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Here’s What Shopping Has to Do w/Self Defense

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  Gotta Go Shopping This year’s training retreat has two levels… Level two folks are coming out for about a day longer than the level one students. The person who’s in charge of food is coming out with the level I people, which means I had to get a day’s worth of grub for the 8 people in level two. When you are planning on food for 13 people over a 5 day period, you have to have a plan. If you don’t, at the very least, you’ll find yourself over budget… Heck, even if you do plan, you may find yourself over budget, as in this case… Regardless, it pays to plan and it costs if you don’t! Shopping for Answers Protecting yourself is no different. It’s better to have a plan BEFORE you find yourself in a sticky situation. Just like eating… It’s best to have your shopping done and your meal prepared BEFORE you’re sitting down to eat. And even if you have planned and prepared to the best of your ability, things can still happen that throw the game off or threaten to derail things all togethe...
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A Chicken Minus It's Head

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  What Does a Chicken Minus Its Head Accomplish?! Running around tying up all of these loose ends reminds me of a quick story: Emma rushed into the office, her heart pounding and mind racing. Deadlines loomed, her phone buzzed incessantly, and she felt like a chicken with its head cut off—frantic, unfocused, and overwhelmed. Papers scattered as she flitted from task to task, making little progress. Suddenly, her colleague Jake noticed her frenzy.  "Emma, take a breath,"  he suggested gently.  "Let's step outside for a minute." Reluctantly, she agreed. Outside, the fresh air filled her lungs, and she felt a semblance of calm returning. Jake showed her a simple breathing exercise, guiding her to inhale deeply and exhale slowly. They stood in silence for a few moments, the tension melting away. "How do you handle stress so well?" Emma asked, genuinely curious. Jake smiled. "I used to be like you. But I found that taking short breaks, practicing mindf...
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Tuning In

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  Tuning In… We’ve been talking a lot about listening lately. Well, you gotta understand… Listening isn’t just about what’s coming through your ears. It’s not just about what the person says. There’s a lot more you have to pay attention to in order to survive and thrive in this world. When you're out there on the field of life, you don't just use your ears to listen, you use everything you've got. You gotta see it, hear it, smell it, taste it, feel it, and yes, you gotta trust your gut instinct, that intuition that's been honed through hard earned experience… and let’s not forget trusting in something larger than yourself. When you're in the thick of it, you gotta be dialed in, tuned to the frequency of the moment, ready to do what’s necessary to be the Protector, to be a PeaceWalker at a moment's notice. Just Say This… I put together a New Mini-Program called  “Just Say This.” It’s a free course on our PeaceWalker Network. Here’s the link to access this little,...
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Your Deadliest Weapon?! Really?!

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  Listen Here… The other day a friend of mine was telling me about some of the problems in life they were having… I wanted to help, so instead of mindfully listening to them, I proceeded to give advice of what I would do, or what they may consider doing… Then I caught myself… “Just Listen,”  I said in my mind. “Breathe and listen… That’s all. Just shut up and listen.” I quieted my mind and mouth and simply listened to what my friend was saying. Trying my best to be present and- attentive. Your Deadliest Weapon?! Back in 1982 a guy named Dr. George Thompson created a tactical communication system for police called Verbal Judo. Over the years it was taught to millions of officers. You have to understand, before that point, aside from hostage/crisis negotiators, conflict communications and de-escalation was rarely taught to officers. Thompson's research found that most injuries (police or subject) occur when a situation escalates, not when an officer arrives at the scene. He said...
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Your Self Defense Trifecta?!

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  What’s Your Operating System?! As you know I teach folks how to protect themselves and others. Here’s something that happens a lot. A misconception if you will. We have to learn how to protect ourselves in a lot of different ways. Here are just a few: Physically  - You know what most people think of as Self Defense. Verbally  - We’ve all been talking our whole lives, but most don’t know the structure to conflict communications and De-Escalation. Mentally  - Mindset. If you don’t have a good frame of mind nothing works. Emotionally  - When it comes to conflict we have to know how to stay cool, calm and collected. Spiritually  - We have to understand ethics to make better decisions and protect our hearts, lest turning into that which we are protecting ourselves from. When It Comes to Tactics… Even when it comes down to physical defensive tactics, you have to be a Swiss Army Knife! You have to be well rounded. Not just striking. Not just grappling. You have ...
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I Walked In & Knew Something Was Wrong...

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  A few years back, I was coming home late after teaching at the academy. When I opened the door to my place, I immediately knew something was off. I didn’t know quite what yet, but something was drastically wrong. I first felt it when I walked into my ‘mud room / landing’ area… But, it was confirmed the moment I opened the door to my kitchen. There were papers strewed all over the floor, along with items that once sat on the cupboard and shelves. It was like it got ransacked by someone looking for something. Kinda like you’d see in the movies. Now, I had some choices here. I could have immediately left and called the police, but I didn’t. I chose to clear the house to make sure no one was in it. So, I got out my pistol and carefully went from room to room to check things out. Kitchen. Clear. Bedroom (including walk in closet). Clear. Bathroom. Clear. Living room… Destroyed, but clear. Looking at the disarray of everything… It became evident that this was the work of an animal. Foo...
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I'm Sure You're Wondering...

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  It was quite a weekend. Above is a pick of what we were doing Saturday morning. The day was perfect for the commencements at the stadium in Ann Arbor. It was quite an event. There were a little over 70,000 people there! about 8,000 graduating that day and the rest were friends and family joining in the celebration. You’re Probably Wondering… In the last blog I told you that we were taking some precautions because of the potential safety concern from protestors. We did in fact have a briefing and took some precautions. The night before the commencements, there were a few people arrested when some protestors went head o head with some officers. The day of commencements we were able to avoid the majority of the protests which were occurring in another area of the campus. We hired a driver who knew his way around the area. He got us there early, without any fuss. We kept an eye out as we were in line to get in. Things went pretty smoothly, and because we were there so early, we got r...
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