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Here are a few tips on personal safety. There are some good methods that have been given already for spiritual protection, but mundane wisdom shouldn't be neglected either.
First, be careful how you define the items you have for use. In some countries an item can be defined as a weapon (and illegal to carry/have) by saying it is for self defense. This is because that defines the item as being deliberately intended for use to harm other humans.
Second, be careful that having these items does not create a false security. People do some very foolish things because they think simply having a weapon makes you safe. In fact, in many situations they make things far more dangerous. Some examples;
-lack of training/practice leads to improper use for the environment. Swinging and hitting a wall instead of your target or hitting/harming someone you don't actually intend to. Or having the item stripped and used against you. If you have it, make darn sure you know how to use it. No matter what 'it' is.
- Making the mistake of reaching/running for a weapon after a conflict has begun. It takes a trained professional around two or three seconds to remove and ready a weapon on a belt or otherwise not already deployed. It takes between 1/5 to 1/2 a second to punch, block, grab, kick, elbow, knee, or grapple. (Depending on training) the math speaks for itself. If a weapon is not prepared at the start, then it doesn't exist. Reaching for it means you're getting hit.
-escalation. Someone intending to subdue will immediately see you as a danger/threat if a weapon is out. That means the opponent's mentality immediately shifts from control, to survival. And while your life *may* be at risk before a weapon is involved, it becomes guaranteed you are placing your life on the line after. You have to be mentally prepared for that.
- a lone wolf is a dead one: the first thing you should -ever- be grabbing is a phone. Or, ideally, making sure someone else who is separate from the situation has one and is already calling local authorities. You can't call for help and fight at the same time. And you are much safer knowing help is on the way before you get hurt or incapacitated. An unconscious person can't call for help.
In survival and emergency situations, weapons matter -FAR- less than having first action, and correct thought. If you can exit the danger, that is always the superior option. They call it the Nike defense: you can't get hurt if you aren't there. Things can be replaced, you can't. Contemplate scenarios and actions (strategies) and run them through your mind. How to get out. Alternate escape points. Places that can be strongly secured. Where to keep your phone so it is immediately accessible. Any fight has a better chance of losing than winning, and even if you win you are 90% sure to be injured as a result. Even in a perfect (prideful) situation of winning and not being harmed, you -still- need to then maintain control of another person until help arrives. And that person will absolutely not want to cooperate. It is hard to dial a cell while trying to keep someone pinned to the ground... assuming a phone is even still in reach by then.
Having several realistic plans and scenarios in mind and familiar prepare you for the ability to make decisions quickly, and correctly. It controls panic-reaction and helps keep you calm and mindful. Your brain is what keeps you safe, but it can only do that while it is rational.
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