Vision Improvement II

This is going to be the last vision improvement post I put on this blog because I am planning on moving it all over to it's own blog, so that way people don't have to sift through all of my family stuff to find my vision improvement posts.

--August 1, 2010
I've been thinking about the weaker glasses that I got from Dr. Pugh and I'm starting to realize that my visual acuity isn't always the same from diopter to diopter. That sounds confusing, so let me explain. For example, last year when Dr. Pugh gave me half a diopter that me at 20/30 vision. This year when Dr. Pugh tested my vision half a diopter put me at 20/40 vision. When I first started improving my vision I expected that one diopter would always drop me to 20/40 vision and it would always be that way until I improved my vision to normal, but now I'm realizing that my visual acuity will fluctuate even from power to power.

--August 20, 2010
One thing that has really helped me with vision improvement is to demonstrate to myself that sitting down and practicing even for five minutes really does improve my vision. Sometimes I like to read the Snellen Card before I palm and note how blurry my vision is, and then I will sit down and palm for five or ten minutes and then go test my vision again. Today I did that and I could barely read 8/200. I sat down and palmed for ten minutes and then read the card again. I could very easily read 8/200 at this point. I think this is really helpful because I can actually see that my vision really does improve when I practice and it is a motivator when I have those down days when I feel like perfect vision is so far away.

--September 2, 2010
I read this the other day in Eckhart Tolle and found the comparison to be absolutely fascinating.
Eckhart Tolle: You cannot suffer in a fraction of a second. It takes time to suffer.
Dr. Bates: You cannot stare in a fraction of a second. It takes time to stare. (BE Magazines, March 1927 "Blinking and Shifting")

--September 15, 2010
I was reading in Sorrissiblue's blog yesterday and she had a recent post on consistently practicing. She said now that she looks back on her vision improvement she's noticed that the times she has improved the fastest were the times that she was consistently practicing every day. She also said that when she notices that her vision is getting clearer she will take a break and skip out on practicing and her vision will be back to where it was at the beginning of the week. I kind of laughed when I read this because I have the same problem too. When my vision gets clearer I'll end up telling myself that I can skip practicing today because my vision is getting clearer and I've got a bunch of stuff I need to do instead and missing a day won't hurt, but it does. I notice that my vision does drop or stay the same when I skip practicing. Later on that day I was reading in the BE Magazines and I began to realize how much Dr. Bates would emphasize faithfully practicing. So with that in mind I would like to recommit to practicing everyday and not skipping out which I do far too much. I think it's funny how I know doing certain things will improve my vision and I procrastinate or skip doing them. You wouldn't think that to be the case but sometimes it's true.

--September 17, 2010
Last night I was practicing my sketching because it was a slow evening and I had nothing else to do. I had been consciously practicing sketching for the last half hour when Jacklyn came into the room and wanted to ask me something. I looked over at her and started talking to her and realized after a few minutes that I was still sketching her even though I had stopped thinking about it. It made me realize that if I continue to practice all of this will eventually become permanent.

--October 7, 2010
I love to practice the long swing. It is by far my favorite swing to practice. I practice it almost every day. Sometimes my eyes get into these really intense staring modes where I just want to stare really bad, and I think it's just from years of using my eyes wrong, and I have found that the one vision activity that helps me out the most with this is the long swing. I remember reading one time in the Better Eyesight magazines when Dr. Bates said, "The long swing breaks the stare." I have found this to be particularly true in my case.

--November 4, 2010
I'm getting very excited because all this week my vision has been getting sharper in my glasses. I didn't write about it until now because I wanted to make sure that it was a definite improvement instead of just a one day clear flash.

--November 17, 2010
We had an NEI (Natural Eyesight Improvement) Refresher Class last Thursday. I always love going to those classes. While we were there, Troy, my vision teacher, was saying something about pain and staring. I don't remember exactly how he worded it now, but it was something to the extent of there are some people who like to stare because they find it enjoyable and relaxing. I admitted to being one of those people and when asked why I instantly said because pain feels good. One of the students in the class laughed when I said this and replied, why would pain ever feel good? I didn't have an answer right then but it go me thinking over the next few days, why would pain ever feel good? It does sound like a rather silly idea when you think about it. Then it hit me. The reason why staring felt good even though it was painful was because it masked the real pain I was feeling at the time I got glasses. I didn't want to feel all of the emotional pain, so I found that by staring I wouldn't have to feel that emotional pain anymore. I felt the pain in my eyes instead. I think it's very similar to the idea that if the body feels pain in two different places the body will only feel one, usually the more intense pain. I also think it's similar to someone who becomes an alcoholic. They drink the alcohol because it numbs them so they don't have to feel the pain or address the real issues that are causing them the pain in the first place.

--November 30, 2010
I have been thinking about the story of Benzaar and how much it applies to me and my vision.
There was once a man named Benzaar and he wanted enlightenment more than anything else in the world, but enlightenment always eluded him. Then one day he went to the butcher and said, "Show me where your finest meat is. I want only the best meat." The butcher replied and said, "You can choose any meat on my shelf. It is all the best." It was at that moment that Benzaar became enlightened.
What does this story have to do with my vision improvement?
There was once a girl named Jennifer and she wanted perfect vision more than anything else in the world, but perfect vision always eluded her. Then one day she went to a vision teacher and said, "Show me how to get perfect vision. I want only the finest and the best vision." The vision teacher replied and said, "You can choose any point in the vision improvement process, every moment is meant to be savored and relished, every moment is meant to be enjoyable and relaxing. Choose any point you wish, it is all the best." It was at that moment that Jennifer's vision improved.
The moral: Your vision isn't meant to be enjoyed when it's perfect. It is meant to be enjoyed now. Both perfect vision and blurry vision are an illusion. One is not any more real than the other. If you are not happy with one, you won't be happy when you get the other one because you already have the other one.

--December 2, 2010
I apologize if I talk too much about emotional healing. I really had a lot of emotional issues to resolve before my vision would improve, and I'm not going to get into all of that here, but one thing I like to do when it comes to improving my vision is not only will I copy what someone with perfect sight does with their eyes all day long, like shifting, centrailizing, etc., but I will also copy how they emotionally feel about their vision all day long. Someone with perfect vision doesn't hate where their vision is, they don't wish it was better, or different, or clearer, and they aren't afraid or worried if they will be able to read or see something. They are perfectly content with where they are right now. That is being emotionally relaxed, being content with where you are and not stressing out about where you think you should be.

--December 6, 2010
I have noticed something interesting about my vision, even though I see better with my glasses on I see more with my glasses off. Let me explain. I was sitting at the kitchen table one day eating lunch and thinking to myself, I should be practicing some sketching right now, so that's what I started to do. I was sketching the slats on the water heater closet when I noticed that one of the slats was bent. How had I missed that? I had been looking at this closet door every day for five years with glasses on and had never noticed that one of them was bent until I had taken off my glasses and started sketching them. Another time I was driving and wearing my glasses, and I was stopped at a light and there was a Chevrolet truck in front of me. I thought, while I'm sitting here I'm going to practice some sketching, and so I started tracing the letters on the back of his truck with my eyes. When I got to the last E I noticed that a lot of the sticker from the E had been worn off and it had very bumpy edges instead of smooth edges like all of the other letters. Moments like this make me realize how much I miss seeing things by wearing glasses because I'm too busy staring and not actually looking at things.

--January 10, 2011
I'd like to spend a few minutes and talk about time and the role it plays in vision improvement. Dr. Bates said that our vision is an illusion, and I have learned that the same idea also applies to time. Time is an illusion. Time, like blur, is something that is created in the mind and is not real. If someone is on a date with someone they enjoy being with, two hours will seem like a few minutes. If the same person is instead sitting in a boring lecture that they hate, two hours will seem like an eternity. Time seems to speed up or slow down depending on how the mind is interpreting or enjoying the present moment. Since time is not real and is not needed to cure someone this is why Dr. Bates could take someone at a -13.00 prescription and cure them in fifteen minutes. Time usually creates disease. Someone has to hold onto that fear or that staring long enough for it to manifest into blur. It takes time to do this. So when someone asks, How much time is it going to take to cure me? That becomes a rather interesting question. It is not time that is going to cure you, it is rest.

--January 18, 2011
I've been thinking of doing some flashing exercises. I think flashing is a very good vision game to practice since flashing takes time out of the equation it also takes staring out of the equation. I have to admit that I am pleased with the vision improvement that I've been getting so far, but I would like to speed things up a little bit, so I'm going to play around with those and see how it goes.

--January 24, 2011
I practiced palming and flashing with the Snellen Card today at six feet. I went from reading 6/200 to reading 6/80. Flashing definitely helps improve my vision and I think I'll get better at it with practice.