In the past decade, the world at large and India in particular, has seen a disturbing upswing in crime. Wading through these dangerous times often requires more than just common sense, security devices and pepper sprays. Naturally people are turning to all sorts of high tech gadgets in an attempt to achieve better levels of security. However, almost everyone is forgetting to access one of the most powerful warning systems ever created. The underrated, under utilized and inbuilt security mechanism -- our Inner Warrior, our intuition!
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What is Intuition?
Intuition
is a gut feeling, instinct, hunch or thought that seems to have no apparent reason and comes without any conscious thinking or explanation. An intuition can be positive or come as a warning message. It’s your inbuilt biological survival sensor and can be extremely perceptive and powerful. It can detect danger before you are consciously aware of it. So never ignore it! Recognize it, respect it, and act on it. If your warning bells are going off, there is always something wrong. Avoid analyzing your intuition as it’s a warning and needs urgent action, a delay can convert into a disaster in no time.
Think about it. Have you ever had a really bad feeling about something, but put it aside because you thought you were being paranoid, stupid or judgmental, and found that your first intuition was right? Or found someone creepy and they lived up to that notion. Or have you ever changed your travel plans based on a bad feeling and found out the car or plane ended in a crash? Or for that matter, got a call and even before answering, you knew who it was? All these situations are examples of seeing your intuition at play.
How Does #Intuition Work?
We all get intuitions, and there is nothing mysterious or supernatural about them. The reason we don’t always pay heed to them is because we value logic and intuitions can’t be easily explained. However, there is a scientific way in which intuition works. The brain processes 400 Billion bits of information a second. But, we are only aware of 2,000 of those. That means our subconscious has access to a lot more than we are consciously aware of. That’s why it’s in a better position to make evaluations, and the moment it finds something important, amiss or potentially threatening, it immediately transmits an urgent signal to us in the form of a gut feel or an intuition. That’s why you must always pay attention to your intuitive feelings.
Intuitive Signals
People often don’t recognize their intuitions because they can’t grasp its signals. Intuitions can come in the form of physical sensations such as panic, a weird vibe, feeling of being watched, chills in the spine, pressure or repulsion from a person or situation, hair standing, tightness in the chest, butterflies in the stomach, visual images, unusual suspicion or wariness, “gut” feeling, uncomfortable feeling you can’t put your finger on, verbal messages, physical sensations, emotional feelings, inexplicable change in mood, tingles, sudden headache or environmental cues.
Trusting Yours Alarm Bells
Many rape and assault victims confess that they sensed something amiss or had an “uneasy” feeling about a person or a place, just prior to the crime. Like Rani (name changed) who was assaulted and raped in broad daylight, in a posh neighborhood, later told investigators that she felt a strange vibe from a male jogger. However, he was well dressed and logically, nothing seemed amiss, so she told herself she was being suspicious and continued jogging. A few minutes later, the man turned around, stabbed her, dragged her into a construction site, raped her and left her bleeding. She was found unconscious, a day later and lost an eye.
Understand Reality -- And Face It
Denial is the biggest enemy of real safety. It’s important to accept that anyone can be a victim of crime, irrespective of how you travel, what wear, where you live and hang out. An “It won’t happen to me” attitude just leaves you in denial. Only when you accept this fact, will you become aware of the warning signs when you receive them. Understand reality so that you can take the right precautions because when you are in an emergency, it’s too late to start thinking about what to do.
Don’t Be Fooled
Clearly, intuition is a powerful phenomenon as most attacks come with some kind of warning. However, as majority of crimes against women are committed by people known to them, they tend to ignore the warnings bells, thinking, “What’s wrong with me?, “I know him.” Stereotypes are another common barrier between you and your intuition. Thoughts like, he looks “so nice” or “decent.” Remember looks can be deceptive. Don’t forget that rapists and criminals, mostly look like anyone else. But your intuition can pick clues that can help safeguard you against them, if you pay attention to their warnings.
Recently a girl was walking to her car, outside a suburban mall. Her had way too many bags in her hands, when a “nice’ man offered to help with her bags. She took his help but as they walked something made her very comfortable. As she opened the car, the man hit her with a blunt object, dumped her in the boot, and drove off. If only she has acted on her instinct, things may have turned out differently for her.
Better Safe, Than Sorry
Social good manners often make us ignore our intuition, especially with seemingly friendly predators, and the harmless looking man in the car park, the acquaintance with a weird vibe or even a unnerving relative. Always err on the side of caution. Don’t be afraid of people’s opinions, even if they make you feel awkward or embarrassed. If your gut says someone is dangerous, work briskly to put safe distance between you and the person who is causing you discomfort, even if it causes some inconvenience. Too many women give a predator the benefit of the doubt and face severe consequences. If you are feeling uneasy walking to the car park, ask someone to accompany you, make them wait till you check car while, quickly get in, lock all doors and drive off.
Lethal Weapon
Sometimes your intuition alone may not be sharp enough, as you are not used to listening to it. Or because it’s drowned in the din of a hectic day. Besides, your perpetrator may be a great con artist. But when you combine intuition with common sense, it becomes the Lethal Weapon of safety. Integrate sensible safety precautions in your daily life, irrespective of weather your alarm bells are on or off, and follow them diligently.
Beware of Traps
Predators have very creative minds when it comes to luring and trapping their victims. They can pretend to be helpless, lost, offer help of some sort, land up at your doorstep offering some service, sometimes they publicize false jobs and call you for fake interviews, may come visiting when you are alone, take you somewhere on the pretext of showing you something and sometimes they even hide in dark corners, taking out the voice of a child or a woman in need of help. Be careful and alert and if you get a fleeting negative instinct, act on it. Call for help or get out of there.
Promise yourself to always listen to your intuition and act on it. Even if it is wrong on occasion. It is most definitely better to err on the side of caution than to get pinned in an uncomfortable, dangerous corner. Or worse, land up raped, beaten or dead.
