Skills Heroes Need: Psychological Fitness
Apr. 1st, 2021 06:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithPsychological fitness is a key trait, for heroes, helpful in most heroic situations. Train your mind to be alert and responsive. The more mentally fit you are, the better prepared you are to handle psychological challenges. Even if you are not an expert, do what you can to prepare yourself for likely situations. Think about the kind of issues that heroes most often face. Decide which of those you are willing and able to do. Then develop a plan that will prepare you for those challenges. Psychological skills offer heroic opportunities without requiring physical aptitude.
If you have mental limitations, then you will need to think about how to work around them. Scroll down for some ideas on that.
* Assisted decision-making. When someone is temporarily or routinely unable to make decisions on their own, you can help. There are basic and detailed instructions for doing so ethically. A WRAP book lays out plans for coping with variable conditions, helping caregivers make choices in keeping with the person's wishes. Originally developed for mental issues, the same concept generalizes well to any challenge that can change unexpectedly and require support.
* Debate. Disagreeing with someone makes your brain work much harder than agreeing with someone. So if you practice regularly, then your mental muscles get stronger. Debate is better than ranting because its structure, when properly applied, helps to maintain a rational focus based on logical arguments backed by facts. Debating also encourages you to think logically about issues, to notice other people's logical fallacies, and to observe that most politicians have worse debating skills than a high school freshman. Improve your debating skills. Negotiation and mediation are related skills for handling different needs and disputes.
* Decision-making. This is a basic life skill. There are many tools to help you make better decisions. Here is a whimsical decision-making worksheet, a more serious one, and a pro-con chart.
* Distress tolerance. This ability enables you to withstand hardships. It's also known as grit or mental toughness, although there's an annoying tendency to confuse grit with passion or perseverance which are useful but different things. Here are some examples of distress tolerance skills. and exercises to improve your mental toughness. Some non-drug pain control methods overlap with this area. If you have past issues that undermine your grit, then work on them; address root causes so you can move on. Know your triggers and how to cope with them. Use counterconditioning to break negative associations and replace them with positive associations. It is much less miserable than grinding away triggers by brute force as in exposure therapy, and thus safer and more effective.
* Ethics. A sound ethical framework is necessary for heroism, particularly for those with extraordinary power. Think about your ethics and write a personal code of ethics. Consider ethical theories, stages of development, and differences across cultures. Know the steps for ethical decision making. Get a list of many ethical systems. Choose a dilemma, and then resolve it according to each system. Which ones tend to produce the best solutions over the widest range of issues? This will assist you in comparing many possible perspectives.
* Fear tolerance. Work to build your courage and your confidence. Do things that scare you or otherwise require courage. Take manageable risks. Play games that teach you how to take risks and face fear. Understand the window of tolerance and how to work with it.
* Know how to handle emergencies. Ignorance kills. So does panic, especially in crowds. Understand the psychology of survival.
* Languages. The more different languages you speak, the more effective you become at communication and the broader your worldview gets. It is very useful to know a basic set of emergency words and phrases, at least in the major languages plus anything else common in your area. World languages and supraregional languages include Arabic, English, French, German, Hindustani, Italian, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, and Spanish. Esperanto is handy because, while speakers are uncommon, they tend to be gregarious and helpful.
https://www.mappingmegan.com/words-and-phrases-to-know-in-every-language/
https://www.fluentu.com/blog/first-phrases-to-learn-in-a-new-language/
https://www.omniglot.com/language/signs/entext.htm
https://www.indifferentlanguages.com/words/emergency
https://www.arabicpod101.com/blog/2018/02/03/top-100-basic-arabic-phrases-and-expressions/
https://polymath.org/esperanto_survival.php
https://www.lawlessfrench.com/vocabulary/emergencies-and-disasters/
https://www.rocketlanguages.com/german/words/german-emergency-words
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g293860-s604/India:Important.Phrases.html
http://www.smartphrase.com/Italian/it_problems_voc.shtml
https://www.chineseclass101.com/lesson/absolute-beginner-chinese-for-every-day-51-10-phrases-to-help-you-in-an-emergency/
https://www.speaklanguages.com/russian/phrases/emergencies
https://baselang.com/blog/vocabulary/emergency-spanish/
You can also do something heroic just by learning and using. an endangered language. This option is open to people with minimal mobility or energy, as long as you have mental acuity. Focus not just on learning to understand it, but on creating cultural material within it -- write, do calligraphy, tell stories, sing, describe everyday objects, anything that gives people a way to use the language.
Gestural languages such as American Sign Language and Plains Indian Sign have an advantage in that many words are visual representations, which can work even if you don't share a common language. There are other options for communicating if you don't speak the same language.
You should also learn how to send and receive Morse code. (How often have you seen onscreen heroes use this to save the day? Now, how many people do you know who can actually use it for more than SOS?) The Alpha Bravo code is useful too.
* Logical fallacies. Know the types and how to counter them. However, be aware that a few of these -- like slippery slope and guilt by association -- can have some validity. Analyze the situation and respond mindfully. Closely related are cognitive distortions, which you can also counteract.
* Mental gymnastics. Most emergencies require mental agility and speed, which is easier if you plan ahead. The more you do, the more your mental agility increases, and the easier it becomes to think outside the box, identify assumptions, and avoid false impressions or biases. This also helps in understanding people who think very differently than you do. Brain teasers, koans, and puzzles can all help with mental gymnastics. These sites have many brain exercises. Optical illusions let you practice flipping back and forth between different ways of viewing the same thing. Play games with complex rules, strategies, or survival themes.
* Mental issues. Consider your own needs and those of others. These often require special preparations in case of disaster. Know how to handle neurodiversity and children with special needs.
* Mindfulness. What you do, do with all you are. Learn to be mindful. Here are some mindfulness exercises.
* Nonanxious presence. Even if you can't solve the problem, you can avoid making it worse and provide comfort. Learn how to develop a nonanxious presence.
* Observation and deduction. You must first notice a problem, and then figure out what to do about it. Observation is more than merely seeing. Practice observation by making still life art and analyzing art. (Some police departments use art training.) Play Kim's Game or Blink. Analyze events afterwards. Practice deductive skills and learn to deduce things.
* Problem-solving. First, it is crucial to understand the difference between a clay problem (that you can change) and a rock problem (that you can't change). Tolerating clay problems instead of changing them is very bad, although tolerating them temporarily while you work on changing them is often useful. Understand the process of engineering problem solving. A methodical approach works best for long-term solutions. In an emergency, you need to make decisions fast in order to solve problems. Never move faster than your ability to make good decisions.
* Resilience skills. The more resilient you are, the better you handle challenges and the faster you recover from damage. Understand resilience factors. Browse a list of resilience skills and learn to become more resilient. The more resilience factors and skills you can stack up, the more effective a hero you will become.
* Roleplaying. This can be used for education or entertainment. Here are some disaster scenarios to explore. Disasters can be added to any roleplaying game. Some roleplaying games feature useful themes, like Disaster! and Endure. Roleplaying can really teach you a lot about creative thinking, problem-solving, and using what you have. When our pump was at risk of falling through the floor, I suggested tying a rope around it to prevent that, which worked -- an idea directly inspired from roleplaying experiences with rope use.
Simulations are more elaborate exercises, akin to live-action roleplaying, in which people physically act out a disaster plan. There are instructions for children and adults . Here are a few ideas for earthquakes, and a more detailed flood scenario. The Great California ShakeOut is an example of a large-scale scenario.
* Situational awareness. Pay attention to everything. Suit your level of alertness to the context. Don't be the idiot who falls down a manhole while looking at a cellphone.
* Staying calm. It's important to be calm in general, but especially in an emergency. Understand how an emergency affects your brain. Learn all the calming techniques you can. Here are some thoughts from NASA. Learn about the 4F response and how to cope with it. You can practice these skills by playing any video or tabletop game with high-pressure factors such as a timer. Know how to calm an upset person. Remember that few situations are so bad that panic can't make them a lot worse.
Skills Heroes Need
Introduction
Physical Fitness
If you have mental limitations, then you will need to think about how to work around them. Scroll down for some ideas on that.
* Assisted decision-making. When someone is temporarily or routinely unable to make decisions on their own, you can help. There are basic and detailed instructions for doing so ethically. A WRAP book lays out plans for coping with variable conditions, helping caregivers make choices in keeping with the person's wishes. Originally developed for mental issues, the same concept generalizes well to any challenge that can change unexpectedly and require support.
* Debate. Disagreeing with someone makes your brain work much harder than agreeing with someone. So if you practice regularly, then your mental muscles get stronger. Debate is better than ranting because its structure, when properly applied, helps to maintain a rational focus based on logical arguments backed by facts. Debating also encourages you to think logically about issues, to notice other people's logical fallacies, and to observe that most politicians have worse debating skills than a high school freshman. Improve your debating skills. Negotiation and mediation are related skills for handling different needs and disputes.
* Decision-making. This is a basic life skill. There are many tools to help you make better decisions. Here is a whimsical decision-making worksheet, a more serious one, and a pro-con chart.
* Distress tolerance. This ability enables you to withstand hardships. It's also known as grit or mental toughness, although there's an annoying tendency to confuse grit with passion or perseverance which are useful but different things. Here are some examples of distress tolerance skills. and exercises to improve your mental toughness. Some non-drug pain control methods overlap with this area. If you have past issues that undermine your grit, then work on them; address root causes so you can move on. Know your triggers and how to cope with them. Use counterconditioning to break negative associations and replace them with positive associations. It is much less miserable than grinding away triggers by brute force as in exposure therapy, and thus safer and more effective.
* Ethics. A sound ethical framework is necessary for heroism, particularly for those with extraordinary power. Think about your ethics and write a personal code of ethics. Consider ethical theories, stages of development, and differences across cultures. Know the steps for ethical decision making. Get a list of many ethical systems. Choose a dilemma, and then resolve it according to each system. Which ones tend to produce the best solutions over the widest range of issues? This will assist you in comparing many possible perspectives.
* Fear tolerance. Work to build your courage and your confidence. Do things that scare you or otherwise require courage. Take manageable risks. Play games that teach you how to take risks and face fear. Understand the window of tolerance and how to work with it.
* Know how to handle emergencies. Ignorance kills. So does panic, especially in crowds. Understand the psychology of survival.
* Languages. The more different languages you speak, the more effective you become at communication and the broader your worldview gets. It is very useful to know a basic set of emergency words and phrases, at least in the major languages plus anything else common in your area. World languages and supraregional languages include Arabic, English, French, German, Hindustani, Italian, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, and Spanish. Esperanto is handy because, while speakers are uncommon, they tend to be gregarious and helpful.
https://www.mappingmegan.com/words-and-phrases-to-know-in-every-language/
https://www.fluentu.com/blog/first-phrases-to-learn-in-a-new-language/
https://www.omniglot.com/language/signs/entext.htm
https://www.indifferentlanguages.com/words/emergency
https://www.arabicpod101.com/blog/2018/02/03/top-100-basic-arabic-phrases-and-expressions/
https://polymath.org/esperanto_survival.php
https://www.lawlessfrench.com/vocabulary/emergencies-and-disasters/
https://www.rocketlanguages.com/german/words/german-emergency-words
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g293860-s604/India:Important.Phrases.html
http://www.smartphrase.com/Italian/it_problems_voc.shtml
https://www.chineseclass101.com/lesson/absolute-beginner-chinese-for-every-day-51-10-phrases-to-help-you-in-an-emergency/
https://www.speaklanguages.com/russian/phrases/emergencies
https://baselang.com/blog/vocabulary/emergency-spanish/
You can also do something heroic just by learning and using. an endangered language. This option is open to people with minimal mobility or energy, as long as you have mental acuity. Focus not just on learning to understand it, but on creating cultural material within it -- write, do calligraphy, tell stories, sing, describe everyday objects, anything that gives people a way to use the language.
Gestural languages such as American Sign Language and Plains Indian Sign have an advantage in that many words are visual representations, which can work even if you don't share a common language. There are other options for communicating if you don't speak the same language.
You should also learn how to send and receive Morse code. (How often have you seen onscreen heroes use this to save the day? Now, how many people do you know who can actually use it for more than SOS?) The Alpha Bravo code is useful too.
* Logical fallacies. Know the types and how to counter them. However, be aware that a few of these -- like slippery slope and guilt by association -- can have some validity. Analyze the situation and respond mindfully. Closely related are cognitive distortions, which you can also counteract.
* Mental gymnastics. Most emergencies require mental agility and speed, which is easier if you plan ahead. The more you do, the more your mental agility increases, and the easier it becomes to think outside the box, identify assumptions, and avoid false impressions or biases. This also helps in understanding people who think very differently than you do. Brain teasers, koans, and puzzles can all help with mental gymnastics. These sites have many brain exercises. Optical illusions let you practice flipping back and forth between different ways of viewing the same thing. Play games with complex rules, strategies, or survival themes.
* Mental issues. Consider your own needs and those of others. These often require special preparations in case of disaster. Know how to handle neurodiversity and children with special needs.
* Mindfulness. What you do, do with all you are. Learn to be mindful. Here are some mindfulness exercises.
* Nonanxious presence. Even if you can't solve the problem, you can avoid making it worse and provide comfort. Learn how to develop a nonanxious presence.
* Observation and deduction. You must first notice a problem, and then figure out what to do about it. Observation is more than merely seeing. Practice observation by making still life art and analyzing art. (Some police departments use art training.) Play Kim's Game or Blink. Analyze events afterwards. Practice deductive skills and learn to deduce things.
* Problem-solving. First, it is crucial to understand the difference between a clay problem (that you can change) and a rock problem (that you can't change). Tolerating clay problems instead of changing them is very bad, although tolerating them temporarily while you work on changing them is often useful. Understand the process of engineering problem solving. A methodical approach works best for long-term solutions. In an emergency, you need to make decisions fast in order to solve problems. Never move faster than your ability to make good decisions.
* Resilience skills. The more resilient you are, the better you handle challenges and the faster you recover from damage. Understand resilience factors. Browse a list of resilience skills and learn to become more resilient. The more resilience factors and skills you can stack up, the more effective a hero you will become.
* Roleplaying. This can be used for education or entertainment. Here are some disaster scenarios to explore. Disasters can be added to any roleplaying game. Some roleplaying games feature useful themes, like Disaster! and Endure. Roleplaying can really teach you a lot about creative thinking, problem-solving, and using what you have. When our pump was at risk of falling through the floor, I suggested tying a rope around it to prevent that, which worked -- an idea directly inspired from roleplaying experiences with rope use.
Simulations are more elaborate exercises, akin to live-action roleplaying, in which people physically act out a disaster plan. There are instructions for children and adults . Here are a few ideas for earthquakes, and a more detailed flood scenario. The Great California ShakeOut is an example of a large-scale scenario.
* Situational awareness. Pay attention to everything. Suit your level of alertness to the context. Don't be the idiot who falls down a manhole while looking at a cellphone.
* Staying calm. It's important to be calm in general, but especially in an emergency. Understand how an emergency affects your brain. Learn all the calming techniques you can. Here are some thoughts from NASA. Learn about the 4F response and how to cope with it. You can practice these skills by playing any video or tabletop game with high-pressure factors such as a timer. Know how to calm an upset person. Remember that few situations are so bad that panic can't make them a lot worse.
Skills Heroes Need
Introduction
Physical Fitness
