Do you listen to the Voice?

[MB]

I've been accused often of being a crusty ol behaviorist, far too enamored with an empirical view of the world. Its probably true. But I never ignore The Voice!

 

[H2Andy]

i ignore the voice unless there is something cogent that needs to be addressed

for example, if i say to myself "this dive is not a good idea" and i ask "why?" and the answer is "i am really tired and getting careless" then yes... i listen to the voice

but just because "i have a feeling" that this is not going to be a good dive? nope...

 

[Walter]

I've listened to the voice since I started diving and never ignored it. Unfortunately, I now hear it way too often. I've been ignoring it since May because I believe it has become untrustworthy. I'm working to retrain it to only come out when it should. Once I feel I can trust it again, I'll once again start to follow its advice. I'm making progress, it doesn't speak up as much, but its still popping up way too often.

 

[Tortuga James]

There was a great book out in the 80's called "The Shallow Sea" by Neil Rusic. Rusic was a NASA scientist in real life, and although it is fiction, his scientific nature comes through. The main character (Grant North) is a scientist who buys an island in the Bahamas to start a research facility. He has a highly evolved sense of intuition (the voice) and justifies his own decisions based on his intuition, rather than known scientific fact like this: The mind observes, percieves and processes far more data than comes into our conscious mind as coherent thought. He believes that his intuition is a result of the conclusions his subconcious mind is drawing based on all the data it has accumulated and delivers it to his concious mind as "a gut feeling".

I listen to the voice. If I don't feel comfortable about a situation, diving or otherwise, I start paying a lot more attention to my surroundings.

Great book by the way, although I don't think it is still in print. Anyone who loves the Bahamas, or water would enjoy it. It is an action packed thriller, laced with science, social commentary, with a little romance thrown in. It was actually Rusic's only fiction, and he bought Little Stirrup Cay in the Northern Berrys in the 70's to start a real "Island for Science", but lost it to the currupt PM Pinder and sold it to Carnival as day stop on their cruises.

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

I've listened to that voice my whole life. As a soldier, as an aviator, as a medic, and as a diver. I always listen, and if I get that nudge not to dive, why fight it? There's a reason why I'm a recreational diver. It's not a military mission, so if I choose not to dive, screw it... The ocean will still be there tomorrow.

 

[dive_lover88]

i listened to it a few times now and gotten myself out of scrapes which otherwise i wouldnt be able to get out of

 

[TSandM]

I have worry-wart tendencies anyway. It's pretty easy for me to build some apprehension, especially if there's anything objective to be apprehensive ABOUT. That can be new conditions, intimidating buddies, a planned skills challenge, or any number of things. But, thinking back on it, so far I've only had two dives where the voice, instead of just saying, "Well, THIS could go wrong, and THAT could go wrong," said, "I don't think you should be doing this." One time, I backed out, and when I did, so did everybody else, so I don't know if it was the right thing to do or not. The other time, I went in the water despite that voice, and it was one of the worst dives I have done, and shook my confidence in a number of things for a long time.

The hard part is differentiating between the normal insecurity-generated apprehension and the true "Don't do this" feeling.

 

[Gary D.]

In my business we hear it quite often. It is kind of like a traffic light. If it’s a green tone no problem. A yellow tone, think about it a little more and see if it’s worth it. Red tone is a stay dry signal. It’s a Risk VS Benefit world that needs to be evaluated on every dive.

A diver needs to be able to call a dive anytime they feel it needs to be called without any repercussions.

Gary D.

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

The hard part is differentiating between the normal insecurity-generated apprehension and the true "Don't do this" feeling.

I agree. The only difference I can find between the two, is that if I'm feeling insecure, it's just a little twinge of apprehension. When I get the true "Don't do this" vibe, that one sits in the pit of my stomach like a lead weight.

 

[Cacia]

Tony,

I just downloaded a boot by Lawrence Gonzalez, "Deep Survival: True Stories of Miraculous Endurance and Sudden Death." Corny title, interesting concept, Gonzalez is basically examining what makes people "survivors." One of the things he talks about is the little voice . . . and he's driving at the point that some people have what it takes to survive, while others don't.



-Doug

He is a friend of mine!

He talks a lot about reading your environment and the instincts that have been "domesticated out" of us. I loved that book, it was life altering because it supports many of my tendancies. The discussion about "bending the map" and the chapter on the physiology of panic, I enjoyed very much.

Part of his message that I would think could be very important for DIR or anyone diving under strict protoccols, is to not become so task loaded and focused that your free instincts and intuition, your "voice", cannot get your attention. He encourages you to keep your awareness open to the subconscious.

The hard part is differentiating between the normal insecurity-generated apprehension and the true "Don't do this" feeling.

You hone it. The method of doing a "systems scan" allows me to either focus my fear on a detail that is alerting me, or reduces my anxiety by having all checks pass this test. So..overall it reduces my generalized anxiety. The strange thing is, I am either pretty relaxed or on high alert, most of the time...never in between very often. Clearly identifying the reason for my fear as legitamate allows me to focus on taking steps to avoid disaster. free floating anxiety is bad, it is like losing your focus. Think of a deer stepping out into a clearing and raising his nose to the breeze and sensing a danger...When I drop into the ocean, I don't start looking at gauges, doing bubble checks, etc right away...I take a moment to take in the reef, and listen for what certain subtle signs might be telling me. The fish movements will tell you if a predator is in the area, if the current is switching, etc. Divers should not skip this step to attend to busy work of their tasks and training. Learning to keep part of your brain atuned is so valuable.