There is a layer of thought that goes through our minds on a recurring basis that is designed to help us survive. In dire circumstances it can really help us, or in some circumstances get us in serious trouble. I learned this from my father who, at the age of 18 was lost in the woods for several days and left for dead.
They were out elk hunting in the back country of Colorado. My grandfather and the party with him were tracking a herd of elk and my father was with them. They decided to climb a ridge, split into groups and see if they could slowly move the elk toward a specific area which would allow them to all have a clean shot at filling their license tags that year. Of course, if you have ever been elk hunting, you will know that well laid plans of men in tents never comes to fruition while climbing through roots, trees, rocks and mountain ravines.
My father scouted a head, being more experienced with the area they were in. He hiked up one mountainside, went down a ravine and then climbed up the other side. He then headed downward and crossed over into the area where they suspected that the elk were herding at the time. He was confident in where he was at, having scouted in the area before. However he never did reconnoiter with the rest of the hunters. They never showed up. So it started to get a little darker, so he decided to head back.
Here is where the mind can work against you. He had a thought in his head that he was absolutely confident in. He believed, with absolutely certainty that the ridge line he was on would head straight back up to the area that their base camp was in. All he had to do was follow that ridge line and he would end up in the right area, then following the tributary conjunction of a old stream bed for a ways and then find where the camp was settled. He went on his way, and as the sky darkened, some storm clouds started to move in. As you learn in Gunnison, CO – the weather changes are unpredictable. A storm can settle in on your warm sunny day without an invitation, without notice at any time it wants.
He got to what he thought was the tributary stream bed and followed it and fully expected to come into camp, but instead ran into a dry gulch, the end of a hidden canyon, for lack of a better term, a dead end. Snow flurries were now coming down. The temperature dropped considerably. Visibility dropped to only a few hundred yards. My father, being an experienced back country hiker, knew that the riverbeds in this area all flowed in one particular direction. So he decided to start following the dry stream bed out of the canyon and headed in what he thought was a north west direction. He had no stars, or landmarks to guide him just a thought that he was on the right track. He probably thought that he would eventually hit one of the active rivers and then that river could be followed until he got to one of the roadsides that would help guide him to a place where he could call and leave a message about where he was at.
The mind completely failed him on this as well. He ended up following a dry stream runoff into a open valley, that was in the complete opposite direction of where he should have been heading. He was actually going deeper and deeper into the wilderness area and each time he thought he was cutting over to where the road should be, he was making a bee line toward a country side where very few people visit. By this time the snow was coming down fast, at least 2 – 3 inches had covered the ground. Temperatures, which were already low, were getting colder as the wind picked up and the snow started coming in at an angle.
This is when my father realized his mind was jacked up. He had no clue where he was at, whatever that talk track was in the back of his mind was saying, it was telling him something false. The camp was not in the direction he thought it was. He was wrong the entire time. Now he had to deal with the very real prospect of actually dying out there exposed to the elements with very little provisions, other then a little chewing tobacco and some shoe leather. The storm did not let up, at all. My father made the smartest decision of his life. He decided to stop wandering around. Found a nice big pine tree and decided to just start walking in a circle around the pine tree. He would take breaks, rest a little and then continue his pace around the tree.
Meanwhile, my grandfather and the party he was with returned to camp unable to make the trek to where they were supposed to meet my father. When he never returned, they went out searching for him. They could never find him. When the storm starting coming in, they panicked. They drove into town and found the sheriff, who immediately sent out search parties on horse back. Unable to find him quickly that evening, they suspended until the next day. The storm would not let up, it was coming down worse on the next morning in thick sheets of snow. They could not get a plane in the air. They attempted some meager searching but after may hours called off the search in hopes that the storm would break and they could get a plane in the air. The search was cancelled, my grandfather had to let his wife know that they could not find her son.
Three days later the blizzard, because that is what it became, finally let off. There was probably 5 of more feet of snow dumped in the area. The sheriff ordered a plane in the area and they started searching the area. They searched and searched and could not find him. They decided to give up. It was getting really late in the evening and they had already been out several times. They were calculating the likelihood of someone surviving out in the freezing cold wilderness in a blizzard with no provisions for 4 days. The odds were looking pretty bad. After one last sweep of the hillside they started to head back. My grandfather desperately scanning every tree, rock, slope looking for any sign of his son.
My father was continuing his march around the large pine tree. He had found the tree next to a open area, thinking in his mind that there might be a search party that would come looking for him. He had walked in so many circles that the snow had all melted around this tree and he almost had what amounted to a small igloo carved out at the base of the tree. He kept circling the tree, sucking on some old leather scraps to keep his mind active. About ready to give up and just venture out and try a direction to head toward civilization or death, he heard the plane.
The sheriff caught some movement in the field. That is when he saw my father, running out into the field out from underneath a tree. Waving his arms like a raving mad lunatic. The pilot buzzed past him a few times to let him know they found him and they immediately sent a party in to find him by horse back. They got him safely home and after getting his picture taken, ended up being the big story that weekend in the local newspaper.
The point of this story is a very important lesson. Sometimes your mind, that internal compass bearing you are so confident in can be just plain wrong. You can become so convinced that you right, or so sure that you are a failing that you will not accept any alternative explanation. It swings both ways. You can have a negative voice saying all the time that you are not worthy, not good enough, not adequate and that voice can be absolutely 100% wrong. You can also think you are awesome, doing everything right when in actuality you are not. The point is that there comes a time when it really benefits you to suspend the mind for a moment and ask yourself, what is really going on here? Am I lost? Do I really know where I am going and why?
I have noticed this with myself from time to time. I will become convinced of a certain reality. I am so certain of it, I start identifying everything people do and say as further evidence that I am right. I start changing my behavior to accommodate this truth that I have come up with. I start viewing everything through this lens. When this happens, and I notice that it is occurring, I like to take a long quiet pause. Suspend the mind for a moment and ask myself, is what I am perceiving actually true? If I am unsure, I will ask others that I trust to give me their opinion. A warning sign is when the people I trust and my view on the world do not match up.
Anyway, do not get lost in the woods with only shoe leather to chew on because you think you are right, when you might be wrong.
Guy Reams
