How To Be More Aware Of Your Surroundings Through Situational Awareness

I touched on the importance of being more aware of your surroundings in another article, and that raises the obvious question, so how can you increase your situational awareness?

This article offers a few tips you can use to help you achieve this goal.

Body Language

By learning to be aware of people’s body language, you can gain an insight into their intentions, which might mean the difference between avoiding or succumbing to a threat.

Look For Exits

Whether you’re on foot or in / on a vehicle, you should be looking for escape routes, should you need them (e.g. because of an emergency).

By looking for how you could get out of your current situation (e.g. another door you could use, a side-road you could turn into), you will also take in more information about your surroundings.

Night Vision

Some people have better night vision than others, and some even have what’s called nyctalopia, or night blindness.

However, in most cases, there are a few tricks you can use to help you see better when it’s dark:

1. As soon as you enter somewhere dark, close your eyes for 10 – 20 secondsto let your eyes adjust. If this is not practical, you can either close just one eye, or squint.
2. Human eyes contain both rods and cones. The cones are better at detecting colours, and in bright lights, and these are typically used when looking directly ahead. The rods, on the other hand do not really detect colour, but they are better at working in lower light conditions, and they are situated around the edges of the retina. So, to make use of these facts, when in a darker area, try to use your peripheral vision (see below) because that will use your rods more than your cones, and because they are better suited to less light, you should be able to see more.
3. Use a red light. If you’ve ever seen a movie featuring a submarine, you may have noticed that the interior light is often red, and that’s because it has less of an adverse effect on our night vision than other colours do. You can therefore try to use a flashlight / torch with a red bulb, for when you need some light at night, or you could use a red light on your porch for when you sit outside of an evening.

Peripheral Vision

While studies have shown that women typically have better peripheral vision than men (which is theorized to stem from our early days when men hunted and women gathered), it is possible to improve your peripheral vision (unless, of course, the loss of this ability is caused by illness or disease).

Here’s one way you can practise it:

1. Sit somewhere in public, which might be at a window table in a coffee shop (or out on the pavement), or on a park bench.
2. Stare directly ahead – and, importantly, do not move your eyes.
3. Focus on everything you can see – while keeping your eye completely still. This should include what you can see directly in front of you, as well as what you can see to the sides (i.e. using your peripheral vision).
4. Once you think you have observed everything you can, write down a list of what you saw.
5. Repeat these steps regularly, because the more you practise this skill, the better you will be at it.

You can also try this while talking to somebody by keeping your eyes on them (because to not to do that may be perceived as rude) but by trying to take in what is happening either side of them.

Personal Space

We all have our own concept of personal space and this invisible boundary that surrounds us is smaller or larger for some people than others.

When somebody invades that space, either accidentally or deliberately, it makes us feel uncomfortable.

This is not always a conscious thought process – but it’s there.

Usually, you are aware of who or what is in front of you, but it’s possible to develop a sense of people approaching from behind. (Remember that our bodies give off an energy field, which while faint can be detected.)

When somebody does invade your personal space, you need to pay close attention immediately to any possible danger signals, such as where are their hands, do they contain a weapon, are they reaching for your bag(s), are there suspicious bulges in their clothing that might be a concealed weapon, and what is their overall body language like?

Practise Mindfulness

Mindfulness is often classified as a form of meditation, and you can find out more about mindfulness in this free report. (If you’re a member, you’ll also find this in the Members’ Library.)

And if you want an even shorter summary, these two definitions of mindfulness (taken from the above-mentioned report) are very well-respected and commonly quoted:

• “The intentional, accepting and non-judgmental focus of one’s attention on the emotions, thoughts and sensations occurring in the present moment” – from “Mindfulness meditation for substance use disorders: a systematic review” Substance Abuse 30 (4): 266–94
• “Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally.” – Jon Kabat-Zinn

In practical terms, mindfulness is simply paying attention to your environment, activities, and thoughts, and while it’s the environment aspect of this that’s of relevance in this article, the other two are equally important.

You could also consider learning similar skills that are related, such as tai chi and yoga, as well as other forms of meditation (because there are lots to choose from, as you can read about here).

Protect Your Back

Wherever possible, since we don’t have eyes in the back of our head (no matter how good your peripheral vision may be), it’s advisable to protect your back because that’s one less area you need to be worried about.

For example, you could stand with your back to the wall, or sit at the back of a restaurant, or sit at the back of the bus or train carriage – anything that prevents others from creeping up behind you.

The other advantage of doing this is, of course, that you are better able to take more in because more of your immediate surroundings are in front of you.

Put Your Phone Away

You can’t go anywhere these days without seeing people walking along with their phone in their hands and their eyes glued to it.

Not only is this potentially dangerous (e.g. you might walk into a lamp post or off the pavement into oncoming traffic, but also when driving, of course, which is becoming illegal in more and more places these days), but you are missing out on the world around you.

Remember, many people have been injured or even died while trying to take selfies – see here for some of these cases!

Scan

This is along the lines of looking for exits, but is broader in nature.

The key is to learn to automatically scan your surroundings for any possible threats, which could include:

• Barriers (e.g. that might get in the way of your needing to move quickly, or that you can put between you and the threat if necessary)
• People (e.g. because they look out of place or uncomfortable or just plain suspicious)
• Suspicious objects (e.g. unattended bags)

Stay Healthy

I know this is not always 100% under your control, but you can choose what you eat and drink, and how much exercise you get.

Because the healthier you are, the more you will be able to take in your surroundings – something that’s difficult to do if you’re constantly in pain because of bad health.

Stop And Pause

If you think you are being followed (either on foot or in a car), you should stop suddenly, and pause.

At this point, you can:

• See whether the person you thought was following stops too or carries on walking or driving past you.
• Carry on if you believe you are not being followed.
• Turn back (e.g. if the person you were suspicious of carries on walking past you).
• Duck into a shop or coffee shop, or whatever building is nearby.
• Approach another nearby person and ask them something (e.g. what time is it, do they know where a certain building is).

Having travelled a lot in my younger days, I’ve been aware that I may be being followed on numerous occasions.

One such time was in Paris, when I’d been walking along the Champs-Élysées with my first wife, and we’d turned off what is almost always a very busy area into a side-street, because we were looking for a restaurant that had been recommended to us by a friend.

A few yards up the road, we both thought we were being followed – it was more a case of intuition than anything else – so we stopped and turned around, which took the man who was about ten yards behind us unawares.

Without pausing, we walked confidently past him, and returned to the main avenue.

Was he a threat?

I think so, although I’ll never know, but it doesn’t pay to take chances.

Try Not To Look Like You’re A Tourist

This is easier said than done, but one thing you can refrain from doing is standing on the pavement consulting a guide book or street map, because that marks you immediately as somebody who is not a local.

Where possible, plan and memorize the route to where you want to go beforehand, and if you must consult a map, do so somewhere a bit more private.

These days, you can find good apps for your smartphone that have taken the place of both street maps and guide books, and since so many people use their phones when out walking, consulting your phone may be less obvious.

Also, and this too may be difficult, you need to appear as though you know exactly where you’re going – i.e. walk with a purpose.

While you may want to browse around, look in shop windows, or up at the architecture of the buildings you pass, locals typically don’t do that sort of thing.

Use All Your Senses

When you’re out in public, then try to use all of your senses (i.e. sight, sound, smell, taste, touch), wherever this is both practical and safe.

For example, you could focus on:

• What colours do you see (e.g. of the clothes people wear, cars and vehicles that are around you, the hues of nearly flowers and trees), or how many of a certain object can you observe (e.g. dogs, bicycles, bulbs in a chandelier)?
• What can you hear once you filter out the more obvious noises (e.g. traffic, people)?
• What can you smell (e.g. cigarette smoke, aromas from a nearby coffee shop or bakery, people’s perfumes or aftershaves)?
• When eating or drinking, really try to detect all of the different tastes in each mouthful of food, which means you will probably need to chew more slowly (which is good for you anyway) and you will be able to fully savour each bite.
• What can you feel? This might mean focusing on what the ground feels like beneath your feet (e.g. hard, soft, wet, slippy), or the textures of items you touch or pick up in stores (e.g. door handles, coffee cups, knives and forks, sandwiches, clothes).

Clearly, if you’re driving your car, then you need to make sure you’re driving safely above all else, but part of that is, indeed, being aware of everything that’s around you.

Use Reflective Surfaces

When you’re out and about, you can look in shop windows or vehicle windows to help you become more aware of who and what are around you.

What If?

This is similar to scanning your surroundings (see above), but in addition, you can ask yourself questions such as the following, and then try to provide a satisfactory answer to yourself:

• What if that pedestrian starts to cross the road right now?
• What if it suddenly starts raining hard?
• What if a vehicle pulls out of that side-road without warning?

Conclusion

Learning to be observant about the world around you (including at home, at work, on the roads, and in public generally) has two main benefits:

1. Safety – of yourself, people with you (e.g. passengers in your car), as well as other people and animals nearby.
2. Appreciation – of all that this world has to offer in terms of the beauty and awesomeness of nature and the ingenuity of humans.

Additional Resources

These are suggestions for those who wish to delve deeper into any of the above:

1. Body Language