Situational Awareness!

We live in a world full of incidents that just seem to get worse everyday. We are being bombarded by news of death and destruction everywhere. And there is not a day goes by when I thank my lucky stars that I am here and not there. These days we have constant warnings issued to us to be wary, careful, aware and watchful. Since when did we reach a point where we are not able to trust our own shadows. Times sure have changed. Even travelling by MRT here in Singapore, you are constantly reminded to be aware of your surroundings and watchful. Surely you find the fact that you are being scrutinised by a stranger is quite unnerving. The worse will be if you are pulled up and hauled off in front of a 1000 people is even more frightening. Luckily, gulags have long gone (except for Guantanamo Bay).

This little writing is about situational awareness. I have found it very important to be constantly aware of your surroudings. It should become a sub-conscious effort which will make you more alert. The best thing is this alertness is available in your day to day work. There is an unexpected bonus by having such an awareness. A sharp mind is able to tackle your work with more focus. Sherlock Holmes was my inspiration as his powers of observation and level of awareness are legendary. Of course, forming a deduction or conclusion may be beyond us as we normally do not engage in doing detective work (unless you are chasing your boy/girl friend to nail their two-timing ways). Sherlock Holmes had the capacity to dissect objects to their finest detail and form an hypothesis. The irony that he was a cocaine user was not lost on me. In his own words, ""My mind," he said, "rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram, or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere. I can dispense then with artificial stimulants. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for mental exaltation."

I would hardly think doing drugs is going to help. Unless you want your ass in jail for 15 years or worse a noose around your neck.

I started my adventure into this by a simple test a few years back. Standing in the middle of my living, I did a 360 with my eyes open. After that I closed my eyes and made a oral list of all the things I could remember to seeing during my spin. I swear when I say that I made only 20% grade. I missed so many things that I never noticed. I tried it over and over again and still was unable to reach beyond 60%. But I realised that as I practised, I was able to spot things obvious to miss. Like the pen cap not properly inserted, the post-it torn slightly in the corner, the LED light on the charger not fully lit etc. I am still learning how to be more aware of my surroundings.

For e.g. I am fairly certain given a few moments of thinking, that most of the time I can remember or recollect when I met my friends and what they were wearing. Not all the time, but I do manage to recollect most of the facts. This is not an invitation to test my powers of observation! You must have heard of the term "out of the corner of the eye". Our peripheral vision is very sensitive to sudden changes or movement not just in the peripheral vision but also around us. This is how sometimes you realise that someone is checking you out. When I was visiting London, there was this Science Center near Kensington which had a machine to test your peripheral vision. It was fun because you are trying to look straight and the at the same time look to both the sides at the same time.