June 2006 Newsletter

Becoming a "Tough Target"

Women’s Safety Education Group’s program is called S.A.F.E. (Safety Awareness For Empowerment). The key words SAFETY, AWARENESS and EMPOWERMENT clearly state our mission and the heart of our program. The simple fact is that we live in a world where there are people and things to fear regarding our personal safety. We however should not, nor do we need to live in a fear-based state of mind. Animals in the wild, for their day-to-day survival, are not taught to live fearfully, but rather fearlessly, and to be both aware and vigilant about their safety. What is both key and essential is that they are taught to acknowledge the very real threats to their lives and respond appropriately should they find themselves in a potentially threatening situation.

LAW OF ATTRACTION

I am a firm believer in the ‘Law of Attraction’, or the notion that what we think about we attract into our lives. If we are fear-based we will actually attract those things that we don’t want by giving them breath and life and bringing them into our lives. If we also refuse to acknowledge those things that we fear, it’s like the big white elephant out on the front lawn –- it is still there even though we refuse to believe it. Simply choosing not to acknowledge something will not make it go away or not exist. If you try not thinking about something, you are also actually putting energy into it and keeping it alive in your consciousness. So what I am saying is that to live safer daily lives, we first need to raise our awareness level, acknowledge those things we don’t want to, and plan for the possibility of something happening that might compromise our safety. We live in a society where bad things happen every day, and for that matter every few seconds or minutes. Statistics do not lie, and the fact is that crime in the USA is a very real threat to all of us.

TRANSITION FROM FEAR-BASED TO EMPOWERED

It is a simple and easy transition from being fear-based to being empowered. First, we raise our awareness and accept that real threats to our safety exist. Second, we educate ourselves with the very best safety information, strategies and tools available to us. All of our vehicles have spare tires, but do we dwell in constant fear that every time we get in our vehicle to go somewhere we’re going to have a flat? Certainly not, but having a spare tire is a safety strategy that both puts us at ease and keeps us at ease should we happen to have a flat. Just like the spare tire, we need to keep safety strategies catalogued away for those ‘What If’ or ‘Just in Case’ scenarios in all aspects of our lives.

A TOUGH TARGET

Becoming a ‘Tough Target’ helps to raise the odds in our favor that we will be less likely chosen as a target by a ‘Bad Guy’. It has been my experience over the years that many people simply do not want to accept and acknowledge the fact that we have to be prepared for some things that we wouldn’t want to have happen to us. We need to think about the things we don’t want to think about so that we can be the best prepared that we can possibly be. We need to do things like: discuss with our family members what to do to get out of our burning house including alternate escape routes; what to do if we breakdown on the side of the road; what to do if we are approached by a potential mugger, robber or rapist, etc. Our awareness becomes heightened when something happens to a family member, co-worker, neighbor or friend, or if we see something on the news about a rapist or burglar near to us. But typically, we are complacent and haven’t thought about safety strategies. But guess what? The ‘Bad Guys’ have already thought about their next victim and that does not keep us on an even playing field. Everyone actually does have strategies in place, but most of the time they are not good ones or the most effective ones we can implement. We cannot afford to live life with our heads in the sand and think, “I never thought it would happen to me”.

SAFETY STRATEGIES

So, when we create a catalogue of safety strategies, we are better prepared ‘just in case’ and just like the spare tire, we don’t give it a second thought unless we need to. (How different the legacy of the Titanic would have been if they had enough lifeboats and were prepared for the possibility of an unexpected tragedy, like hitting an iceberg.) The unexpected is now out of our everyday consciousness and we don’t dwell in fear. And since we are better prepared, we send out a different vibration and are less apt to attract the bad stuff or the bad guys. We need to remain vigilant every day and keep an acute awareness about our surroundings. We need to listen to our ‘gut’ feelings and always honor them. If something feels bad or wrong, IT IS! If a person feels creepy, THEY ARE CREEPY! And the great thing about being a tough target is that we only need to be PERCEIVED as a ‘tough target’.

ALWAYS BE PREPARED

The Boy Scout’s motto of “Be Prepared” is an excellent one and I’d like to take liberty and modify it a bit to read; “ALWAYS BE PREPARED”. So, learn as much as you can about personal safety, employ the latest and best strategies, buy the very best safety products available and develop a demeanor that makes you a ‘tough target.’ Stack the odds in your favor and live a life where you are attracting less of what you don’t want or fear, and attracting more of what you do want and empowers you.

BOOKING A PROGRAM

NOTE: If you would like to book a women's safety program for your organization, club, business, church, etc. please email us at seminars@WSEG.org or call us at 1-800-318-8037.

JOB OPPORTUNITIES

We are also currently expanding nationally, looking for both Trainers to present our programs and Coordinators to book our programs. If you or someone you know would be interested in exploring an opportunity with either WSEG or KSEG, please email us: jobs@WSEG.org or jobs@KSEG.org, or call 1-800-318-8037.

Mark Spencer, MA, S.A.F.E.

© Copyright 2006 S.A.F.E. All rights reserved.