I'd been out Monday night, but it wasn't 'til hours after I got home that I realized my wallet was AWOL. And at that moment, I didn't think, "Huh, I wonder where my wallet is?" I knew instantly that it had been stolen. And I knew exactly when it happened.

It's all about "The Gift of Fear," people. That's a book I read five years ago, and it's affected me like no other. It was written by Gavin de Becker, a well-known security expert. Here's the deal: You know that little wave of unease that you feel around certain people or in certain places? He focuses on that exact feeling, explaining that there's almost always something behind it. After all, our subconscious can read so much more about a situation than we can. We feel that little wave of unease, but because we can't articulate what's causing it, we usually push it away, telling ourselves we're being dumb. If you can learn to recognize the subtle signs, then you've got the gift of fear.

I forgot to open the gift of fear on Monday night.

con't