That’s actually really good advice and I’ll have to try that! Honestly I neglect those senses sometimes and focus more on what I can see than hear and especially smell.
Might be worth doing some dry fire exercises in the dark since I’m not sure if the range here would really let me turn of the lights lol I’m definitely going to try that!
Also imagination, visualization, playing random scenarios in you head helps a lot. You prepare your mind to process things that may never happen in your everyday life. Your brain learns only what you see, hear or feel. If you live a quiet life, you must force your brain to think about danger that may occur unexpectedly.
If you find a time, look at “Tim Kennedy situational awareness” YT videos.
The Gift of Fear, and Left of Bang, are both excellent books and have great insights into situational awareness. Gift of Fear was where I first heard the idea of listening to the body’s emotional and physiological cues about potential danger. “There is no situational awareness without ‘self’ awareness” (Tony Blauer). (update: Also check out Spotting Danger Before It Spots You by Gary Quesenberry!). There’s some really excellent training on situational awareness and self-awareness developed and taught by Tony Blauer, CEO of Blauer Tactical Systems. Check out his Know Fear course. There’s a wealth of insight and skills taught in it that really increase situational awareness. I’ve been attending his live and on-line training for almost 10 years now. Check out his Know Fear and the Be Your Own Bodyguard classes. https://blauerspear.com/ Also, here’s a game you can play when you’re out and about. As you go about your day shopping, the gas station, etcetera, observe people around you; are they aware of their surroundings or are they preoccupied with their phone, ear buds listening to music, are they day-dreaming, etcetera? Then think like a bad guy and ask yourself, ‘how and where could I attack them?’ You’ll begin to notice all the ways people are distracted instead of being present and aware of their surroundings. Now, the next day, as you’re out and about, standing in line at the store, or walking down the street, etcetera, ask yourself, “how would I attack myself?” This causes you to about your own awareness. Are you aware of your surroundings or were you daydreaming about what to make for dinner that night, or the argument you just had with your partner? You’ll begin to see areas and ways that you’re not paying attention to your surroundings during your everyday life. There’s many other little exercises like this you can do to improve your self and situational awareness, but you can learn them in Blauer’s classes. You also get hands-on training at his live events where you actually practice different situations with live role players so you can experience and practice these in a safe environment. Good luck.
Many have said it, I’ll Double Second It, INTUITION!! Listen to it. When for no apparent reason you say “Self this isn’t good…” LISTEN. Ma Nature has given us the intuition tool for a reason.
There was a safety guy that during an incident investigation said "how many times do we hear the victim say “I knew that wasn’t going to work” but they did it any ways.
The ‘Hair’s’ on arm’s and or the back of neck
The ‘Goose Bumps’ or some say Goose flesh–but that creeps me out! 
Instant ‘Flop sweats’? A Whisper?
Did anyone just STOP dead in their tracks? I have. A Ruh Roe moment ?
How about if you are with another person and you both look at each other
@ the same time? On 9/11 dozen’s if not Hundred’s of people either found road blocks
keeping them from going into the Towers or ‘all of a sudden’ got their haircut,
Got a Coffee they normally don’t get or missed a train they made for years?
Some actually admitted 'They just ‘FELT’ something bad was going to happen (Intuition)
Some say it’s Angels, GOD, your Spirit Guides—Your Higher self…
I don’t care!—I just pray I am AWARE enough to hear them every single time.
Situational Awareness is Hearing, Smelling, in-tune w/ your surroundings as well as seeing w/ your eyes.
Mi Dos Pesos
In this day and age it would be wise to remain in condition Orange. Lot’s of crazy to go around anytime, anywhere.
2 weeks ago having just put out the light to turn in, POP POP! Sounded very near, like from the gym parking lot across the street. Grabbed the 9mm from the nightstand and went to the window staying behind the opening (no lights) and two people with their bags were at their vehicles I assume having got in their reps. Neither were showed any signs of alarm as they entered the vehicles and left. IDK? Did one of them pop off a couple rounds for fun? Evidently wasn’t a drive by, by their demeanor. Most definitely handgun fire though.
You just never know folks.
And NEVER trust your Garmin. More than once, it has attempted to send me to a cow path, even with all the proper “don’t send me here” selections checked off. Best bet is to go by general direction using the compass available on most cars today. If you know where you’re heading is West of where you are, don’t go East. You can sort it out later. If you’re late in getting where you’re going, you can always claim that you weren’t lost but, in fact, were “bewildered” for a while.
While you’re watching someone else “doing it wrong”, don’t forget to keep an eye on your own SIX. Someone may be watching you watching someone else.
Orange is the new yellow.
Add this all too my list lol Honestly I’m getting a lot out of The Gift of Fear. I might actually give it to my wife after I’m done with it so she can read it. I was describing it to her earlier and she was really interested. Definitely interested in doing some of the classes too!
I do a little bit of that! I smoked for awhile and just vape now since my wife is ok with that and it doesn’t really require me to quit lol I’ll do this thing sometimes at work where I’ll stand outside and just watch people walk by or across the street at the gas station or store and rate how aware they seem to be based off of some of what you’re saying. Actually helped me catch a lot of the stuff I do that I shouldn’t to be more aware. That definitely 100% works!
Very true! We live in a smaller town now but when we lived in Decatur (the biggest “city” in the county) I can remember a couple of times we heard gun shots. One ended up being right down the road and they ran off into the apartments across the street. It’d be out of the ordinary to hear them here but nonetheless. Just because crime rates are lower here doesn’t mean there isn’t crime!
WE are 20 minutes north of the dirty “D”. We affectionately call it Clintucky. Town of 7000 population. The sound of occasional fireworks is not uncommon especially around holidays, however these were 2 distinct handgun reports. Not common at all in small town rural Illinois.
Nice that your wife is interested in reading Gift of Fear. I’ve purchased and given away about 8 copies of it to friends and students because I feel the information will help possibly save a life. In the past 40 years of interviewing victims, Tony Blauer says that those victims of violence who lived all said they had a ‘bad feeling’ just before being attacked. Their minds recognized that ‘something wasn’t right’ about a stranger or person, that triggered a ‘bad feeling’ in their gut, but they chose to ignore the warning, and that resulted in them becoming a victim. Gavin deBecker’s book, and Blauer’s work, really help people recognize those internal changes in our minds and bodies, so we can then make the choice to move to safety before becoming a victim. deBecker’s book, Just 2 Seconds, is also an interesting read! But that’s another book for another time. 
We’re just outside of Decatur now. It’s about the same. Population of 5,000, fireworks, maybe like air rifles or something. Unfortunately though we’re still like right outside so we get spill over there. Mostly just thefts because people don’t locked their car doors and catalytic converter thefts but other stuff happens too but yeah it’s not that common at all even being as close as we are.
I might do that as well! I mean you can get the book pretty cheap. Really no reason not to get an extra copy or two to give out! Man I’m gonna have to check out Tony Blauer! About to go to his website now and look around.
Also adding Just 2 Seconds to the list 
You kind of just answered your own question! Good Situational Awareness will help keep you from having to demonstrate your superior defensive skills!
One thing you can do when you are in a place full of people is try to see who is carrying and who is not. Sometimes you will be surprised when you see who has a firearm. Look around the waist. First determine which hand is the major hand. Most will carry to draw with the major hand. So concentrate on the right side. Try not to be too obvious when staring at a man’s crotch. He might get the wrong idea. Look for hard outlines in the right front pocket. Look above the belt line both in front of the major arm parallel to the body and behind the major arm. Look at the back slightly on the major side. Try not to be obvious in your observations. Remember, you are a spy, not an invading squad leader.
I don’t know why I haven’t thought about doing that yet! I’ve seen people online talk about doing it but never really think about it myself. Definitely going to start doing that!
If you are looking you can probably figure out pretty quick who is carrying. I have actually met eyes on 2 separate occasions with someone else who was doing the same!
We are not alone.
We’ll be ok a bit tomorrow so I’m gonna try then.
Kinda curious did the guys you met eyes with know you were doing the same thing? Would be a pretty interesting way to meet others lol