<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cBran thought about it. \u2018Can a man still be brave if he\u2019s afraid?\u2019 \u2018That is the only time a man can be brave,\u2019 his father told him.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n – George R.R. Martin, \u201cA Game of Thrones\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n In \u201cFreedom from Fear,\u201d Peyton Quinn says, \u201cWe can allow ourselves to be ruled by fear, or we can determine that we will rule ourselves through out own positive self-worth combined with rational optimism.\u201d I agree with Peyton, and notice that he says \u201cruled by fear\u201d or \u201crule ourselves.\u201d This does not mean we can eliminate fear, but we can learn to deal with it. In this short articles I\u2019ll address this, and then provide some resources for further study.<\/p>\n Everyone experiences fear, especially in a combat or self-defense situation. General George Patton, who I quoted at the beginning of this newsletter, also said, \u201cAnd every man is scared in his first action. If he says he\u2019s not, he\u2019s a goddamn liar. The real hero is the man who fights even though he\u2019s scared. Some get over their fright in a minute, under fire; others take an hour; for some it takes days.\u201d Experiencing fear is not something to be ashamed of, it is our emotional equivalent of warning lights.<\/p>\n For purposes here, I want to focus on dealing with fear in a self- defense situation. When threatened, and the paralyzing fear that cam come with such threats starts to take over, we want to make the decisions that will allow us to control and use our fear instead of its controlling us.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll share two steps taught by Sanford Strong on breaking through paralyzing fear:<\/p>\n 1. Decide what you fear most: being injured or being controlled by a criminal. Accepting injury as the price we pay to escape violence is crucial.<\/p>\n 2, Mind-set against your fears by visualizing how you will escape. That focuses you on escaping him instead of obeying him.<\/p>\n To survive criminal violence, you need to muster and concentrate every resource available to you for a few desperate seconds. Use your fear, combined with anger at your attacker, to drive yourself to extraordinary, undreamt-of animal strength and ferocity in times of danger.<\/p>\n (The drill for focusing fear after this article will help with the visualization elements.)<\/p>\n Another reason visualization is so important is that it is much safer than the alternative of putting yourself into life threatening situations on a regular basis. (Which is one way to train to use fear.)<\/p>\n One of the best, if not the best, way to train yourself to deal with the fear of being attacked is to engage in adrenal stress training. I\u2019m fortunate to be friends with two of the best trainers in the country for this type of training. Peyton Quinn\u2019s courses at RMCAT and Bill Kipp\u2019s FAST Defense training seminars both provide excellent instruction on overcoming fear to defend yourself. I highly recommend and encourage people to take this kind of training, even if they are already dedicated martial artists.<\/p>\n Peyton Quinn\u2019s site: http:\/\/www.rmcat.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n