Stress Control:
The OPTIMAL MINDSET
for Saving Your Life
The ultimate Stress Control is using the Optimal Mindset to empower fighting for your life.
Animal Role Modeling
To intimidate their enemies as well as empower their own stress control, warriors throughout history imitated fierce animals by wearing animal-like costumes and imitating their behavior.
Wolf-man (or werewolf) legends originated in 16th century Europe when primitive, superstitious woodsmen gained an intimidating ferocity by imitating wolves during nighttime robberies of people traveling on roads through their woodlands. If ever trapped and facing musket fire, the “wolf-man” reverted to human behavior and begged for mercy. Folklore distorted this into men becoming wolves during a full moon and reverting to human form after being shot with a silver bullet.Martial artists often empower themselves by imitating cats
(nature’s best fighters) as well as scorpions, praying mantises, and
monkeys. A small monkey can leap on a man ten times his size, clinging
to his head while shredding his face and blinding him in just a few
seconds. (You’ll learn a very similar Clinch Attack in Self Defense Techniques.)
Superb role models include tomcats (they either flee, or attack an adversary’s eyes then flee), and dogs. Have you ever seen two dogs erupt into a fight? They’re ferocious! Simply imitate the ferocity of the meanest dog you’ve ever seen.
PSYCHO PSYCHING - the ULTIMATE STRATEGY
Animals confront an opponent with snarls and roars. Throughout history, warriors and armies did, too, with chest-pounding and war cries before battle to intimidate the enemy and boost their own morale while impressing themselves with their own ferocity. This also helped drown out the war cries of the enemy.Just before battle, the notoriously terrifying Irish Celts would shed all clothing other than battle gear, work themselves into a frenzy called war spasm then – all but foaming at the mouth – run naked and howling at their enemy. Foes would often flee from such madness. Many other tribes worldwide also had empowering/intimidating rituals, such as the Huns of Asia, the Berserkers of Scandinavia, the Zulu of Africa, and the Maori of the South Pacific.
Undercover cops have told me that predators won’t mess with you if they think you’re crazier than they are. They have a sharp instinct of who to pick on, at singling out the weak. Stare at them like a lunatic. They won't mess with you.I’d amend that to “nobody messes with hostile crazy people.” The feeble crazies, more vulnerable, are oftentimes victimized. Personally, I’ve relied on displaying an overt hostility to deter predators – they prefer soft targets. See Subway Encounter in Victims Options - Posturing for one example.
Use a Psychopath's Tool Before He Uses it on You
Donald Ray Wallace Jr, a lifelong violent criminal and a killer, learned early on that no one will mess with you if they think you’re insanely violent. It’s all an act to intimidate people into not messing with you. But you have to actually be vicious. Strike hard and fast and don’t stop until you can flee without him chasing you.The ultimate empowerment is Psycho Psyching: feigning madness. To repeat an example from Posturing:
Marla faked a nervous breakdown when a date grew threatening. She began nonsensically sobbing “I killed my baby, I killed my baby,” and grew so frantically manic that she actually scared her attacker away. He’s lucky. She was just about to burst into a ferocious gouging of his eyes then run off howling.It’s unlikely any predator would chase her (unless they're in the wilderness with no help nearby).
When sensing danger, pretend you're mentally deranged. Practice it now (if you're alone). Teach your survival instinct how to protect you from an imminent threat. To deter a predator from a distance, you can fake a facial
twitch, act loony, or loudly argue with yourself. At close range, you can act maniacal as described above. Few predators want to tangle with a ferocious crazy person – even a little one. So be maniacal as you Stun & Run. See Fighting Options - Overview
Psycho Psyching has three benefits. First, it surprises a predator who's looking for easy prey - not a lunatic. Second, acting crazy is an easy role to fake – professional actors consider lunacy to be the easiest role of all. Third, attacking your attacker with a raging fury is the most effective strategy to fight for your life. To maximize your chances of surviving a deadly attack: ACT maniacally fierce and you will, in reality, BE maniacally fierce.
Also see Acting.
Enhancing Your Stress Control Options
Deter a predator by carrying Personal Security Alarm (a.k.a. screamer or noisemaker) & Pepper Spray in plain sight. Those pages tell you how to use them most effectively.
Crime-Safety-Security > Stress Control Overview > Optimal Mindset
