It’s a fine, beautiful day and everything is going along swimmingly. That’s what we want every day, right? And truth be told, most of our days ARE that way – if we would only notice it! But it seems that (by our own choice) we let our attention drift to stuff that obscures the good things that are always going on.
Even in a bad situation there are “good things” going on around us. But, if you are too wound up with stress, if you are only seeing the “bad,” you’ll miss the good stuff that is right there in front of you. I’ll admit that it may be a challenge to see the “good” in a “bad” situation, but you might NEVER see it if you don’t look for it!
Let’s take the example of a bad guy grabbing you. Not necessarily a dangerous criminal. Let’s just say he’s an over-eager, somewhat inebriated, self-proclaimed “stud” at a party. Even if he is ridiculously handsome, he still doesn’t have the right to be grabbing you, right? (You should be whole-heartedly agreeing with that!) With that in mind, let’s go ahead and consider him a “bad guy,” (or at least a pompous jerk). Let’s say it is the handsome devil in this picture.
You want him to let go of you and leave you alone, but he ain’t listening! Well you can certainly see the bad situation here. You’re understandably uncomfortable, and possibly angry or frightened. With a mind cluttered by a “woe is me, a helpless girl of no usable wit or strength” attitude, you won’t see the good things you can use to get out of this situation. Even when that “good thing” is as plain as the nose on his face! By the way, as you might guess by looking back at the title of this intriguing article, I am talking, literally, about the nose on his face.
Noses are quite sensitive, not just to the aroma of a pie in the oven or poo on your shoe, but to applied pressure as well. It doesn’t take much of a bump on the nose to water your eyes to the point of making it difficult to see. Of course that “bump” can also be quite painful and cause a bloody mess! (If you’re from the UK or one of its colonies, I wasn’t using the term “bloody” as swearing – I actually meant “blood” coming from the nose!)
The nose, because of its tenderness and ease of access, is a great target. But let me get this out of the way for all of you action movie lovers – for 99.999% of you, you CAN’T kill a person by pushing their “nose bone” into their brain! But you can cause them to recoil away from you in pain and discomfort.
Let’s talk about the structure of the nose for a moment. We can actually break the nose into two pieces (did you catch the wordplay there?). Most of the nose, from the tip to the face is made up of soft cartilage. Up towards the top, however, it becomes bone.
A good strong smack into that soft cartilage can temporarily distract and disorient someone. So, if you need to do that, do it. You can hit the nose with the side of your fist (like a hammer) or with the palm of your hand. You can also use things like your forehead, the back of your head, a book, a water bottle, your knee or elbow, and more. Don’t do it “gently.” If you’re in enough danger to warrant whacking someone on the nose, do it with ferocity, like you’re trying to drive a nail into the wall with a single shot.
But remember this: a whack to the nose, even a REALLY good one, will only cause TEMPORARY pain and discomfort! That means that when you bonk someone on the nose, you need to take those precious few seconds of disorientation to get away from that dangerous person, to hide, to get someone else’s help, or to grab and use a tool of self-defense! We’ll teach you how to do all of those extra things and MORE in our LaBCaF courses.
Just remember that you can always find something good to focus on, even in a bad situation, if you CHOOSE to look for it rather than just feeling like a victim. That “good” thing might take a little looking for or it might be as plain as the nose on a bad guy’s face! Whatever it is, you still have to decide to use it. Be strong, be calm, and take the action needed to support your personal boundaries and your safety.
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You are worth the fight!
Until next time,
Cranford
