VSE

[aluminumfalcon]

Considering the topic about being aware mentioned in the latest Transcript about paying close attention to your selves and your environment:

(L) Yeah! That was a big sign. The attack on the web site... that should have clued me in. The banking issues... So, basically you're saying that there is attacking energies from numerous directions and I was just not being aware and paying close attention to where I was putting my body and what I was doing with it? Is that basically what it amounts to?

A: Close. You also failed to emphasize the situation to those around.

Q: (Perceval) New people.

(L) But very often when I emphasize that there are weird energies going on, people laugh at me.

(Mr. Scott) I don't! I'm always sending you popups saying, "Look! There are signs!"

(Perceval) Well, we didn't have to emphasize the attack on SOTT. Everybody knew that.

(Approaching Infinity) Well, maybe that these things were all going on, and just to reiterate that all this is happening - especially for those of us who are new guys that just got here.

A: Yes.

Q: (Pierre) Yeah, like Data hurting himself.

(Perceval) Alright, so we'll tell them now then. All you new people, you better be reminding yourself all the time. Danger lurks around every corner. You have to be 100% aware...

(L) Always expect attack!

(Perceval) ...all the time! And if you don't, I will beat you. [laughter] And I'm not joking!

(Pierre) And nobody sits down on any chair for 1 month!

(Perceval) No, but we're not joking. Generally speaking, after being here for a long time, we tend to be overcautious. So, ya'll need to get into that frame of mind.

(Andromeda) Always be aware.

(Perceval) Just expect the unexpected. Take extra precautions with things. Don't be just sauntering along, don't be dissociating, pay attention to reality around you.

I was reminded of a concept that I read about in Stephen R. Donaldson’s fantasy novel, Lord Foul’s Bane. The hero contracted leprosy and had to adapt to a self-preservation system called: VSE (Visual Surveillance of Extremities, a periodic self-examination used by leprosy sufferers to identify injuries with the potential for infection).

“As he walked, he flicked his eyes up and down himself, verifying that there were no unexpected tears or snags in his clothing, checking his hands for scratches, making sure that nothing had happened to the scar which stretched from the heel of his right palm across where his last two fingers had been. He could hear the doctors saying, "VSE, Mr. Covenant. Visual Surveillance of Extremities. Your health depends upon it. Those dead nerves will never grow back-you'll never know when you've hurt yourself unless you get in the habit of checking. Do it all the time-think about it all the time. The next time you might not be so lucky."
VSE. Those initials comprised his entire life.”
“Doctors! he thought mordantly. But without them, he might not have survived even this long. He had been so ignorant of his danger. Self-neglect might have killed him.”

When thought of in consideration as a metaphor or example or analogy to kind of adapt in our own lives:.beyond our extremities, as the definition goes, rather, extended to boundaries further from oneself. Consider having to keep an awareness for life’s sake of your immediate surroundings, constantly.

I remembered this aspect of the novel since having read it as a teenager. I believe that I employ this version of the VSE concept in certain ways for some distances beyond myself. Although, I have to admit, constant distractions do lead me to lose focus and drifting in my own thoughts occasionally will cause me to miss what’s right in front of me. I still do keep it in the back of my mind as a way to keep diligent of crises/opportunity.

FWIW. These thoughts just occurred to me so I thought that I’d share them.

 

[MusicMan]

I lost focus briefly today while I was mowing a lawn. I banged my head on an overhanging verandah. Now there is an egg sized lump there to remind me of my 'indiscretion'.
Interestingly, there was a large reptile (blue-tonged lizard) in the garden at the time, might have been two.
Lizards are so hard to tell apart.

 

[Woodsman]

I remember that Stephen R. Donaldson book series, and that particular passage as well; also read during my teen years.

I did not think to employ VSE as you describe, however. It seems like a good idea.

-The two places I DO consciously put myself into high-observation mode are when I'm bicycling, particularly down steep hills. (I have old scar tissue from a time when I crashed on such a bike ride, and it was entirely due to my mind wandering when I should have been paying attention to the pavement flying past me at 35 kilometers per hour). -No bike helmets in those days, either!

I also use a form of VSE when I climb or descend stairs, again because of an accident I once had. -I mindlessly sauntered down some concrete steps leading from my front door and failed to realize that they'd been coated with ice from dripping eves which had then frozen. It must have looked somewhat cartoonish for an outside observer to see my feet shoot out and my body fall nearly horizontally on the steps. I cracked the back of my head *hard* on an edge of concrete. I think I must have used up one of my "Get Out of Jail Free" cards that morning. I'm surprised I didn't kill myself, and the memory sticks. I also have friends who have seriously injured themselves falling on the most mundane of stair wells. I find I go into a high-observation mode on stair wells now, staying in the moment, being aware of the texture of the hand rails and walls and such.

It's probably a good idea to start using a form of VSE before experiencing hard lessons.