Every good teacher knows that the last thing you want to do to an impressionable child is to call him stupid, because he may believe you, then start living to that label. Similarly, I’ve had vision students who proclaimed “I’m blind without my glasses!”, or recently “Seeing is not my gift.”! I usually start my discussion of this topic by saying “Your eyes are listening!”.
When I was growing up, wearing thicker and thicker eyeglasses, my mother often worried aloud about “Nancy’s bad eyes”. I know this came from concern about me, and was not intended as criticism, but I could feel my energy sink every time she said this. My eyes needed a support system back then, or a cheerleader, someone who believed in them and encouraged their ability, and I didn’t have that.
I have other negative memories of people criticizing my eyes’ performance. An early boyfriend regularly called me “El Blind-O”, thinking he was being funny. In 2nd grade the teacher had said I was such an excellent reader, I could work as a proofreader for a publishing company when I grew up. Since I so loved books already, I was thrilled, and ran home to tell my mother. She snapped, “With your eyes, you’d be blind in a month!”. Of course I was crushed, as my eyes and visual centers took one more blow to any remaining confidence they might have had.
As I continue to improve my vision, I can still catch myself thinking “Oh, I won’t be able to see that”, sometimes before I even look. Then I stop for a moment, maybe do some EFT (“tapping”) on being worried I can’t see, then tell myself some optimistic positive facts about my vision. Often, if I’m aware and present, not running on automatic pilot and reflex, I can see pretty well. And the more deeply I relax and let the images come to me instead of grabbing for them, the clearer the view becomes.
Of course telling myself I can see perfectly at all times feels like a lie, because it is! So I focus on statements that are true, like:
I can see everything I need to see.
My eyes are healthy, moist, and alive.
I am so grateful for the abundant colorful riches my vision brings to me.
I am working with my eyes and mind to see in a clearer, more relaxed way.
You get the idea. Think about yourself — do you often gripe about your “bad back”, or even your “messy house”? When you say it, you reinforce it — your words are powerful! Why not use them to encourage something you actually want in your life, instead of just more of the same?
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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.
Thank you so much for this article, I can relate to everything mentioned in this. I faced a lot of criticism about my eyesight when I was young, though my eyesight wasn’t very bad then, but the doubts and lack of confidence made it worse. Unfortunately I didn’t know how to ignore the others bad criticism and bullying behaviour which really knocked my confidence and every time when I was put on spot to read something I would always panic that I won’t be able to read it, till today I carry these emotions and working on them. I haven’t actually tried EFT for eyes though I am familiar with this technique. Is there any specific suggestions and words we use for overcoming this fear of not being able to read? As I doubt my eye sight so much to the point that sometimes I feel I don’t see well through my glasses. I really appreciate your work and all you are doing as it has been life changing for many.
Love and light ❤️🙏
Hello Rose, and thanks so much for your comment. I feel for you, regarding the negative messages you received about your eyesight and eyes. If you want a brief free consultation with me, you can sign up for that here: https://nancylneff.com/discovery.htm. If you want to do some EFT for your eyes on your own, I’d target the feelings more than the quality of your sight, like “Even though I’m afraid I won’t be able to read something as fast as others want me to, I trust my eyes and what they can do”. Having the confidence you can see well enough and your eyes will deliver the images to you you need may not come right away, but notice the times it does, and celebrate wildly. 🙂 This has been such an important self-growth process for me, even more about opening up my emotions than my vision. Take care Rose. Be well and see well!
Thank you so much for your valuable advice, I am going to try EFT with those suggestions, I do feel I need to heal myself more emotionally to release the doubts and lack of confidence about not being able to see clearly. I am very fascinated by the Holistic approach of healing eyesight I am hoping to reach out to you to discover and learn more about bates method in near future. The work you are doing is so appreciated, you have inspired me with your own eyesight improvement journey and I can’t wait to see that results for myself. Love and light ❤️🙏
Hi Rose. I’ve gotten as much improvement from emotional work as from traditional eyesight practices like palming. If we don’t really believe it’s possible for us to improve, we’re trying to drive with the brake on. I look forward to hearing how your work with EFT goes, and to talking with you more about this whenever you’re ready. Take care Rose. Oh, and being grateful for your eyesight, whatever the state of it right now, can go a long way. I just got back from a walk in the rain on a very dim evening, and it was so peaceful and calming! The birds are chirping, I can see quite well, and it’s all good. 🙂
That’s beautiful and very inspirational. I love reading all your articles and I can completely relate to all you have shared, to me it feels like reading my own experiences and what I gone through. I have started using EFT just slowly working out what suggestions and affirmations will work best in my situation, also using the one you suggested.Thank you so much. Love and light ❤️🙏🙌
Hi Rose. I’m glad you’re starting to use EFT on your vision situation, and I look forward to hearing how it goes for you. Instead of only doing positive statements and affirmations, you might also do some statements like “I’m worried about my eyesight” or ramping it up to the ridiculous “what if I’m the only person in the universe whose eyes will never improve?!” until you’re laughing. You can do this. Have some fun with it. Take care.
I love your work, thank you
Hi Mana! Thanks for reading, and for the love. See well and be well. 🙂