Category: Mindset
Timeless Insights: The Collected Wisdom Of Napoleon Hill
TheBreakaway | BreakawayConciousness
Zy Marquiez
August 22, 2017
What follows are various statements made by Napoleon Hill, on themes of mindset, perseverance, mindfulness, and more. Enjoy.
“When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound, rebuild those plans, and set sail once more toward your coveted goal.”
“Our minds become magnetized with the dominating thoughts we hold in our minds and these magnets attract us to the forces, the people, the circumstances of life which harmonize with the nature of our dominating thoughts.”
“Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire and begin at once, whether you are ready or not, to put this plan into action.”
“Happiness is found in doing, not merely possessing.”
“Procrastination is the bad habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday.”
“Just as your eyes need light in order to see, our minds need ideas in order to conceive.”
“To be a star, you must shine your own light, follow your own path, and don’t worry about the darkness, for that is when the stars shine brightest.”
“Do not wait: the time will never be ‘just right’. Start where you stand, and work whatever tools you may have at your command and better tools will be found as you go along.”
“When your desires are strong enough, you will appear to possess superhuman powers to achieve.”
“Set your mind on a definite goal and observe how quickly the world stands aside to let you pass.”
“Before success comes in any man’s life, he is sure to meet with much temporary defeat, and, perhaps, some failure. When defeat overtakes a man, the easiest and most logical thing to do is to quit. That is exactly what the majority of men do. More than five hundred of the most successful men this country has ever known told the author their greatest success came just one step beyond the point at which defeat had overtaken them.”
“If you can’t do great things, do small things in a great way.”
“You are the master of your destiny. You can influence, direct and control your own environment. You can make your life what you want it to be.”
“The way of success is the way of continuous pursuit of knowledge.”
“A quitter never wins and a winner never quits.”
“Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.”
“Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.”
“Our only limitations are those we set up in our own minds”
“Education comes from within; you get it by struggle and effort and thought.”
“First comes thought; then organization of that thought, into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination.”
“A goal is a dream with a deadline.”
“Your big opportunity might be right where you are right now.”
“Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another.”
“Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it seed of an equal or greater benefit.”
“Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”
“You might well remember that nothing can bring you success but yourself.”
“Opportunity often comes disguised in the form of misfortune, or temporary defeat.”
“Persistence is to the character of man as carbon is to steel.”
“Action is the real measure of intelligence.”
“There are no limitations to the mind except those we acknowledge.”
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If you find value in this information, please share it. This article is free and open source. All individuals have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Zy Marquiez and TheBreakaway.wordpress.com.
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About The Author:
Zy Marquiez is an avid book reviewer, inquirer, an open-minded skeptic, yogi, and freelance writer who aims at empowering individuals while also studying and regularly mirroring subjects like Consciousness, Education, Creativity, The Individual, Ancient History & Ancient Civilizations, Forbidden Archaeology, Big Pharma, Alternative Health, Space, Geoengineering, Social Engineering, Propaganda, and much more.
His other blog, BreakawayConsciousnessBlog.wordpress.com features mainly his personal work, while TheBreakaway.wordpress.com serves as a media portal which mirrors vital information nigh always ignored by mainstream press, but still highly crucial to our individual understanding of various facets of the world.
Book Review: The Mindful Writer by Dinty Moore | #SmartReads
TheBreakaway | BreakawayConciousness
Zy Marquiez
August 21, 2017
The Mindful Writer is a rather unique book that seeks to stoke the creative consciousness of all creative types as they travel in their personal journeys.
The book’s scaffolding is built upon the vast array of maxims collated from various individuals, all which not only help the reader see the direction the author is headed in, but also what insights may be gained by pondering upon these pearls of wisdom.
For instance, with a critical eye, Moore, after quoting Carlos Fuentes, reminds us that:
“It is wise to remind ourselves on occasion why we write, and why it matters so much. There is too much left unsaid in the world, either because what needs to be said is deemed impolite, because it is deemed dangerous, or because it contradicts the accepted version put forth by family, government, religious leaders, or the society we live in.”[1]
Besides that, the book offers much for rumination while still offering on-the-ground practical advice. The quotes are excellent, the sapience is ever-present and the author brings about a no-nonsense approach, all of which is presented in a way to maximize the mindfulness of the reader. What’s not to like?
The Mindful Writer is an inspiring read in its entirety. If you enjoy this book, consider suffusing it with Steven Pressfield’s innovative and timeless The War Of Art, and perhaps even Shunryu Suzuki’s Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. Though the latter book isn’t about writing, its core tenets are applicable to writing as well as life, and could be highly beneficial to individuals. They certainly have been for me.
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If you find value in this information, please share it. This article is free and open source. All individuals have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Zy Marquiez and TheBreakaway.wordpress.com.
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About The Author:
Zy Marquiez is an avid book reviewer, inquirer, an open-minded skeptic, yogi, and freelance writer who aims at empowering individuals while also studying and regularly mirroring subjects like Consciousness, Education, Creativity, The Individual, Ancient History & Ancient Civilizations, Forbidden Archaeology, Big Pharma, Alternative Health, Space, Geoengineering, Social Engineering, Propaganda, and much more.
His other blog, BreakawayConsciousnessBlog.wordpress.com features mainly his personal work, while TheBreakaway.wordpress.com serves as a media portal which mirrors vital information nigh always ignored by mainstream press, but still highly crucial to our individual understanding of various facets of the world.
Mindset | Perseverance | Individuals
“It does not take a majority to prevail, but rather, an irate, tireless minority keen to set brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.”
– Samuel Adams
Mindset | Possibilities
June Book Haul 2017 | #SmartReads [Summer Book Haul Part 1]
TheBreakaway | BreakawayConciousness
Zy Marquiez
July 27, 2017
“…Books are bright because they provide lights to our dim vision, and because they clearly project a lantern light that might help us discern our way in the world, or make difficult choices when it’s hard for us to see the right ones. But they’re bright too because of their incandescent energy of thinking and creating, the blaze of consciousness that has been inscribed upon those pages.”[34]
Mark Doty, The Art Of Description, p. 34.
“A book is a dream that you hold in your hands.”
– Neil Gaiman
It sure seems summers has been flying by at warp speed doesn’t? Hope everyone is enjoying summer for what it’s worth.
Been extremely busy lately myself and it seems some personal circumstances continue non-stop irrespective of how much focus is placed on them. It matters now, though! We are here for books, and books are here for us. What follows are some of the books purchased in the latest June Book haul. Enjoy.
Henry David Thoreau (Library Of America Ed.) by Henry David Thoreau
This phenomenal book that contains Henry David Thoreau’s A Week On The Concord & Merrimack Rivers, Walden, The Main Woods and Cape Cod, is arguably one of my favorite books this year, not only for content, which we could all learn from, but for the quality of the book. Look forward on getting more of the Library Of America book series as they are very high quality hardcover books with great information.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Had never read this book (I know, blasphemy!) now I have. It has become one of my all time favorites books (dystopian or otherwise), especially given how society is currently mimicking many of the disturbing elements noted in the book.
The Smear – How Shady Political Operatives Control & Fake News Control What You See, What You Think How You Vote by Sharyl Attkisson
A book that the establishment doesn’t want you to read: what’s not to love about that?
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
The Fountainhead was a phenomenal book by Rand that I thoroughly enjoyed, and I do not expect any less from this book. How her books function at multiple levels of intellectual thought blows away most fiction that’s out there by a wide margin. For individuals wishing to read about issues that matter that are woven within fiction (or even nonfiction), Rand set the bar high.
The Complete Patriot’s Guide To Oligarchical Collectivism by Ethan Indigo Smith
This book aims to wake individuals to the perils of collectivism, brought about with wide-ranging examples that even include samplings from George Orwell’s 1984. It is a very underrated book rarely if ever talked about, even in alternative research circles.
Walden & Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau
Although Walden is included in the Library Of America edition of the Thoreau book above, unfortunately Civil Disobedience was not. That’s okay since this book cost slightly over $3 and it’s practically priceless in insights. I love what the book has to offer as well as how sturdy it’s made.
Secret Missions 3: Destination Carcosa by Walter Bosley
Secret Missions 3 is the third installment in Walter Bosley’s incisive and thought-provoking Secret Missions series. This book is follow up of Secret Missions 1: The Hidden Legacy Of California, and Secret Missions 2: The Lost Expedition Of Sir Richard Francis Burton, both of which were absolutely jaw dropping books in their potential implications and incredibly intriguing reads. Thankfully, Secret Missions 3: Destination Carcosa is no different, and leaves much for rumination.
Defending Freed Speech by Steve Simpson
This book is a very timely book which surveys the increase of censorship and propaganda against individuals as it sifts through different essays published over the last two decades or so. Defending Freed Speech is a veritable must-read for any individual who values freedom and is concerned about the searing censorship that continues that is rising and continues unabated.
Mind Is Master – The Complete James Allen Treasury by James Allen
This book is a compendium of the wondrous works of James Allen. If you’re looking for something inspirational and motivational along the line of the works of Napoleon Hill but more philosophical that focuses on mindset, Mind Is Master might just be for you. In As A Man Thinketh, not only were Allen’s word just like reading poetry and learning about life, but it felt like being in the presence of someone whose wise beyond their years and is a person of extreme quality and virtue.
LA Requiem by Robert Crais
Always wanted to read some of Crais’ work, and now I have a chance. A friend suggested I started with this particular volume, which is why I opted to start here rather than the first book of the series.
Anthem by Ayn Rand
Got this book as a gift, and appreciate it very much. Appreciating the depth and scope in The Fountainhead, and knowing how methodical Rand is with her writing, I am looking forward to this very much. Much shorter than The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged too!
Full Black by Brad Thor
This book was found in a garage sale – it was like finding a black pearl in a swamp! Yeah, its fiction, but so what. Everyone needs to pump the breaks and revamp their engine now and then. Why not do it with an entertaining thriller?
Defiance: Judgment Day by William Weber
This is the third installment in Weber’s Defiance series, and it delivers just like his previous two books did.
Official Stories – Counter-Arguments For A Culture In Need by Liam Scheff
Scheff’s book is recommended by Jon Rappoport (NoMoreFakeNews.com) in his Power Outside The Matrix tutorial.
I am about a third of the way through, and am finding much substance in the book. With an unorthodox approach Scheff deconstructs the mainstream narrative in many different ‘official’ stories (9/11, JFK Assassination and so on) and shows there’s much more than the predictable one-dimensional point of view that the mainstream media nigh always brings to each narrative. How Scheff brings about his analysis with much brio via his prose is also just as refreshing. A very underrated book to say the least.
The Illuminati – The Secret Society That Hijacked The World by Jim Marrs
The Illuminati, which was reviewed on TheBreakaway not long ago, sheds light into one of the most intriguing – and often overhyped – Secret Societies. Marrs is excellent at sticking to verifiably sourced material, which is priceless given that the topic of secret societies is a field with innumerable rabbit holes and fraught with much disinformation, misinformation and downright lies as well.
Churchill & Orwell: The Fight For Freedom by Thomas E. Ricks
This book not only recounts part of the life of Orwell & Churchill, but also essentially juxtaposes some of the core qualities. A very intriguing read, although a bit dry/slow at times. Here’s a review of this piece.
Forward The Foundation and Prelude To Foundation by Isaac Asimov
These are the opening salvos to Asimov’s intricate and timeless Foundation Trilogy. Given that these books were brought about after the original Foundation Trilogy was written, they do an apt job of further enlargening Asimov’s fictional world. The whole series is a must-read for any hard science fiction fan, especially if you are a fan of the classics.
Your Body’s Many Cries For Water by F. Batmanghelidj M.D.
Your Body’s Many Cries For Water is a fantastic book that takes a very outside-of-the-box view at health in relationship with water. If you want to know how much harm and disease can manifest your body by merely not drinking enough water, read this. In fact, this book should be essential reading for everyone given how most people go about dehydrated on a daily basis (myself included).
Beren & Luthien by J.R.R. Tolkien
This is a rather unique book that covers nigh all the aspects of Beren and Luthien, which was collated and brought about by Christopher Tolkien, son of J.R.R. Tolkien. Please keep in mind however, that If you are intimately familiar with the story by having read previous books that cover aspects of it, this might not be the book for you as most [if not all] of the information might be a rehash. A must-have for die-hard Tolkien fans however, especially because it finally collates all the data pertaining to Beren and Luthien in one book, rather than it being scattered through various sources.
The First Commandment by Brad Thor
Another garage sale find found for pocket change. The book is dynamite by the way!
Battlefield America: The War On The American People by John W. Whitehead
In Battlefield America, Constitutional Attorney and President of The Rutherford Institute, John W. Whitehead not only shows overwhelming evidence for the rise of the Police State in the American landscape, but incisively speaks his mind about where America is heading as a nation if the tidal wave of totalitarianism doesn’t cease. The most sobering book I’ve read all year by far.
For what it’s worth, the books this month were collated from AbeBooks, HalfPriceBooks, the Library, Amazon, Barnes&Nobles and Garage Sales, while some were gifts as well. I am fortunate to have found some glaring gems for nigh nothing, and am appreciative of the suggestions made by some of you in the department of research.
There’s still much to be done, so that’s all for now. Did any of you manage to snap up any books in the month of June, or otherwise? By all means, share your stories below!
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If you find value in this information, please share it. This article is free and open source. All individuals have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Zy Marquiez and TheBreakaway.wordpress.com.
___________________________________________________________
About The Author:
Zy Marquiez is an avid book reviewer, inquirer, an open-minded skeptic, yogi, and freelance writer who aims at empowering individuals while also studying and regularly mirroring subjects like Consciousness, Education, Creativity, The Individual, Ancient History & Ancient Civilizations, Forbidden Archaeology, Big Pharma, Alternative Health, Space, Geoengineering, Social Engineering, Propaganda, and much more.
His other blog, BreakawayConsciousnessBlog.wordpress.com features mainly his personal work, while TheBreakaway.wordpress.com serves as a media portal which mirrors vital information nigh always ignored by mainstream press, but still highly crucial to our individual understanding of various facets of the world.
Book Review: As A Man Thinketh by James Allen | #SmartReads
TheBreakaway | BreakawayConciousness
Zy Marquiez
July 27, 2017
“People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and , if they can’t find them, make them.”
– George Bernard Shaw
“Do not wait: the time will never be ‘just right’. Start where you stand, and work whatever tools you may have at your command and better tools will be found as you go along.”
– Napoleon Hill
As A Man Thinketh is the magnificent manifestation of an individual that examines potential when coupled with a sound mindset. Timeless as it is engaging, this book sheds light into one of the most overlooked truths mankind has ever set his mind up: each of us is individually responsible for our own circumstances.
Keenly observing the truth, Allen consistently contemplates how sound mental faculties and a strong mindset are what are most responsible for the all we achieve in life. By way of illustration, in Allen’s own words:
“All that a man achieves and all that he fails to achieve is just direct result of his own thoughts. In a justly ordered universe, where the loss of equipoise would mean total destruction, individual responsibility must be absolute. A man’s weakness and strength, purity and impurity, are his own, and not another man’s; they are brought about by himself, and not by another; and they can only be altered by himself, never by another. His condition is also his own, and not another man’s. His suffering and his happiness are evolved from within. As he thinks, so he is; as he continues to think, so he remains.”[1]
Such are the insightful words of a master at his craft.
As A Man Thinketh is a thorough discourse into the profound implications that the mindset of the individual has for the world around him. This is one of the most appealing points of the book. The book examines thoughts in relation to character and purpose, the effect of thought on health and circumstances, and much more.
In fact, particularly of note, Allen elucidates on the power of thought and character:
“Thought and character are one, and as character can only manifest and discover itself through environment and circumstances, the outer condition of a person’s life will always be found to be harmoniously related to his inner state.”[2]
I have found this to be the case in my life, and began noticing it considerably when I began employing mindfulness on a daily basis; I became attentive not only to the environs around me, but also to the direct correlation between my actions and my circumstances, even the ones that I did not like. This was a crucial point for me to comes to terms with, since the state of my life wasn’t going to change until I began changing in profound ways. I say this in hope that others realize the profound truths discussed in this book.
Unexpected, and yet alluring, Allen’s words are poetry itself – elegant and incisive, inspiring and highly thought-provoking. In fact, I was so inspired by Allen’s writing I had to apprise myself of additional work by him. That prompted me to purchase Mind Is The Master, which features 19 of his works. This is mentioned for the individuals who already read the book finding it advantageous and are seeking additional information.
Allen’s no-nonsense, down to earth approach is rather inspiring as it is engaging. Having now read the book, whose insightful words resonate with me quite well, I have grown more centered, better prepared, to tackle daily circumstances in a way that I had not before. It has quickly become a mainstay in my daily routine of study.
As A Man Thinketh is an discerning and inspirational read in its totality, made all the more relevant by the fact that science is beginning to bear this out, as books like The Intention Experiment and others have ascertained. If you are looking for an author that ruminates at length about the keen power of the individual mind and its power to create, look no further. Complement this book with Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, by Shunryu Suzuki, and Maximum Achievement by Brian Tracy, and one has not only the foundation to live a mindful life, but the veritable recipe for success and growth for any individual.
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[1] James Allen, As A Man Thinketh, p. 43.
[2] Ibid., p. 12.
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If you find value in this information, please share it. This article is free and open source. All individuals have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Zy Marquiez and TheBreakaway.wordpress.com.
___________________________________________________________
About The Author:
Zy Marquiez is an avid book reviewer, inquirer, an open-minded skeptic, yogi, and freelance writer who aims at empowering individuals while also studying and regularly mirroring subjects like Consciousness, Education, Creativity, The Individual, Ancient History & Ancient Civilizations, Forbidden Archaeology, Big Pharma, Alternative Health, Space, Geoengineering, Social Engineering, Propaganda, and much more.
His other blog, BreakawayConsciousnessBlog.wordpress.com features mainly his personal work, while TheBreakaway.wordpress.com serves as a media portal which mirrors vital information nigh always ignored by mainstream press, but still highly crucial to our individual understanding of various facets of the world.
Individuality | Critical Thinking
TheBreakaway
June 16, 2017
“It’s better to walk alone, than with a crowd going in the wrong direction.”
– Diane Grant
Mindset | Thoughts | Destiny
TheBreakaway
June 16, 2017
How To Survive Anything In 3 Easy Steps
Source: Theorganicprepper.ca
Daisy Luther
March 31, 2015
You can have enough food to ride out 15 years of Armageddon. You can have a fully stocked retreat or a bunker. You can have so much ammo stashed that your floorboards are groaning. You may have followed your favorite preparedness book’s 
But regardless of this, you may not be fully prepared.
Because surprisingly enough, none of these is an indication of “the prepper mindset.” Those items are a great start, but until your head is fully involved in the game, you’re not actually prepared.
To me, the pinnacle of preparedness is a way of thinking about pretty much everything you encounter. It’s a unique way of looking at a situation, assessing the options, and acting that defines the prepper mindset. Think about any stressful situation that has ever happened to you. Once you accepted the fact that it had happened you were able to set a course of action. Once you had definitive steps to take, you probably felt much calmer. You took control of the things you could, and you executed your plan. Only by taking that first step – accepting that this mishap had indeed occurred – could you take the next two.
There are 3 steps to handling any crisis with aplomb. While the execution isn’t always easy, making these steps second nature will greatly increase your chances of survival, no matter what kind of disaster you are facing.
1.) Accept.
No matter what situation comes your way, the first step is to accept that whatever the event is, it really happened. This is tougher than it sounds, because our minds are programmed to protect us from emotional trauma. Cognitive dissonance means that when a reality is uncomfortable or doesn’t jive with a person’s beliefs, that person may opt to believe in something false just to assuage his desire for comfort. Psychologist Leon Festinger, who identified the principal of cognitive dissonance, suggested
If you’re wondering exactly how powerful cognitive dissonance can be, check out Amanda Ripley’s book, The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes – and Why
The story that stands out in my mind the most was the one about the people in the World Trade Center on September 11. They described the last time they saw some of their coworkers. There were many people who simply could not accept the fact that a plane had crashed into the building and that they must immediately evacuate. They gathered their belongs, tidied their desks, finished reports. They didn’t feel the same sense of urgency that those who survived did, because the situation was so horrible that they just couldn’t accept it. Their inability to accept the scope of the danger caused many of them to perish in a tragic incident that other people, who acted immediately, survived.
When disaster strikes, you can’t spend 5 minutes thinking, “This can’t actually be happening.” It is happening, and moving past accepting that propels you through the first step into the second one.
2.) Plan.
Once you’ve accepted that this incident is indeed going down, you must devise a plan. It’s a whole lot easier to come up with a plan if you’ve spent just a little bit of time doing that previously.
This is where more mental preparedness skills come into play. Last week I put together a list for “Prepper Movie Night.” To build your prepper mindset, develop the habit of watching situations unfold and thinking through them. What would you do in such a situation? What are the potential pitfalls? What is likely to go wrong?
Watching movies and reading books with survival situations is like a dry run for actual events. Obviously, it’s not the same as having an actual experience, but it’s a good way to practice the skills of assessing a situation and making a plan.
You can also work on building your awareness. My friend Graywolf told me about “Kim’s Game“. He said,
Groups including everything from the Boy Scouts to sniper schools to government spy agencies and surveillance teams use a simple game to teach situational awareness and develop your memory. This is a fantastic game that you can play with your kids or your team to get them to be much better at noticing and remembering details.
The game is based on a book by Rudyard Kipling
- What are 3 things you could use in this restaurant as a weapon?
- Can you find 3 ways out of this building?
- Can you close your eyes and tell me how many people are sitting at the counter? What do they look like?
The habit of observing and absorbing information before a situation occurs will help in the creation of your plan. You don’t have to spend the extra time taking in the specifics, because you’ve already done so automatically.
When you make your plan, don’t stop at just one. The best-laid plans are at the mercy of a fluid situation, and disaster often comes in bundles. If your Plan A doesn’t work, you must immediately go back to Step 1 and accept that it didn’t work, then move on to Plan B.
3.) Act.
Finally, this is the step that will save your life. You’ve accepted the situation, and made your plan. Now, it’s time to act.
This sounds easier than it is. Many people freeze in a disaster situation. The ability to break this paralysis is paramount to your survival.
“Freezing” is called “tonic immobility” in behavioral science and it is a biological impulse. A study exploring the “freeze response” to stressors, describes the reaction:
Part of Barlow’s (2002) description of an adaptive alarm model suggests that a freeze response may occur in some threatening situations. Specifically, freezing — or tonic immobility — may overwhelm other competing action tendencies. For example, when fleeing or aggressive responses are likely to be ineffective, a freeze response may take place.
Similar to the flight/fight response, a freeze response is believed to have adaptive value. In the context of predatory attack, some animals will freeze or “play dead.” This response, often referred to as tonic immobility (Gallup, 1977), includes motor and vocal inhibition with an abrupt initiation and cessation… Freezing in the context of an attack seems counterintuitive. However, tonic immobility may be the best option when the animal perceives little immediate chance of escaping or winning a fight (Arduino & Gould, 1984; Korte, Koolhaas, Wingfield, & McEwen, 2005). For example, tonic immobility may be useful when additional attacks are provoked by movement or when immobility may increase the chance of escaping, such as when a predator believes its prey to be dead and releases it.
Some of our data suggested that reports of freeze were more highly associated with certain cognitive symptoms of anxiety (e.g., confusion, unreality, detached, concentration, inner shakiness). This leads to some very interesting speculation regarding whether freeze responses are also manifested cognitively (i.e., the cognitive system, together with the behavioral system, being shut down). There has been some speculation that a form of cognitive paralysis occurs due to immense cognitive demands that occur in the context of life-threatening situations or stressors (Leach, 2005).
So, in the context of this particular study, the freeze response could be related to an overload of stimuli because of the demands of creating your plan. By having thought through various situations and getting into the habit of quickly developing plans, you can override your body’s natural desire to “freeze” and you can take definitive, potentially life-saving, action.
In an emergency, hesitation can kill you. The faster you can move through steps one and two, and then act, the more likely you are to escape many situations.
Please keep in mind that sometimes, your action actually seems like inaction. For example, a person who is aware they would have little chance of victory in a direct combat situation against a stronger, more experienced opponent might take the action of hiding and being very still. Sheltering in place in some situations is a better course of action than proceeding out into more danger. The key is to think clearly and assess each situation on its own merit.
Here are some examples.
You don’t have to be in the midst of a terrorist attack or on a crashing plane to apply the three steps above. Here are a few examples of apply the three steps above to other situations:
Job Loss: In this economy, the possibility of job loss is not that far-fetched. If the primary bread-winner in your home became suddenly unemployed, here’s how the 3-step Survival Method would apply:
- The job is gone. The income source is gone. You can’t go out to an expensive dinner like you’d planned, or take that pricey vacation, because as of now, you have no income. You must not act as though your income is the same as it was yesterday.
- You go through your bank records. You check how much money is going out, how much you have, and figure out what expenses you can cut. You check your pantry
and calculate how long the food will last.
- You take decisive action, immediately cancelling cable, pushing back the family vacation indefinitely, sending out newly-rewritten resumes, and dialing back the grocery bill. You sell some stuff just sitting in your basement and you fill out the paperwork for unemployment insurance.
Car Accident: Sometimes the aftermath of an accident is more dangerous than the accident itself.
- Your car is halfway down a ravine, held in place by a groaning tree that could give at any moment. Below you is a sheer drop off. You have to get your kids out of the car before it plunges further down, because no one could survive that.
- You assess the kids and it seems everyone is conscious and relatively uninjured. The car, however, is not so great and could tumble the rest of the way down at any moment. The electronics on the car are working. You speak calmly to them and explain that they will be going out the back window driver window one at a time. They are to immediately run to the left and get as far away from the vehicle as possible. You will be right behind them. The meeting point is the top of the hill by the big rock.
- You roll down the window, cut a jammed seat belt with the knife from the console, and wait for the kids to get out and clear of the vehicle. Then, you make your own escape.
Convenience Store Robbery: Occasionally, you’re just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
- As you’re browsing through the cooler checking the price of a bottle of water, you hear a crash, then shouting up near the cash register. It’s not a movie, a robbery is actually going down.
- You listen and realize the criminal is armed. You are, too, but you have your small children with you, so taking aggressive action is not an option. You decide that your best bet is to hide, but be ready to defend if necessary.
- You duck down and whisper to the kids to be quiet. You direct them to a hidey-hole, you pull your weapon, and you get between them and anyone that might come down the aisle. Then, you wait.
Evacuation Order: This almost happened to us last year during forest fire season.
- There is a giant fire drawing near. It is entirely possible that everything you own will go up in smoke. You have 15 minutes to get out.
- You grab the bug out bags, the safe full of documents, the pet carriers, and the photo albums. You also get swim goggles for the whole family and respirator masks out of your kit.
- Pets, kids, and important items are loaded in the vehicle. You’re already down the road in 10 minutes, while other people are still trying to put together an overnight bag.
Have you ever had to use your prepper mindset to survive?
Studying situations in which others have survived is a valuable way to develop your prepper mindset. Have you ever been caught up in the midst of a situation where your preparedness mindset was helpful? Want to tell us about it?
TheBreakAway 