on a regular basis toward that goal.
Today do one thing. One small thing to prepare for the disaster that you hope will never come. One small thing, one thing that you hope the ones you love never need rely on.
Overwhelm fuels procrastination. Take baby steps.
Post your baby steps. What are you doing (plan to do) to save the ones you love?
Remember to check out the manual “Emergency Disaster Preparedness & Survival” or just “buy it now”
Copyrighted under “Gerald Pinckard” or “Foggy Bottoms Publications”.
Technology Slaves
Technology started hundreds of thousands of years ago with the earliest tools: Throwing sticks, sharpened sticks, stone tools, fire, and tanned hides. All technological human advances.
Today the term “technology” triggers images of electronics, computers, cell phones, Onstar, gps devices, video games, etc. These tools can help or hinder us. These tools make our life easier. These tools can also dumb us down.
My personal history with electronics is simple. I love gadgets but I never buy a new gadget until it is in its second generation. My first computer, a Commodore 64K in 1980. My first cell phone, a Uniden bag phone in 1989. My first pocket computer in 1998, a Hewlett-Packard. My first GPS in 1995, Garmin II.
Now I have two computers, a desktop and a laptop both on wifi. My cell phone is a 6 year old Sony. My pocket computer, a 5 year old Hewlett-Packard. My GPS, same old Garmin II.
For years I have “made fun of” people who relied exclusively on their in-car GPS and Onstar tools because they do not know how to read a map. As a fireman, I have made rescue calls to people in the woods whose GPS had failed. They called for help on their cell phones only to tell the 911 operator “I don’t know where I am.”
Recently I experienced personal electronic challenges showing up as failures of both my cell phone and pocket pc. These items contain my calendar and address book. Both died within a couple of days of each other. Now my address book and calendar are not available to me while away from my "big" computers. My new phone has no numbers in stored. My calendar is on printed-out sheets from an Outlook file. I discovered I was very nearly a slave to my technology.
Technology allows us to operate at a higher level of efficiency - until they fail. As we become dependant on our devices, we longer use our minds. Then we become slaves.
First learn how to use and read a map, then turn on the GPS.
Learn how to spell, then use spell checker.
Learn how to remember, then make notes in your electronic calendar.
Technology, use it. Depend on it NOT.
Rember to get your manual. Check it out at "Emergency Disaster Preparedness & Survival" or "buy now"
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Copyrighted under “Gerald Pinckard” or “Foggy Bottoms Publications”