Simple lesson from this Lifeclass can SAVE your life.  Pay attention.  Listen.  Learn.  TRUST your Gut.  Run AWAY from fear.  It’s powerful when you use YOUR intuition…  Here are my notes…

• Case Study: Kelly – 1997 with Gavin De Becker. Gavin tells the story of Kelly.  She was coming home with her hands full of groceries.  The door to her building was unlocked.  She went in anyway.  One of her bags of groceries broke and a can of cat food went rolling down the stairs.  A man’s voice yelled up, “I’ll bring it to you.”  She felt uneasy.  She told him No, she didn’t need help.  He insisted.  She let him.  When inside her apartment, he raped her for 3 hours at gun point.  When he left the room and told her to stay, she didn’t.  She quietly followed him, went out the door and into her neighbors apartment.  Listening to fear saved her life.  Life changing and eye opening.  When she told him no the first time, and he persisted in trying to help her – when you say no and you mean no and the other person doesn’t take no for an answer –  you should think immediately (in ANY situation), “Why is this person trying to control me?”
• “No” is a complete sentence.
• Lesson: Your body’s fear is a gift.  Trusting your gut can save your life.
• Case Study: Gavin De Becker (“The Gift of Fear”) and Using Intuition to save your life – When something tells you that something is not right…that is your inner voice.  LISTEN to your inner voice.  EVERY creature when they sense fear they RUN from it.  We are the only creature that runs to it.  STOP.
• Case Study: 2007.  Being raped by her own estranged husband, she felt betrayed.  She realizes now…things were a little different.  It felt eerie.  Something was off.  It was darker than normal.  The trashcan was in the parking place where she normally parked.  The hairs standing up on the back of her neck and arms.  THIS is your instinct.  The FEELING is the WARNING SIGN.
• Lesson:  The feeling that something is off is the warning sign.  Let that be ENOUGH to make you turn the other way or to ask what is going on.
• Lesson:  Staying safe has nothing to do with IQ.  It’s hearing your inner self saying, “something is off.”
• Case Study: 1999. Betty Kregor.  Brutally attacked in her own front yard.  Being polite to a stranger and ignoring her 23 warning signs.  Fear, sweaty palms, heart rate up…that is YOUR sign that this is not right.  When you get fear, our challenge is to listen to it.  Not to deny it and push it down….which is what so many women do.  Women want to be nice and even though you are sensing all of this fear, you want to be nice and you ignore the signs.  Listen to your internal voice.
• NEVER ALLOW THEM TO TAKE YOU SOMEWHERE ELSE. –  The BEST advice on Oprah’s empowering shows.
• Case Study:  Stanford Strong’s advice – “Never allow them to take you to a second location.” Do NOT allow yourself to be taken to the 2nd location because anyone that is trying to harm you will be trying to take you to an isolated location.  THIS message of survival can absolutely SAVE YOUR LIFE.  Notes from Denise and her attack – Do not fall victim to a false sense of security.  Two tips to remember – 1.  If you have to choose between being submissive or fighting, always choose to fight.  2.  Never allow them to take you somewhere else. Never.
• It’s all about using your gut in the moment.
• If you are jogging early in the morning or in the evening – when your headphones are on, your sensibility and your ability to adapt in the moment –  headphones cuts down your ability to react in the moment.  BE present.  The FEELING is the first warning sign.
• Case Study: Gabrielle – Her instincts told her to run out of the store but she fought down the instincts.  “The second he walked in, hairs rose on the back of my neck and everything was telling me to run.”  But she didn’t.  She was robbed, raped and thought she would die.  But she didn’t.  Be calm until you see an opening.  Gavin de Becker offers some more lessons.
• Men at core are afraid that women will laugh at them.  Women at core are afraid that men will kill them.
• In our culture, we are taught that women have to be nice at all times.  THIS IS NOT TRUE!
• BUT it’s when we are nice, we open up the door for people to come in – and open our self up – that we are at the greatest risk.
• From Gavin De Becker’s book, “The Gift of Fear” (p.67)- “We must learn and then teach our children that niceness does not equal goodness.  Niceness is a decision, a strategy of social interaction. It is not a character trait.  People seeking to control others almost always present the image of a nice person in the beginning.”
• Lesson:  Someone who’s out to hurt you will almost always start out being “nice.”
• Case Study: The “boogie man” usually arrives clean cut and nice.  Oprah’s show about luring kids away in 36 seconds.  It’s time to remember to tell kids that a boogie man can be anyone.  Don’t paint the picture of a mean man coming to take them away, because it could be a very nice well dressed guy looking for a cute puppy…this is the kind of world that we live in.  Trust your guy.  Give your kids the tools that they need to trust their instincts too.
• Run away from the danger.  ALWAYS run away from the danger.  When your ears perk up…when something is off…listen to your gut.  Your gut is the voice of your higher self.  Your personal GPS system to guide you and to keep you safe.