STAMPING

Stamping

By Avery Mitchell Urban Survival Scientist

Raped at a place that seemed safe. Sliced by a knife sharp enough to cut ice. Shot in a spot where gushing blood could barely be blot. These types of life experiences are recorded in the mind with feelings, smells, sounds, and images. As the body is experiencing, the mind is “stamping,” or recording an episode for future reference. The initial experience influences the mind‟s subsequent response to stimuli that an individual associates with the original episode.

Stamping is tied to the Episodic Memory part of the brain which allows someone to recall events of personal significance with vivid details and clear description. The more emotional the memory the more delineated the stamp.

I coined the term „stamping” specifically to describe the phenomenon that occurs when an individual‟s mind records an incident from their past that could be positive or negative and when faced with a current event the mind draws upon that memory “stamp” to understand what is happening to them.

Examples of negative stamping would be the child that is thrown into the swimming pool and now as an adult goes into a total state of panic or freeze when someone mentions the word swimming pool or they see a swimming pool or the thought of going on a boat.

create the stamping needed for safety and survival as communities become more aware of their vulnerability to traumatic incidents. This article provides an introduction to one of the key urban survival sciences concepts of “stamping” combative learning into memory.

The individual who is confronted by a predator with a knife who tells them they will cut them and know they must draw upon episodic memory “stamp” to have a clear understanding of knife and cut, they may remember as a child the worst cut they ever had, they may remember someone they knew being cut or stabbed or they may remember the worst horror film they ever saw with lots of violence and carnage in it and that becomes their reference point of what is about to happen to them even though it has not even happened yet.

After 20 years of research and analysis focused on how people handle emotional incidents accompanied by trauma, I have uncovered a high impact phenomenon that is far more than a coping mechanism. I call the phenomenon “stamping” because survival tactics are recorded, or stamped, into memory for fast recall. Stamping is an objective for the combative courses I teach. I have witnessed that once stamping occurs, a person who has studied combative training develops the ability while under duress to, first, accurately recognize signs of emanate danger, and second, apply the sum of his/her combative learning in life threatening situations.

Every time a combative move (task) is practiced, and with each tactical instruction, a “stamp” is created in a trainee‟s memory. Proper training can lead to stamping of such high impact that a near innate-- and potentially lifesaving -- response occurs when faced with threats of the worst kind.

Urban Survival Sciences courses teach effective visualization and other urban survival tactics that

Stamping results in both positive and negative episodes. Consider the special song that instantly generates a smile on the lips of a listener reliving the embrace of a lover who is long gone. Envision the mother who, each time she touches the baby blanket of her offspring or looks at old photos, is compelled to tell her 35 year old son to drive carefully. In these episodes, the individual‟s memory is stamped for a positive response to stimuli that arouse the senses. My research findings are the foundation for effective risk management and our personal protection courses help trainees stamp their memory with positive reinforcement so that the probability of being victimized is reduced. “Never again” readily characterizes the state of readiness among “stamped” trainees. © Avery Mitchell/Urban Survival Scientist/Urban Survival Sciences 2013. For more information please contact us at: info@urbansurvivalscientist.com www.urbansurvivalscientist.com Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from the author is strictly prohibited.