Years ago I was walking with Michael through a parklike setting on the side of a lake in a friendly berg. A VietNam Veteran, he walked slightly in front of me. He walked backwards talking to me, while scanning the trees above, the bushes beside the path, then turned slowly to investigate the path in front of us and the ground below. His wartime training. he said, made him this way. He was now in the habit of looking at his world from a 360 degree angle, and hoped I would too.
As a restauranteur, his training was put to good use, as he could notice a missing fork, napkin, salt shaker or a frown on his customer's face from 30 feet away from the table.
David T. Morris from EZINE Articles(http://ezinearticles.com/?Being-Aware-of-Your-Surroundings) suggests we learn the skills of a person like Michael to keep us safe from criminal type activity. "Pretend that you are a mugger. . . picture how you would attack someone in various places". For example, he says, that we should check our homes, and businesses, and places of entertainment, for example, the bathroom stalls. Figure out which stall is the most vulnerable.
He goes on to ask us to consider which hand or arm we use the most as we open a door or a bathroom stall door, so that we are aware how we use that arm should someone be on the other side of that door.
He gives us an exercise to train ourselves to expand our field of vision:
"Look at an object in the room you're in. Now without moving your eyes or head, what do you see out of the sides of your eyes? How about top or bottom? It's amazing how much more you see when you pay attention to your peripheral vision."
This training is not only important in saving our lives in a difficult situation, but teaches us how to be more aware of our physical world, even to the extent of creating within us a better memory for detail, or sensing the emotional state of those we love.
In an eyeblink we will soon notice the slightest change in the world around us.