The Most Crucial Principles and Qualities for Survival Although humans are the strongest and smartest animals on earth, we still die for silly reasons. Sometimes, humans do not know why they get in trouble or how they control the circumstances for survival. According to Laurence Gonzales, Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why, we can clearly see the situations that happen to us and understand the reasons why somebody can survive, but someone else cannot. This book makes us realize that "accidents happen anyway but they do not necessarily happen to us". Through this book, Laurence Gonzales supplies an enormous amount of knowledge to us about the most crucial principles and qualities for survival. We need to be aware and ready when the dangers are close to us. We can survive by learning how to be perceptive, positive, and active to overcome the challenges and survive. Before we talk about the qualities insides the survivors' mind, there are three important principles discussed in the book that will improve our chances of survival by learning how our body must act in dangerous situations. The first principle is that we should avoid impulsive behavior and always be aware of danger. In Chapter Two, LG told us about the deaths of two snowmobilers who tried to speed off and reach "high-marking". Although people warned that "there were a high avalanche", they still wanted to go up to the hill (45). They thought, "it's fun" (48). They had poor impulse behavior which easily put them in danger zone. The emotional bookmarks control their actions. They didn't even think how they would get in trouble. They just felt good due to their old experiences, so no exception this time. This principle tells us that we should avoid danger before we get into. We do not know how the environment changes, so we should be active on our situations. Lynn Hill is a good example for understanding how people forget the dangers around them. She is an excellent rock climber, but she fell 72 feet when she climbed a route for beginners. LG told us, "she became distracted as she was typing the rope to her harness and didn't finish her knot" (74). Her working memory and executive function do not work well when she talk to her friend, which made her mental model goes to wrong directions. She created for herself a big trap. Even though we have experiences, we must show great vigilance for whatever we deal with. The second principle is that we need to perceive new environment to adapt to them and bail out if we are close to danger. This principle teaches us to how to react suitably. It's really hard to throw away your expectations in the past to get into new things. People usually believe that they can overcome new challenges because they think they succeeded with their experience. Rob and Davis Stone, and their friend tried to climb up the southeast buttress of Cathedral Peak. They met the changes from the nature what are outside of their predicting plan. We can control the new changes as only if we follow the above principle. When they began their trip, they had many troubles already, but they didn't perceive the risks that they were dealing with. While the weather became bad, "they actually discussed the weather and 'made a group decision to press on for the top instead of rappelling off'" (88). They could have bailed out of the danger and gone home safely, but they did not accept that fact yet. They couldn't make the right plan to adapt to their troubles. LG is right when he says, "when you take yourself out of that environment and go into the wild, you must evolve new ways of seeing, a new plan" (92). As soon as we realize danger from a new place, we must bail out if there is any chance for us. This principle show us that our body are able to react flexibly back to the environment. The third principle is that when we get in trouble, we need to know and analyze our stuff with humility to open mind on the challenges. This principle tells us that do not believe we know everything; and we must enable ourselves to get some knowledge, which can help us to overcome trouble. In chapter three, LG mentioned the death of Captain James Gabba, who was an excellent ranger. He drowned in the fast moving rivers. His experience made him think that he knows everything, but actually, he didn't. He felt shame if he was rescued, so he died even he tried to escape. Another example is Bill Ward's team who climbed Mount Hood in Oregon. They didn't understand how the force in their system work. LG writes: "In the system accidents, unexpected interactions of forces and components arise naturally out of the complexity of the system.", and "most of the time, nothing serious happens, which makes it more difficult for the operators of the system." The environment can change anytime, so survivors need to keep in their mind that we must enable to evaluate the dangerous level we can involve. Bill Ward's team was so happy when they challenged the top of Mount Hood. Therefore, they felt easy as they climbed downward. They felt too confident to realize how the force system works. According to LG, to become a survivor we also need to develop certain qualities to behave according to the principles for survival. Those qualities consist of staying calm, planning well, taking right correct and decisive actions if we are in trouble. The most important quality, which survivors need when they face up to reality, is to be cool and make stress go away. Fear and stress will easily lead people in the wrong direction and cannot focus on the main point. Ken Killip who tried to escape from a huge forest almost died with his fear. At first, he had his own bending map, but because he was scare to be lost, he kept following his friend, York. When he was lost, he kept being hurry up and could not stay calm to evaluate his real problems. He was stuck with his own tracks. We should control our emotions to motivate our behavior, which also can help us to balance reasons and emotions. Opposite with Ken Killip, Joe Simpson, who is a survivor in escaping from the death when he climbed the mountain in Cordillera Huayhuash with his friend, Simon Yates. He fell and his leg was broken. He and his friend tried to stay calm by keeping silent and acting on their own path to help each other. In Simpson's book, he writes, "The best survivors spend almost no time, especially in emergencies, getting upset about what have been lost, or feeling distresses about things going badly..." (229). The next important quality is when survivors are clear with their emotional components. Survivors must organize their stuff and know what they should do next to keep tension stable. Keeping tension stable is hard when you deal with trouble for a long time. From the book, Bill Ward and his group climbed to the top of Mount Hood successfully, but when they went back to the bottom, three people died, including Bill Ward, who has professional skills. They were so happy as soon as they reached the top, so they paid less attention to go back. Their body also got exhausted and hungry. They could not keep the same tension like the beginning. Plans motivate your actions to forget your fear and stress. Plans can be helpful if you are willing to confront with the troubles. Callahan, who was sailing by himself became a survivor when his own ship was sunk. He kept himself positive and flexibly with his troubles by thinking about nice thing and what he should do next. He had his own plan to make him feel confident and believable. Callahan's story shows us that survivors should be positive at first, then active later. One more quality survivors should know is to make decisions and actions certainly by taking correct actions. People who are rule followers are easily to escape danger because they dare to do what they think they are right and suitable. Like LG's father, "he broke nearly every bone in his body in the war and then broke the rule that it's supposed to kill you" (86). He adapted to reality and accepted those risks to survive. He is a rule breaker. There are not a lot of people who can do like LG's father. The story of Juliane Koepcke also is a good example for anybody who is hesitant on their action. She was a survivor from a crashing plane. Instead of staying in one place to wait for savors, she decided to "get herself out" (173). LG concludes, "What saved Juliane was an inner resource, a state of mind" (175). This quality is hard to make, but we can improve it over time to make our thinking stronger and more accurate. Principles and qualities cannot be separate from each other for survival. The way survivors think and reveal the emotion is the way to control their reasons and actions. Principles and qualities look like two different aspects: one is inside our mind and our heart, and the other one is outside our body which we can learn and improve from experience. From this, we can expand into two concepts relevantly: interiority and exteriority. LG tries to lead the readers to the ideas hat the principle represents for exterior, which reveal the action to outside from our body. On the other side, the qualities represent for interiority, which can be built inside our mind and our heart. If Ken Killip could stay calm and dare to light a fire at soon as he was lost, he could bail out of danger earlier. If Lynn Hill paid more attention to her action, she might not fall. Callahan is a typical example, which is different from those ones. He is a perfect survivor. While he was trying to keep himself positive, he was connecting his mind to his actions. It's hard for humans who try to become survivors when they are in danger, but they can save their life by improving and practicing the principles and the qualities together. Survivors can see danger, match their mind, and react to it certainly. The qualities and the principles can support survivors when they use them correctly. The relationship between qualities and principles is like between motion and reaction. Motion can change reaction and reversely.