Read Online Just 2 Seconds by Gavin de Becker, Thomas A. Taylor, Jeff Marquart - Free Book Online Page A
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That Building, or Total Up That Column of Numbers, or Find Those Car Keys, we're usually treading water in a sea of constant distractions.
With the mind at bay, your attention can move from Now to Now, releasing each moment almost instantaneously so that the next can be perceived. In protective work (and in life), the rewards come when each past moment is allowed to expire gracefully, without resistance, so the current moment can live fully. Remaining in the Now means, in effect, that you lose your mind and come to your senses. Then you can perceive what is going on around you. Our thoughts sometimes become scattered all over the mental field, and to direct them toward a single goal, we must collect them. The protector's mission needs to be constantly remembered, re-collected, in the most literal meaning of the word.
In order to avoid problems like Operation Makeup Case, our firm seeks to remove logistical responsibilities from those assigned to close protective coverage when possible. Contrary to a practice applied by some in the field, we do not automatically assign the Detail Leader to close protection, because we want our close protectors free of the need to deal with logistics and planning. We want them actively looking into each fraction of a second to see what it contains -- and we don't want them thinking too much about the future. In fact, we don't want them thinking too much at all.
Taming Your Mind
What if, instead of being assured the suspect's attack will come within 30 seconds, TAD students are told it will come sometime in the 30 minutes? While there are clear advantages to observing people over a longer period, as time passes it becomes more difficult to remain in the Now. After a while, the mind wants to go elsewhere, off on its favorite mission: to think. And thinking is far different from observing.
Imagine we extend the 30 minutes to, say, 30 days, telling protectors: "Within the next month, there will absolutely be an attack on a public figure, possibly your protectee." The statement would be totally accurate: There will be an attack on some public figure within the month -- but even this truth isn't sufficiently specific or urgent to satisfy the mind's criteria for staying in the Now.
Many people wrongly assume that a protector's task is to be super attentive, on high-alert, wound up and ready to spring in the event of a specific outcome. That state, however, cannot be maintained, and remaining super alert for long periods of time causes anxiety, tension, and fatigue. Eventually, the state itself begins to detract from one's ability to perceive. Contrary to the unwanted results of trying to remain super alert, when protectors are fully in the Now, they are invigorated, not drained.
It isn't outside influences that make it so difficult to keep the mind at bay; it's the mind itself that tugs on the anchor. The mind doesn't like to be still. Its mission is to constantly wander, wonder, learn, think, chew on information, and, like a child, always have your attention. That's why people seek "peace of mind," but the phrase is flawed because mind and peace are opposites.
People go to great lengths to quiet the mind, to have just a few seconds that aren't disturbed by thinking. They ingest all variety of consciousness-altering compounds, from alcohol to LSD. Others seek thrills: They bungee jump, ski, skydive, swim with sharks, and shoot each other with paintballs. Similarly, sex, white water rafting, and boxing have great appeal because they bring us fully to the Now. When truly engaged in one of these activities, we don't think about bills, the office, next week, or last week. We are present for our present experience.
Once the mind gets in the way it labels and evaluates every perception, stamping each one with a judgment, a recap, an opinion, an analogy, a category, a theory, a conclusion. Most people are reluctant to see their own mind as an obstruction, but for many endeavors, the mind does get in
With the mind at bay, your attention can move from Now to Now, releasing each moment almost instantaneously so that the next can be perceived. In protective work (and in life), the rewards come when each past moment is allowed to expire gracefully, without resistance, so the current moment can live fully. Remaining in the Now means, in effect, that you lose your mind and come to your senses. Then you can perceive what is going on around you. Our thoughts sometimes become scattered all over the mental field, and to direct them toward a single goal, we must collect them. The protector's mission needs to be constantly remembered, re-collected, in the most literal meaning of the word.
In order to avoid problems like Operation Makeup Case, our firm seeks to remove logistical responsibilities from those assigned to close protective coverage when possible. Contrary to a practice applied by some in the field, we do not automatically assign the Detail Leader to close protection, because we want our close protectors free of the need to deal with logistics and planning. We want them actively looking into each fraction of a second to see what it contains -- and we don't want them thinking too much about the future. In fact, we don't want them thinking too much at all.
Taming Your Mind
What if, instead of being assured the suspect's attack will come within 30 seconds, TAD students are told it will come sometime in the 30 minutes? While there are clear advantages to observing people over a longer period, as time passes it becomes more difficult to remain in the Now. After a while, the mind wants to go elsewhere, off on its favorite mission: to think. And thinking is far different from observing.
Imagine we extend the 30 minutes to, say, 30 days, telling protectors: "Within the next month, there will absolutely be an attack on a public figure, possibly your protectee." The statement would be totally accurate: There will be an attack on some public figure within the month -- but even this truth isn't sufficiently specific or urgent to satisfy the mind's criteria for staying in the Now.
Many people wrongly assume that a protector's task is to be super attentive, on high-alert, wound up and ready to spring in the event of a specific outcome. That state, however, cannot be maintained, and remaining super alert for long periods of time causes anxiety, tension, and fatigue. Eventually, the state itself begins to detract from one's ability to perceive. Contrary to the unwanted results of trying to remain super alert, when protectors are fully in the Now, they are invigorated, not drained.
It isn't outside influences that make it so difficult to keep the mind at bay; it's the mind itself that tugs on the anchor. The mind doesn't like to be still. Its mission is to constantly wander, wonder, learn, think, chew on information, and, like a child, always have your attention. That's why people seek "peace of mind," but the phrase is flawed because mind and peace are opposites.
People go to great lengths to quiet the mind, to have just a few seconds that aren't disturbed by thinking. They ingest all variety of consciousness-altering compounds, from alcohol to LSD. Others seek thrills: They bungee jump, ski, skydive, swim with sharks, and shoot each other with paintballs. Similarly, sex, white water rafting, and boxing have great appeal because they bring us fully to the Now. When truly engaged in one of these activities, we don't think about bills, the office, next week, or last week. We are present for our present experience.
Once the mind gets in the way it labels and evaluates every perception, stamping each one with a judgment, a recap, an opinion, an analogy, a category, a theory, a conclusion. Most people are reluctant to see their own mind as an obstruction, but for many endeavors, the mind does get in
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