Lately I’ve been examining my limiting beliefs, what Dr. Bates would call “wrong thoughts”, which might be getting in the way of improving my vision further. The title phrase is one of these. I was trained from a young age to work hard, to struggle and strive — that was the only way to accomplish anything worthwhile. If something I wanted came to me easily, it was suspect.
A flavor of this is that if I find a way to do something, however difficult or convoluted, I often don’t look any farther for a simpler path. I hate to admit it, but I can even take pride in how hard I have to struggle! I remember a good friend in college, as we were trying to figure out Life together and how to be adults, scorning people who took “the easy way out”. I think he had this belief too, that anything worth having was worth expending a mighty effort to get. If it came easily, it must not be worth much.
A simple personal example: I follow my energy medicine teacher Deborah King to workshops all over the country. She’s taught me a great deal, including the essential skill of meditation. A favorite workshop location takes me 3 plane rides to get to, basically an entire day or a sleep on the redeye. My body rhythms are always disrupted for a day or 2 afterwards. I put up with it, because the reward of time with my favorite teacher and her other students, many of whom have become good friends, is worth it to me. I found out on a recent trip about a shuttle service which could reduce my plane rides from 3 to 2, saving me hours, and reducing my fear of a missed connection. It will also save me money on the plane fare since I’ll be flying into a hub instead of a little local airport. Plus I’ll have more flight choices! Why didn’t I look for another solution sooner? Yet I notice some part of me thinks this is too good to be true, or that I’ll be getting away with something. Hmm… My Wrong Thought warning light is starting to flash!
The correlation with vision improvement is clear to me. If I believe I have to struggle for what I want, and good eyesight comes easily to me, I’ll reject it! How can I see clearly if I’m not trying hard? Isn’t that being lazy? (Being lazy was akin to being a criminal when I was growing up.) Almost 2 years ago I wrote this post on the same subject, letting vision be easy instead of a struggle. I’ve been paying attention to this for a while now, slowly making progress.
Since I’m still a bit leery of anything that comes to me too easily, I’ve been taking the sideways approach of enjoying my vision, having fun with what I see. (I’m trying to make an end run around that old belief of having to struggle, rather than confronting it head on, since it seems so entrenched.) Taking pleasure in the colors and shapes and clarity I do see seems to bring me better vision, as I relax into the images that come to me, rather than trying to force them into something clearer. Seeing can be a joy!
Years ago in my corporate job I had a sign over my desk which said “Accept it, don’t fight it!”. I realized way back then I had the bad habit of struggling against What Is, wasting my energy, getting frustrated, and basically accomplishing nothing when I took that fierce fight-the-dragon striving approach. This definitely doesn’t work in vision improvement either! Yes, it’s clear “out there”, it’s only in my brain that it gets blurry. And the more I relax and receive the image as it is, not trying to change it, the clearer it becomes to me. Simply holding the intention of seeing well, then accepting what comes in to my visual system in a relaxed appreciative way, is all I need to do. Easy peasy!
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I wore strong glasses, then contact lenses, from age 5 into my 40s. While making many mistakes, eventually l learned how to improve the way I use my eyes and to see in a more relaxed, healthy manner. It is my pleasure to coach others to do the same. Visit me at https://NancyLNeff.com.