Support Veterans by contributing to the Cowlitz County Veterans Stand Down!
Eat at Burgerville between the hours of 4:00pm and 8:00pm on Veterans Day, Sunday November 11, 2012. 10% of all proceeds will benefit the annual Cowlitz County Veterans Stand Down. Bring your family, bring your friends! Hope to see you there!
Friday, November 9, 2012
Thursday, November 8, 2012
5th Way to Refine Your Disaster Personality
Here's tip number 5:
5. Training: By far, the best way to improve performance is to PRACTICE.
Make a list of your biggest risks (try to use data to do this, not just emotion). Then think creatively about how to give yourself or your family a dress rehearsal. The brain loves body memory. It is much better, for example, to stop, drop, and roll than to talk about stopping, dropping and rolling.
For example, we know that fires generally kill more people than all other disasters combines. (If you are poor or African American, you chances of being in a fire are particularly high.) So give your brain something to work with. Make surprise drills an annual tradition in your office or home. Take the stairs down to the ground--don't just stare at the stairwell door. Create incentives so that people want to do this.
For example, have the boss tell everyone they have to go. Have them explain why it matters (because your brain turns to mush in a real fire, and you often lose your eyesight because of the smoke). Have them announce that the official meeting spot will be the coffee shop two blocks away, where he or she wil buy everyone coffee and donuts. That way, you boost office morale at the same time, so you get something out of the experience even if nothing goes wrong.
So, this is the end of the tips. Again, take the time to read The Unthinkable by Amanda Ripley. It's a great study in human behavior in response to disaster. It sounds daunting, but it's an easy read, I promise!
5. Training: By far, the best way to improve performance is to PRACTICE.
Make a list of your biggest risks (try to use data to do this, not just emotion). Then think creatively about how to give yourself or your family a dress rehearsal. The brain loves body memory. It is much better, for example, to stop, drop, and roll than to talk about stopping, dropping and rolling.
For example, we know that fires generally kill more people than all other disasters combines. (If you are poor or African American, you chances of being in a fire are particularly high.) So give your brain something to work with. Make surprise drills an annual tradition in your office or home. Take the stairs down to the ground--don't just stare at the stairwell door. Create incentives so that people want to do this.
For example, have the boss tell everyone they have to go. Have them explain why it matters (because your brain turns to mush in a real fire, and you often lose your eyesight because of the smoke). Have them announce that the official meeting spot will be the coffee shop two blocks away, where he or she wil buy everyone coffee and donuts. That way, you boost office morale at the same time, so you get something out of the experience even if nothing goes wrong.
So, this is the end of the tips. Again, take the time to read The Unthinkable by Amanda Ripley. It's a great study in human behavior in response to disaster. It sounds daunting, but it's an easy read, I promise!
Earthquakes, Earthquakes, Everywhere!
A magnitude 7.5 earthquake rattled Guatemala yesterday, there was a 4.2 off the southern Oregon coast yesterday and a 6.3 off the west coast of Canada. Each of the articles are linked if you want to learn more. It's rocking and rolling all around us, are you paying attention?
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Tip #3 & #4
So far we've had Attitude and Knowledge as two ways to refine your disaster personality according to author Amanda Ripley. Here's number 3 & 4:
3. Anxiety Level: People with higher anxiety levels may have greater tendency to freeze or totally shut down in an emergency.
That is not always a bad thing, as my chapter on paralysis details. But it's a very common reaction, and it's important to recognize this risk and override it if you need to...if, say, your house is burning down or your ferry is sinking.
As in regular life, if you can learn tricks to control your anxiety, you will probably perform better. For example, some police officers are now trained to do rhythmic breathing whenever their guns are drawn. Take a yoga class and learn breathing and stretching exercises that can lower stress and anxiety levels.
4. Get in Shape: Once again, what helps us in regular life helps us in disasters.
The harsh truth is that out-of-shape people move more slowly, are more vulnerable to secondary injuries like heart attacks and have a harder time physically recovering from any injuries they do sustain. On 9/11, people with low physical ability were three times as likely to be hurt while evacuating the towers.
I can definitely find truth in these tips. Confession time, my anxiety level on basically at DEFCON 1 all the time. Yes, I know it's a problem, but I also know how to work with it and how to mold my anxiety into something that is more practical and that looks suspiciously like preparedness. And regarding getting in shape: what's the first rule of survival in the movie Zombieland? CARDIO! Stay tuned tomorrow for the last installment.
3. Anxiety Level: People with higher anxiety levels may have greater tendency to freeze or totally shut down in an emergency.
That is not always a bad thing, as my chapter on paralysis details. But it's a very common reaction, and it's important to recognize this risk and override it if you need to...if, say, your house is burning down or your ferry is sinking.
As in regular life, if you can learn tricks to control your anxiety, you will probably perform better. For example, some police officers are now trained to do rhythmic breathing whenever their guns are drawn. Take a yoga class and learn breathing and stretching exercises that can lower stress and anxiety levels.
4. Get in Shape: Once again, what helps us in regular life helps us in disasters.
The harsh truth is that out-of-shape people move more slowly, are more vulnerable to secondary injuries like heart attacks and have a harder time physically recovering from any injuries they do sustain. On 9/11, people with low physical ability were three times as likely to be hurt while evacuating the towers.
I can definitely find truth in these tips. Confession time, my anxiety level on basically at DEFCON 1 all the time. Yes, I know it's a problem, but I also know how to work with it and how to mold my anxiety into something that is more practical and that looks suspiciously like preparedness. And regarding getting in shape: what's the first rule of survival in the movie Zombieland? CARDIO! Stay tuned tomorrow for the last installment.
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
What's another way to refine your disaster personality?
Yesterday's tip was to adjust your attitude. Here's more of author Amanda Ripley's column in Time Magazine on ways to refine your personality:
2. Knowledge: The brain is amazingly malleable. We constantly underestimate it.
If you understand how you are likely to react during a disaster, you can learn to override your worst instincts. If you learn more about your actual risks--or the risks that scare you most--you will probably be calmer should something go wrong someday. For example, did you know that the most serious plane accidents are survivable? Yes, it's true. Of all passengers involved in serious accidents between 1983 and 2000, 56% survived. (Serious, for those of you who still don't believe me, is defined by the National Transportation Safety Board as accidents involving fire, severe injury and substantial aircraft damage.) So now that you know that, you know that your behavior can make a difference. And now that you know that, you might have a better ATTITUDE in the extremely unlikely event that your plane goes down.
Knowledge is power, so says Schoolhouse Rock. But you know what's even more powerful? SHARING knowledge. If you know a boatload about preparedness and disaster survival, magnify that power by sharing it with others. Just drop some knowledge to your friends and neighbors here and there, don't bombard them with grim statistics or start the conversation with, "You're going to die a slow, agonizing death if you don't have 5 years worth of disaster supplies." That's not a good way to win friends and influence people. I'll have another tip for you tomorrow.
2. Knowledge: The brain is amazingly malleable. We constantly underestimate it.
If you understand how you are likely to react during a disaster, you can learn to override your worst instincts. If you learn more about your actual risks--or the risks that scare you most--you will probably be calmer should something go wrong someday. For example, did you know that the most serious plane accidents are survivable? Yes, it's true. Of all passengers involved in serious accidents between 1983 and 2000, 56% survived. (Serious, for those of you who still don't believe me, is defined by the National Transportation Safety Board as accidents involving fire, severe injury and substantial aircraft damage.) So now that you know that, you know that your behavior can make a difference. And now that you know that, you might have a better ATTITUDE in the extremely unlikely event that your plane goes down.
Knowledge is power, so says Schoolhouse Rock. But you know what's even more powerful? SHARING knowledge. If you know a boatload about preparedness and disaster survival, magnify that power by sharing it with others. Just drop some knowledge to your friends and neighbors here and there, don't bombard them with grim statistics or start the conversation with, "You're going to die a slow, agonizing death if you don't have 5 years worth of disaster supplies." That's not a good way to win friends and influence people. I'll have another tip for you tomorrow.
Monday, November 5, 2012
Five Ways to Refine Your Disaster Personality
What's your disaster personality? Do you freeze up? Do you take charge? A great way to find out and learn about the body's sometimes surprising response to disaster is to read Amanda Ripley's outstanding book, "The Unthinkable." It's one of the best books that I've read and, trust me, I've read a book or two. The following is an excerpt from a column that the author did for Time Magazine after the book was published. If you are interested in borrowing a copy, email me at EngkrafJ@co.cowlitz.wa.us and I will lend it to you.
Five Ways to Refine Your Disaster Personality
1. Attitude: It turns out attitude really does matter.
People who perform well in crises and recover well afterwards tend to have three underlying advantages: they believe they can influence what happens to them; they find meaningful purpose in life's turmoil; they are convinced they can learn from both good and bad experiences.
If you're like me, you're thinking: Yeah, right. But we should probably consider these incredibly perfect and cheery outlooks as simply inspirational. Like all human behavior, they occur on a spectrum, and no one achieves all of them all of the time. Again and again, survivors have told me that their confidence in their own ability to shape their destiny helped propel them forward. And in any case, it makes sense to encourage this kind of outlook in yourself, in your kids--especially because this kind of burning optimism is helpful even if no disaster ever strikes.
Stay tuned for the other 4 ways to a better disaster personality! So, do you need an attitude adjustment? If so, find some ways to take charge of preparedness and empower yourself!
Five Ways to Refine Your Disaster Personality
1. Attitude: It turns out attitude really does matter.
People who perform well in crises and recover well afterwards tend to have three underlying advantages: they believe they can influence what happens to them; they find meaningful purpose in life's turmoil; they are convinced they can learn from both good and bad experiences.
If you're like me, you're thinking: Yeah, right. But we should probably consider these incredibly perfect and cheery outlooks as simply inspirational. Like all human behavior, they occur on a spectrum, and no one achieves all of them all of the time. Again and again, survivors have told me that their confidence in their own ability to shape their destiny helped propel them forward. And in any case, it makes sense to encourage this kind of outlook in yourself, in your kids--especially because this kind of burning optimism is helpful even if no disaster ever strikes.
Stay tuned for the other 4 ways to a better disaster personality! So, do you need an attitude adjustment? If so, find some ways to take charge of preparedness and empower yourself!
Friday, November 2, 2012
Fall Back
It's that time of year again. When you set your clocks back on Saturday night, don't forget to change the batteries in your smoke detector and rotate your disaster supplies -- stored food, water and any medications you may have in your kit. Don't wait until after your food and water expires and then throw it away. Check on stuff before it expires and then use it! Make a family indoor camping night---turn off all the lights and actually use your emergency supplies. It's not only a good way to use up food and water that's nearing its expiration date, it's also a good time to go over emergency plans and remember how to use emergency supplies. Plus, it's free family fun! Well, if you have teenagers, the fun level might be debatable.
What? You don't have a disaster kit? Well, now is the perfect time to remedy that situation. Make a disaster supply check list instead of a Christmas list. Put yourself in the shoes of those in New York and think about what you would need to go days on end without electricity. We may not have hurricanes in the Northwest but severe winter storms or an earthquake could cripple the grid just the same.
The good news is that not only do you get to score another hour of sleep (woo hoo!), you get a chance to make sure your kit is ready to go. Be prepared and be safe!
What? You don't have a disaster kit? Well, now is the perfect time to remedy that situation. Make a disaster supply check list instead of a Christmas list. Put yourself in the shoes of those in New York and think about what you would need to go days on end without electricity. We may not have hurricanes in the Northwest but severe winter storms or an earthquake could cripple the grid just the same.
The good news is that not only do you get to score another hour of sleep (woo hoo!), you get a chance to make sure your kit is ready to go. Be prepared and be safe!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)