Apparently 8% of men questioned in a U.S. survey believed they could beat a lion in a fist fight, women weren’t far behind with 7% thinking they’d take the win.
I have used this as a statistic to explain people’s overestimation in their self defence skill when talking to my students.
Today, I found myself clenching a fist a moving towards one.
We’ve had a fantastic day out at Paradise Wildlife Park in Hertfordshire, our kids watch “One, Zoo, Three” on iPlayerand wanted to use some of their Christmas money to visit.
It’s set up really well, lots of viewing platforms and chances to eat really close to all of the animals. An amazing dinosaur area and play parks were the cherries on top.
It’s not a massive sight, so we got around it in a couple of hours, had some lunch while tigers strolled past us and decided to do another lap and take in our favourites in more detail.
We noticed the male lion, Moto, was up by the viewing hut and rushed up to see him up close.
As we were watching him, he walked towards us and then lunged at “A”, Moto’s paws hit the glass at A’s shoulder height. It happened so fast, A was a bit suprised, I was on my toes moving forwards and my fist was clenched and moving up in to a guard. I certainly didn’t expect that reaction but I guess it highlights that I must like my boy 🥰
In reality, it was just my flinch reaction to protect, the lion just makes it a more interesting macho story.
My flinch reaction used to be to cover my face and curl up ready to get hit, I was bullied when I was younger and it shaped it. Years of martial arts and confidence training changed my auto-reaction.
We all have auto-reactions, especially around food, especially if you have used food as an emotional crutch in the past. When I’m feeling overwhelmed, I tend to reach for chewy foods; not in control of my emotions, I tend to go for crunchy stuff.
Obviously, there are non-comfort versions of those foods but I never go for those. What I have done over the years is formed a damage limitation version around them. A chomp bar for chewiness, walkers french fires for crunchiness; both coming in around a hundred calories and do the trick.
I could ultimately train myself in to different reactions to those feelings. Although, I’ve found that the more I meditate and look after my basics, the less I actually have them, thus it’s not worth the time and I like both things.
What auto-reactions do you have that aren’t taking you closer to your goals.
Darren “Samson” Checkley
