Self Defense blog kicks off well!

I started this blog forever ago in hopes of helping folks with my martial arts knowledge, but now I’ve moved the thoughts, dreams, and reality to another blog.

Barbara Swafford of Blogging Without a Blog, helped kick start my new self defense website Think Like a Black Belt this week. You absolutely must go read this short and awesome review! It is called Kicking It.

The response to the site launch and Barbara’s review has been heartwarming and motivating! Already readers, including women and parents, have found the information useful and are taking action in their own lives to keep themselves safer.

I’ve posted five blog articles or post so far at Think Like a Black Belt. One is an overview of the blog and the rest cover either physical, mental or emotional self dense. Why don’t you drop by or read Barbara’s review? Here are the links to most current posts:

• How would you face danger or disaster?

• Self Defense with ‘Heel Palm Strike’

• Defense Against the Dark Hearts

• No one wants this kind of relationship!

• Think like a Black Belt? Yes you can!

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NOTE: I wholeheartedly believe the information at Think Like a Black Belt is so important, I may use this site to direct readers there. I don’t plan any more self defense posts here, but you may find what you are looking for in confidence, wisdom, and insight at Think Like a Black Belt. Thank you and hope to see you there!

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New self defense site ready for sneak peek!

I started this self defense and personal safety blog “Black Belt Sage” almost a year ago with high hopes, but after a year of blogging as SpaceAgeSage, I’ve got this blogging thing down much better! To learn how to defend yourself and your family — check out my self defense site for everyone!

The new site is Think Like a Black Belt blog! Drop on by for a sneak peek before my official launch and full tweaking of the site to discover the how to defend yourself physically, mentally, and emotionally. I’ve just started with a few posts, but more will be added soon! Topics I’ll be writing at Think Like a Black Belt are:

• Basic Self Defense Moves
• Mental Toughness
• Unplugging from Emotional Predators
• Martial Arts Wisdom
• Frontline Stories
• Kids & Self Defense

Coming soon to the site will be my e-book Think Like a Black Belt — 15 Personal Safety Tips. I’m excited it’s almost here because the information is vital for keeping safe, but it’s also a tremendous help to parents. Over 100 discussion questions — at least seven on each of the 15 tips — will help parents and older children explore self defense topics. More information on that soon-to-be-unveiled gem of self defense knowledge is here.

I’m also blogging at LoriHoeck.com, where I “Write just for the Hoeck of it”  — poems and prose, old stuff and new stuff, a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

Thank you for stopping by and hope to see you in my new blogs soon:

Think Like a Black Belt

LoriHoeck.com

Pause button for this blog

I have been writing an e-book on self defense for non-martial artists and looking into how to integrate that with a new site for this blog. I hope to resume posting within a month or less.

Thanks for understanding!

Until then, please visit my other blog: SpaceAgeSage.com — Where wisdom fuels growth

Guard your trust to save your life

It is always wise to avoid placing yourself in any position of physical vulnerability, but criminals also look for non-physical weaknesses to exploit. One of them is manipulating a person’s trust. People give away their trust to the wrong people for many reasons:

• Middle school and high school students feel a strong urge to fit in and often extend their locus of trust to a more powerful person or to a group.

• Many college students face similar issues when leaving home. They are used to the often unseen protection their parents have provided and are too willing to extend their trust to others, especially if they feel they have to spread their wings and push the envelop in risky areas.

• Those suffering from the loss of a relationship become vulnerable because a gaping, emotional hole cries to be filled with companionship, and the normal, healthy barriers go down too easily.

• Anyone who is starved for attention, who acts out by risk taking, who is willing to compromise better judgment, or who has something to prove may extend their center of trust to others for positive feedback or an emotional pay off. Cyber stalkers use these vulnerabilities to lure children online.

• People who have diminished capacity, like senior citizens facing Alzheimer’s, may lose their ability to discern who is or isn’t a con artist.

• People who are used to giving a great deal of respect to authority figures may extend their trust too much to doctors, attorneys, teachers, ministers, and government officials. There is nothing that says these people can’t be criminals or predators.

• Unfortunately, even family members can’t always be trusted. Many a young child has had to deal with the leering relative with wandering hands or worse.

Even people with strong boundaries and good awareness skills can be targets of predators if they don’t understand that some criminals are experts at desensitizing their prey with incredible patience. For example, predators testing the waters at a workplace might break down the barrier and expectations with targets this way:

• Sit uncomfortably close to you a few times until you get use to it
• Remove some lint from your clothing or fix you hair so they touch you
• Bring publications to your side of the desk and lean over to read them
• Put a hand on your shoulder or leg, increasing the duration over time
• “Accidently” touch a breast or drop something in your lap
• Get you alone and try something overtly sexual
• Force themselves on you saying, “Hey look, you want this because you never stopped my advances before now.”

It is important to see your trust as a treasure only you can loan out to others. Once given, you can take it back, because it is always yours. Make sure the recipient is worthy of it. Don’t let anyone uses it against you or make you feel guilty when you take it back. Keep your trust safe.