beliefs https://www.fiteyes.com/taxonomy/term/98/all en Altering Eye Pressure Without Medications https://www.fiteyes.com/blog/dave/altering-eye-pressure-without-medications <div class="sharethis-buttons"><div class="sharethis-wrapper"><span st_url="https://www.fiteyes.com/blog/dave/altering-eye-pressure-without-medications" st_title="Altering%20Eye%20Pressure%20Without%20Medications" class="st_facebook_large" displayText="facebook"></span> <span st_url="https://www.fiteyes.com/blog/dave/altering-eye-pressure-without-medications" st_title="Altering%20Eye%20Pressure%20Without%20Medications" class="st_twitter_large" displayText="twitter" st_via="" st_username=""></span> <span st_url="https://www.fiteyes.com/blog/dave/altering-eye-pressure-without-medications" st_title="Altering%20Eye%20Pressure%20Without%20Medications" class="st_sharethis_large" displayText="sharethis" st_via="" st_username=""></span> </div></div> <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>On the FitEyes email list we had an interesting discussion. I would like to share my response.</p> <p>Here are my thoughts on this topic of altering IOP without medications:</p> <!--break--><p>1. the practice of self-tonometry alone seems to keep my IOP down. I practice self-tonometry every day as a rule and my IOP stays low. The few times I have taken breaks of some weeks, when I resumed self-tonometry, my IOP was at a higher level -- even when I was not aware of any changes anywhere in my life. From this, I have concluded that the feedback mechanism of seeing my IOP coupled directly (in real time) with my healthy lifestyle habits promotes lower IOP. </p> <p>Bailey pointed out that his effect is not simply due to using the drops. It is the result of feedback from his tonometer. Note that exact point in his earlier emails -- I think it is key. The real-time feedback of seeing your own IOP change has a powerful effect. This effect has been life-changing for me in many ways.</p> <p>Talking about it or knowing about it is of no value. One has to experience it. That experience goes deep. It goes into our subconscious. Then our body will come to expect it. That's the power Balley is describing.</p> <p>This does not happen on the level of thoughts. Placebo effects don't either. They happen on the level of beliefs. One can think positive thoughts (which are on the surface level of the mind), but if one doesn't really believe deeply (we can say believe in the heart), the positive thoughts don't help much. </p> <p>When one sees one's own IOP changing in response to simple activities in one's own life, it creates the KNOWING that one has a degree of mastery over the process. This KNOWING is stronger than a belief. It is stronger than thoughts. With self-tonometry we come to know that our IOP is not some fixed number that we are stuck with for mysterious reasons that are set in concrete at the level of our genes. We KNOW that our IOP can change with our thoughts and emotions. We know it, not because someone on FitEyes.com said it, but because we have lived it day after day. We have seen it countless times. </p> <p>This experience becomes part of us and it empowers us to form a new relationship with our IOP. In this new relationship we are no longer victims. We are not the victims of our DNA or of trabecular meshwork tissue that is "defective". Those things are abstract and they may or may not play a role in our individual situation. </p> <p>What is real is that we see our IOP changing as we change. We KNOW we can do things like what Bailey did. We know that we have the power to experiment as Bailey did and discover new things about our IOP. </p> <p>I see what Bailey is describing as a step in the direction of forming a positive relationship with glaucoma. (BTW, that attitude change by itself is incredibly healing.) See these links:</p> <p><a href="http://fiteyes.com/IAmLovingGlaucoma">http://fiteyes.com/IAmLovingGlaucoma</a></p> <p><a href="http://fiteyes.com/Embrace-Evolve-Exceed">http://fiteyes.com/Embrace-Evolve-Exceed</a></p> <p>2. My other observation is that these small effects can become cumulative. Something that may only last a few minutes can be combined with something else and pretty soon we can have a series of simple activities and mental/emotional tools that let us string together a whole day of well-managed IOP. Every single little insight like Bailey's has value and is cumulative in my experience.</p> <p>3. My last point is that these things take time. They require living with self-tonometry. They require repeated experiences of relating to our IOP changes in real time. Gradually those experiences change us -- especially when we couple self-tonometry with a self-referral technique such as Serene Impulse or the right meditation. </p> <p>This is why I'm not very enthusiastic about tonometer rentals. People have often asked me about borrowing or renting a tonometer so they could take a few measurements. I see little value in that. One level of value comes from having daily records of our IOP over the long term. Another, more profound, level of value comes from doing self-tonometry long enough to let it change us.  That's the route to potentially managing IOP without total and exclusive reliance on drugs or surgery. It's also the route to living a more powerful and fulfilling life. </p> <p>The entire email discussion that stimulated this response can be found <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/fiteyes/browse_thread/thread/1566a57ac9256ebb/43844afd8ae7862d?#43844afd8ae7862d ">here</a>: <br /><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><a href="http://groups.google.com/group/fiteyes/browse_thread/thread/1566a57ac9256ebb/43844afd8ae7862d?#43844afd8ae7862d">http://groups.google.com/group/fiteyes/browse_thread/thread/1566a57ac925...</a> (requries a Google account -- if you don't have a Google account, I can post the entire thread here on request)</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-2 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline inline clearfix"><h3 class="field-label">Filed Under (tags): </h3><ul class="links inline"><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-0"><a href="/tags/self-tonometry">self-tonometry</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-1"><a href="/tags/beliefs">beliefs</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-2"><a href="/tags/home-eye-pressure-monitoring">home eye pressure monitoring</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-3"><a href="/tags/feedback-tonometry">feedback. tonometry</a></li></ul></div> Tue, 25 Jan 2011 20:10:23 +0000 dave 963 at https://www.fiteyes.com The God Choice (Article From USA Today) https://www.fiteyes.com/blog/anonymous/the-god-choice-article-from-usa-today <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="premium-message"><div class="premium_teaser_login"> <p><strong>Only registered users have access to the most valuable content of the FitEyes community: Blogs, Comments, FitEyes Discussion Group Archives, unique information on self-tonometry and other user-generated research.</strong></p> <p><strong>You must register</strong> because we have content that cannot be viewed unless you agree to our terms and conditions. </p> <h4>New users please <a href="http://www.fiteyes.com/user/register" target="_self" title="New user registration">click here to create new account</a> to read more...</h4> </div> </div></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-2 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline inline clearfix"><h3 class="field-label">Filed Under (tags): </h3><ul class="links inline"><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-0"><a href="/tags/beliefs">beliefs</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-1"><a href="/tags/consciousness">consciousness</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-2"><a href="/tags/brain">brain</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-3"><a href="/tags/central-nervous-system">central nervous system</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-4"><a href="/tags/science">science</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-5"><a href="/tags/near-death-experiences">near death experiences</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-6"><a href="/tags/brain-dead">brain dead</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-7"><a href="/tags/neurotheology">neurotheology</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-8"><a href="/tags/god">God</a></li></ul></div><div class="sharethis-buttons"><div class="sharethis-wrapper"><span st_url="https://www.fiteyes.com/blog/anonymous/the-god-choice-article-from-usa-today" st_title="The%20God%20Choice%20%28Article%20From%20USA%20Today%29" class="st_facebook_large" displayText="facebook"></span> <span st_url="https://www.fiteyes.com/blog/anonymous/the-god-choice-article-from-usa-today" st_title="The%20God%20Choice%20%28Article%20From%20USA%20Today%29" class="st_twitter_large" displayText="twitter" st_via="" st_username=""></span> <span st_url="https://www.fiteyes.com/blog/anonymous/the-god-choice-article-from-usa-today" st_title="The%20God%20Choice%20%28Article%20From%20USA%20Today%29" class="st_sharethis_large" displayText="sharethis" st_via="" st_username=""></span> </div></div> Tue, 23 Jun 2009 03:47:59 +0000 Anonymous 528 at https://www.fiteyes.com Beliefs And Intraocular Pressure https://www.fiteyes.com/beliefs-and-intraocular-pressure <div class="sharethis-buttons"><div class="sharethis-wrapper"><span st_url="https://www.fiteyes.com/beliefs-and-intraocular-pressure" st_title="Beliefs%20And%20Intraocular%20Pressure" class="st_facebook_large" displayText="facebook"></span> <span st_url="https://www.fiteyes.com/beliefs-and-intraocular-pressure" st_title="Beliefs%20And%20Intraocular%20Pressure" class="st_twitter_large" displayText="twitter" st_via="" st_username=""></span> <span st_url="https://www.fiteyes.com/beliefs-and-intraocular-pressure" st_title="Beliefs%20And%20Intraocular%20Pressure" class="st_sharethis_large" displayText="sharethis" st_via="" st_username=""></span> </div></div> <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p></p><p><b><span style="font-size: xx-large;">T</span></b>his post is part of a series of articles intended to help you understand the relationship between your thoughts and your intraocular pressure. When I speak about the relationship between stress and eye pressure, many of us have a hard time making the connection -- because stress is a constant in most of our lives. This exercise will help make the connection between IOP and stress clearer.</p> <p>First, sit quietly and reflect on the statements below. These are called "Universal Beliefs." (The list is taken from The Work of Byron Katie.) Which of these beliefs do you have?</p> <ul><li>I have to work hard.</li> <li>My body should be healthy.</li> <li>I am a failure.</li> <li>I need more money.</li> <li>Life is not fair.</li> <li>I have to do it right.</li> <li>I did it wrong.</li> <li>There is something wrong with me.</li> <li>Other people can hurt me.</li> <li>People are judging me.</li> <li>I am not fulfilling my purpose.</li> <li>I need to understand.</li> <li>I need to know what to do.</li> <li>I don't know what to do.</li> <li>I know what is best for others.</li> <li>I know what they are thinking.</li> <li>They should agree with me.</li> <li>People should be grateful.</li> <li>I know more than you do.</li> <li>Something terrible is going to happen.</li> <li>S/he rejected me.</li> <li>S/he doesn't trust me.</li> <li>There should not be war in this world.</li> <li>I am not lovable.</li> <li>The world is not a safe place.</li> <li>People should keep their promises.</li> <li>My boss should appreciate me.</li> <li>I don't belong.</li> <li>People should not be angry.</li> <li>I can make a mistake.</li> <li>People should not lie.</li> <li>People should respect me.</li> <li>Life should be fair.</li> <li>I need to make a decision.</li> <li>I can disappoint people.</li> <li>I am worthless.</li> <li>I need a partner to be happy.</li> <li>It is my fault.</li> <li>I missed my chance.</li> <li>I need to be careful in life.</li> <li>People should listen to me.</li> <li>Children should love their parents.</li> <li>I can't do anything right.</li> </ul><p>These are called universal beliefs because most of us have several of them. The list above is not complete, but it is enough to give you the idea. Which of these beliefs do you have? Do you have similar beliefs that are not on this list, but which cause you to feel stress (or subtle discomfort) when you think about them?</p> <p>Step one is to become aware of your beliefs and step two is to observe how these beliefs relate to your intraocular pressure. If you are a typical primary open angle glaucoma patient, there is a direct link. You will need a tonometer (and a careful, scientific approach) to see the connection, but it is there and it is very, very powerful.</p> <p>If you don't have a tonometer, it is no problem. Just proceed to directly go to work on your beliefs. (A good place to start, besides reading FitEyes.com, is to read this book: <a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/Loving-What-Four-Questions-Change/dp/1400045371/?tag=jaxfl32225-20&amp;s=books"><span>Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life</span></a> by Byron Katie and Stephen Mitchell.<span>)</span></p> <p>This exercise is about examining your beliefs. Become familiar with them and be able to notice when they are operating in you. Understand the power your beliefs have over you. Become aware of how they control your life. Notice that you may not even have chosen your beliefs -- often they were programmed into you. That programming process is explained in <a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/Four-Agreements-Practical-Personal-Freedom/dp/1878424505/?tag=jaxfl32225-20&amp;s=books"><span>The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, A Toltec Wisdom Book</span></a> by Don Miguel Ruiz <span>(<span>Hardcover</span> - Jan 15, 2001). That's another book I highly recommend.</span></p> <p>If you begin examining your unexamined beliefs, you will be moving in the direction of gaining better control over your own intraocular pressure.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-2 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline inline clearfix"><h3 class="field-label">Filed Under (tags): </h3><ul class="links inline"><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-0"><a href="/tags/Eye-Pressure">Eye Pressure</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-1"><a href="/tags/intraocular-pressure-research">intraocular pressure research</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-2"><a href="/tags/beliefs">beliefs</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-3"><a href="/tags/byron-katie">Byron Katie</a></li></ul></div> Mon, 04 Aug 2008 20:56:00 +0000 dave 250 at https://www.fiteyes.com Gain Better Eyesight by Expanding Your Heart https://www.fiteyes.com/gain-better-eyesight-by-expanding-your-heart <div class="sharethis-buttons"><div class="sharethis-wrapper"><span st_url="https://www.fiteyes.com/gain-better-eyesight-by-expanding-your-heart" st_title="Gain%20Better%20Eyesight%20by%20Expanding%20Your%20Heart" class="st_facebook_large" displayText="facebook"></span> <span st_url="https://www.fiteyes.com/gain-better-eyesight-by-expanding-your-heart" st_title="Gain%20Better%20Eyesight%20by%20Expanding%20Your%20Heart" class="st_twitter_large" displayText="twitter" st_via="" st_username=""></span> <span st_url="https://www.fiteyes.com/gain-better-eyesight-by-expanding-your-heart" st_title="Gain%20Better%20Eyesight%20by%20Expanding%20Your%20Heart" class="st_sharethis_large" displayText="sharethis" st_via="" st_username=""></span> </div></div> <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><b><span>If you allow yourself to see things through the eyes of another, you will be rewarded by better sight</span>. </b></i></p> <p>Just in case that statement sounds a little too quixotic, let me frame this in terms of intraocular pressure and glaucoma and tell you what myself and others are finding by carefully measuring our eye pressure with professional quality tonometers.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Most of us participating in FitEyes self-tonometry research have already noticed that anger and other strong negative emotions increase our intraocular pressure. Often anger is one of the situations where we don't let ourselves see another person's point of <span class="nfakPe">view</span>. (Sometimes anger is justified, but more often our ego tells us it is justified when that isn't the case from all valid perspectives.)</p> <p>I am also looking carefully at the relationship between eye pressure and more subtle emotions. What is becoming obvious to me is that subtly negative emotions increase intraocular pressure.</p> <p>One difficult part of the analysis of the relationship between emotions and intraocular pressure is that most of us, me included, are out of touch with our emotions to some extent. In addition, our society tends to define the emotional state of excitement (even extremes such as an adrenaline rush) as a positive emotional state. These and many other factors often confuse our definitions of positive and negative emotional state. In the context of this article, I will utilize the definitions offered by Ayurveda for positive and negative emotional states. To make it simple and directly applicable to glaucoma, we can say that a negative emotion is any emotion that elevates intraocular pressure. </p> <p>We know that increased IOP leads to damaged vision. Therefore, there is nothing surreal about the concept that we will be rewarded with better eyesight by becoming more emotionally accepting (and forgiving).</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">To set the stage, consider these circumstances. If you do not allow yourself to see things through the eyes of others, you may, at times, have a loss of the social qualities you enjoy. You may sometimes have some bitterness in relationships with others. You may develop resentment toward another person or feel discomfort being with that person. Of course, a more pronounced emotion we often feel when we can't see things through the eyes of others is anger. Anger is one emotion that is often easy to correlate with increased eye pressure. I have touched on this in prior FitEyes.com articles, but in this article I want to give you some practical advice. (And for those of you with tonometers, I'll suggest some informal experiments.)</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I want to suggest that we consider not only anger, but also the more subtle emotions of resentment, bitterness, or simply social discomfort. All these emotions should be considered negative emotions. These emotions will register clearly measurable intraocular pressure increases on the tonometer for many people. Any abnormal increase in intraocular pressure is usually undesirable.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Eckhart Tolle would say that these negative emotions arise from the ego inserting itself into the mix, and this is a valid perspective. Another way to think about it is that our heart qualities are shut out. Puran and Susan Bair in "Energize your Heart" say that these are the qualities of a narrow heart. The solution is to allow the heart to escape those narrowing confines we have inadvertently placed on it.</p> <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i>"Look at things from another person's point of <span class="nfakPe">view</span>. Your own point of <span class="nfakPe">view</span> will not be lost, but your <span class="nfakPe">view</span> of reality will be widened."</i></b> -- Puran and Susan Bair in "Energize your Heart"</p> </blockquote> <p>The exercise you can do is to look at things from another person's point of <span class="nfakPe">view</span> in a situation where you notice you aren't doing that currently. Drop your judgmental thoughts and attitudes -- at least temporarily for this experiment. Open your heart and feel compassion instead of resistance or resentment. Make an honest assessment of the degree to which your state of consciousness changes from "me against her" to inner peace. (But don't turn the judgmental thinking on yourself.) This is only an experiment and you can't fail -- all you can do is collect some useful information that you will learn from. All you are doing is seeing if any change in your attitude happens, and if so, if there is also a change in your eye pressure. So be sure to measure your intraocular pressure several times before and after situations where you can test these emotions and attitudes. If you can measure your intraocular pressure during the situation, as it unfolds, do that too. Frequent data collection makes the picture much easier to understand. (If you want to replicate my results, make sure you take a scientific approach to data collection.)</p> <p><a title="handinheart by fiteyes, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/14029268@N07/2519021316/"><img hspace="4" height="180" width="240" border="0" align="right" alt="handinheart" title="handinheart" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3023/2519021316_522268befb_m.jpg" /></a></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">As part of the FitEyes project, I have been doing this kind of experiment myself in social situations for several years. Often, after having an enjoyable dinner with friends, my intraocular pressure will be elevated. I have measured this effect so many times over the years, and with so many different tonometers, that there is no question it is real. And the increase in IOP can sometimes be huge. There are certainly no intense "negative" emotions and there is no noticeable stress at any point in these enjoyable evenings. However, in our friendly discussions over dinner, I have a tendency to want others to see things from my point of view, rather than to be completely open to different perspectives. I also fall into the ego-driven trap of judging others and wanting to be right -- although I don't speak out these negative judgments and I make sure I am always extremely polite in our conversations. But the tonometer doesn't lie. It is telling me something I cannot ignore and it is forcing me to look deeper for greater understanding.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I have ruled out time of day, medications, food, eye strain, driving and everything else I have considered potentially responsible for the increases in intraocular pressure after these social gatherings. After collecting many thousands of eye pressure measurements over several years, I am left with subtle emotions as the most likely explanation for the increased eye pressure.Previously, I would not have admitted that I was experiencing any negative emotions in these social situations. However, with increased awareness and increased knowledge, I now realize that even the desire to be right (which automatically implies the other person has to be seen as wrong) gives rise to a negative emotion, as defined by Ayurveda. The tonometer measurements support this definition.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">What prompted this article here on FitEyes.com is that I believe other people with tonometers are starting to notice similar things. Therefore, I am sharing ideas for how you can investigate this further.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">In "Energize your Heart," Puran and Susan Bair say that if there is anyone with whom you would not like to be alone in an elevator, that is your signal that you could benefit by broadening your heart. They say that even if you are successful in avoiding -- or even completely forgetting -- this individual, the discomfort will spread from the original person to a class of people with some similarity to that person.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">They give a second thought experiment: consider who it might be that would ruin your party with their presence. The authors suggest that it would be better to take a step toward reconciliation than for you to take a step back from their confrontation.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Let me propose a real life scenario you could use as an intraocular pressure experiment. Let's say you get together weekly for a social activity that you really enjoy with friends you have known for years. One of these friends, however, is acting in a way that has really been grating on you for a while now. Recently, your discomfort has been growing. You even asked some of your other friends if they have a problem with the person that is bothering you. While obvious to everyone, it turns out that this behavior isn't a sore spot for most of your other friends. But that doesn't stop it from irritating the heck out of you. You may have even considered quitting this social circle.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">My take on this is that this is exactly the type of situation that will result in a measurable increase in intraocular pressure that cannot be explained by medications, time of day or any other commonly considered factor. If you are lucky enough to have a situation similar to this in your life, to have a good tonometer and have the willingness to investigate a bit deeper, you may be rewarded with great insights that will improve your social relationships, reduce your stress and also reduce your intraocular pressure.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">In this experimental situation you could work on replacing your resentment toward that person with love and acceptance. There are many specific ways to work toward that (and I'll be happy to recommend some if requested -- and some of these techniques such as Serene Impulse may be subjects of future posts on my blog.) But when you are able to change from feeling it is "me against her" to feeling acceptance, compassion and unity, I am sure the elevated eye pressure resulting from your situation (e.g., social gathering) will be resolved. When the resentment is replaced by an easy, loving acceptance and the change is real (not simply "mood making") the elevated intraocular pressure will be gone in my personal experience.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">I am not suggesting that changing your attitudes and emotions about one relationship will cure your glaucoma, but I am suggesting that you find out for yourself whether this connection I'm describing exists. If you see it as clearly as I do, then it cannot help but change your life. And a series of small changes like this will add up to big positive changes in your health and happiness.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-2 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline inline clearfix"><h3 class="field-label">Filed Under (tags): </h3><ul class="links inline"><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-0"><a href="/tags/stress">stress</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-1"><a href="/tags/emotions">emotions</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-2"><a href="/tags/Eye-Pressure">Eye Pressure</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-3"><a href="/tags/self-tonometry">self-tonometry</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-4"><a href="/tags/ayurveda">Ayurveda</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-5"><a href="/tags/vision">vision</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-6"><a href="/tags/beliefs">beliefs</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-7"><a href="/tags/thoughts">thoughts</a></li></ul></div> Sat, 24 May 2008 16:16:00 +0000 dave 229 at https://www.fiteyes.com optic nerve death https://www.fiteyes.com/blog/andrea/optic-nerve-death <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="premium-message"><div class="premium_teaser_login"> <p><strong>Only registered users have access to the most valuable content of the FitEyes community: Blogs, Comments, FitEyes Discussion Group Archives, unique information on self-tonometry and other user-generated research.</strong></p> <p><strong>You must register</strong> because we have content that cannot be viewed unless you agree to our terms and conditions. </p> <h4>New users please <a href="http://www.fiteyes.com/user/register" target="_self" title="New user registration">click here to create new account</a> to read more...</h4> </div> </div></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-2 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline inline clearfix"><h3 class="field-label">Filed Under (tags): </h3><ul class="links inline"><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-0"><a href="/tags/emotions">emotions</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-1"><a href="/tags/Eye-Pressure">Eye Pressure</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-2"><a href="/tags/sleep">sleep</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-3"><a href="/tags/optic-nerve">optic nerve</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-4"><a href="/tags/breathing">breathing</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-5"><a href="/tags/yoga">yoga</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-6"><a href="/tags/pranayama">pranayama</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-7"><a href="/tags/beliefs">beliefs</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-8"><a href="/tags/oximetry">oximetry</a></li></ul></div><div class="sharethis-buttons"><div class="sharethis-wrapper"><span st_url="https://www.fiteyes.com/blog/andrea/optic-nerve-death" st_title="optic%20nerve%20death" class="st_facebook_large" displayText="facebook"></span> <span st_url="https://www.fiteyes.com/blog/andrea/optic-nerve-death" st_title="optic%20nerve%20death" class="st_twitter_large" displayText="twitter" st_via="" st_username=""></span> <span st_url="https://www.fiteyes.com/blog/andrea/optic-nerve-death" st_title="optic%20nerve%20death" class="st_sharethis_large" displayText="sharethis" st_via="" st_username=""></span> </div></div> Mon, 12 May 2008 15:02:00 +0000 andrea 194 at https://www.fiteyes.com Mistake Of The Intellect https://www.fiteyes.com/mistake-of-the-intellect <div class="sharethis-buttons"><div class="sharethis-wrapper"><span st_url="https://www.fiteyes.com/mistake-of-the-intellect" st_title="Mistake%20Of%20The%20Intellect" class="st_facebook_large" displayText="facebook"></span> <span st_url="https://www.fiteyes.com/mistake-of-the-intellect" st_title="Mistake%20Of%20The%20Intellect" class="st_twitter_large" displayText="twitter" st_via="" st_username=""></span> <span st_url="https://www.fiteyes.com/mistake-of-the-intellect" st_title="Mistake%20Of%20The%20Intellect" class="st_sharethis_large" displayText="sharethis" st_via="" st_username=""></span> </div></div> <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Experts in the Ayurvedic medical system tell us that the source of all disease and suffering is "the mistake of the intellect" ("pragyaparadh" in Sanskrit). What is "the mistake of the intellect" and how does it relate to health, vision and intraocular pressure?</p> <p>Dr. Ram Kant Mishra, an Ayurvedic physician, says the mistake of the intellect "occurs when individuals -- or even single cells -- 'forget' their connection with the wholeness of life and believe themselves to be isolated entities."</p> <p>Other Ayurvedic physicians interpret the ancient Sanskrit texts in slightly different ways, but Dr. Mishra's quote is the best and most correct definition of "the mistake of the intellect" I have seen. And this precise definition is the key to gaining some very powerful insights that make the concept of "the mistake of the intellect" practical. A vague concept that there is something called pragyaparadh that is responisble in some strange way for all the diseases we encounter in life is of no practical value. In that same way, the more common translations such as, "identifying with the part and losing the whole, that is the mistake of the intellect" have little value because trying to create some mystical or imaginary feeling of "being connected to the whole" is usually a nebulous exercise that quickly becomes impractical in daily life for busy people. </p> <p>However, if we realize that there are certain <i>definite patterns of thinking</i> (and their accompanying <i>emotions</i>) that lead to disease, then we can go to work on changing those thinking patterns. That makes the concept of "the mistake of the intellect" practical. That is my purpose in writing this article.</p> <p>Let's start by recognizing that we already know what it is that makes us forget our connection to the wholeness of life and believe that we are isolated entities. It is the ego. If you have been reading Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth" or any other similar material, you know that <font color="#3366cc">the ego is our sense of individ</font><font color="#3366cc">ual, separate self</font>. Our ego is what conceptually defines us as individual humans.</p> <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/14029268@N07/2440690621/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(51, 102, 204);" title="Mistake Of The Intellect by fiteyes, on Flickr"><img align="left" alt="Mistake Of The Intellect" border="0" height="306" hspace="5" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3225/2440690621_7093c0fec5_o.jpg" title="Mistake Of The Intellect" width="400" /></a>Let me quote from Patanjali, the founder of Yoga. Patanjali says, "Egoism, the limiting sense of "I", results from the individual intellect's attributing the power of consciousness to itself." Patanjali is saying that the ego arises from the mistake of the intellect. And Ayurveda is saying that the mistake of the intellect is fundamentally responsible for all disease. Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth" provides some practical insights into how we can unravel this whole disease-creating process. In my own work on this I have found strong connections between my egoic thinking and my intraocular pressure.</p> <blockquote><p><i style="font-family: impact, chicago;"><b>The Mistake Of The Intellect Is the Ego </b></i></p></blockquote> <p>I would like to quote Eckhart Tolle again:</p> <blockquote><p>The word "I" embodies the greatest error and the deepest truth, depending on   how  it   is  used.   In   conventional  usage, it is not only one of the most frequently   used   words   in   the   language   (together   with   the   related   words: "me," "my," "mine," and "myself") but also one of the most misleading. In normal everyday usage, "I" embodies the primordial error, a misperception of who you are, an illusory sense of identity. This is the ego.</p></blockquote> <p>In my prior blog post, I quoted Dr. Eric Robins saying, "Some day the medical profession will wake up and realize that unresolved emotional issues are the main cause of 85% of all illnesses." Unresolved emotional issues arise from the ego. </p> <p>Again, I will quote Tolle. This is from the section THE BIRTH OF EMOTION in Chapter Five:</p> <blockquote><p>In addition to the movement of thought, although not entirely separate from it, there is another dimension to the ego: emotion.</p></blockquote> <p>One way out of the trap of the ego and the health problems that go along with it are the mindfulness practices described by Tolle and many others. Practicing <i>being here now</i> is very powerful. I won't give a course in how to do that in this article, but I will write more on it in future articles. The point I want to leave you with is this:</p> <ol><li>The mistake of the intellect is at the root of all disease.</li> <li>The ego is the most tangible result of the mistake of the intellect.</li> <li>There are proven, effective psychological tools that allow us to unravel the ego's total control of our lives and to begin enjoying emotional freedom and serene thinking.</li> </ol><p>I want to end this article by making it even more concrete for those of us who are engineering-types and those of us who may tend toward left brain thinking. Biochemically, increased intraocular pressure can, in many situations, be attributed to certain hormones such as glucocorticoids (e.g., cortisol) and the catecholamines (epinephrine/adrenaline). We may be tempted to end our investigation at this level, saying simply that increased intraocular pressure is due to increased cortisol, for example. And that can be true (at least in certain populations). However, when we get into a discussion of the ego, we are really looking at this one level deeper than the biochemical level. We are looking for the cause of the increased cortisol or epinephrine or other stress hormones and neurotransmitters. We are taking into account that, in the modern world, most of our stress is the result of our thinking (and our coloring of situations through our thoughts) rather than the situations themselves. A great example is being stuck in traffic. If one frets about the possible future consequences of being late to an important meeting, one will flood the body with stress hormones. By simply changing our thinking, we can respond to the same situation without stress hormones. These various changes in thinking we can employ all ultimately become practical tools when we frame them as I have in this article. First, we need to understand the root issue (the mistake of the intellect). Then we can learn about the structure and function of the ego, which is the most tangible consequence of the mistake of the intellect. And from that foundation, we can unravel the ego using tools such as mindfulness and concepts such as Tolle's "pain body."</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-2 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline inline clearfix"><h3 class="field-label">Filed Under (tags): </h3><ul class="links inline"><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-0"><a href="/tags/emotions">emotions</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-1"><a href="/tags/Eye-Pressure">Eye Pressure</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-2"><a href="/tags/ayurveda">Ayurveda</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-3"><a href="/tags/ego">ego</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-4"><a href="/tags/beliefs">beliefs</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-5"><a href="/tags/thoughts">thoughts</a></li></ul></div> Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:42:00 +0000 dave 84 at https://www.fiteyes.com A New Earth Web Event https://www.fiteyes.com/a-new-earth-web-event <div class="sharethis-buttons"><div class="sharethis-wrapper"><span st_url="https://www.fiteyes.com/a-new-earth-web-event" st_title="A%20New%20Earth%20Web%20Event" class="st_facebook_large" displayText="facebook"></span> <span st_url="https://www.fiteyes.com/a-new-earth-web-event" st_title="A%20New%20Earth%20Web%20Event" class="st_twitter_large" displayText="twitter" st_via="" st_username=""></span> <span st_url="https://www.fiteyes.com/a-new-earth-web-event" st_title="A%20New%20Earth%20Web%20Event" class="st_sharethis_large" displayText="sharethis" st_via="" st_username=""></span> </div></div> <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Tonight is the next webcast of Oprah Winfrey's online class with Echkart Tolle: <a title="A New Earth" href="http://www2.oprah.com/obc_classic/webevent_registration.html">A New Earth Web Event</a>. I strongly suggest it is worth watching for all glaucoma patients and anyone else interested in maintaining good vision. There is more to the connection between this topic and our visual health than one might realize at first glance. The current chapters deal a lot with the ego. <a title="Ego and blindness" href="/sites/fiteyes.com/files/2008/03/11/blindness-carried-by-the-ego-is-complete-darkness">This is important stuff</a>. It is also the foundation for what comes later. And what comes later will profoundly alter your visual perception. So watch A New Earth tonight via the webcast. And if you have missed the first three classes, you can watch those online or download them to an iPod or you can even listen to an MP3 audio version. Catch up and stay with this program if you want to reap substantial benefits in terms of health. Eckhart Tolle doesn't talk much about health, but I assure you that the health benefits of this program are profound. It has a great effect in lowering my IOP.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-2 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline inline clearfix"><h3 class="field-label">Filed Under (tags): </h3><ul class="links inline"><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-0"><a href="/tags/glaucoma">glaucoma</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-1"><a href="/tags/emotions">emotions</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-2"><a href="/tags/Eye-Pressure">Eye Pressure</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-3"><a href="/tags/breathing">breathing</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-4"><a href="/tags/vision">vision</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-5"><a href="/tags/beliefs">beliefs</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-6"><a href="/tags/health">Health</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-7"><a href="/tags/healing">Healing</a></li></ul></div> Mon, 24 Mar 2008 16:50:00 +0000 dave 222 at https://www.fiteyes.com The Secret Behind The Secret https://www.fiteyes.com/OprahTheSecretBehindTheSecret <div class="sharethis-buttons"><div class="sharethis-wrapper"><span st_url="https://www.fiteyes.com/OprahTheSecretBehindTheSecret" st_title="The%20Secret%20Behind%20The%20Secret" class="st_facebook_large" displayText="facebook"></span> <span st_url="https://www.fiteyes.com/OprahTheSecretBehindTheSecret" st_title="The%20Secret%20Behind%20The%20Secret" class="st_twitter_large" displayText="twitter" st_via="" st_username=""></span> <span st_url="https://www.fiteyes.com/OprahTheSecretBehindTheSecret" st_title="The%20Secret%20Behind%20The%20Secret" class="st_sharethis_large" displayText="sharethis" st_via="" st_username=""></span> </div></div> <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>UPDATED for 2009. Oprah Winfrey aired a show titled "The Secret Behind The Secret" on Feb 6, 2008. I recommend you watch it if you can find it on the web. My <a href="http://www.sagetv.com/" title="SageTV" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">SageTV</a> system recorded it, and I watched it a few days after it originally aired.</p> <p>A lot of us have been discussing the secret behind The Secret. There is in fact a lot of depth to this topic (and I might start a whole new blog on the subject).</p> <p>There is also a lot of misunderstanding regarding The Secret. Some very smart people don't seem to get it. In fact, Stephen Mitchell, who I consider a very smart person, wrote that the message of The Secret is that “<a href="http://www.byronkatie.com/2007/04/the_difference_between_the_wor.htm" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">You can have whatever you want</a>.”  I have to believe he didn't watch the DVD or read the book if that's what he thinks The Secret says. He's got it exactly wrong. The message of The Secret is that "you can choose to feel joy and from this state you experience even more joy." In other words, when you feel joy and gratitude for what you already have inside, the outside world begins to mirror your consciousness.</p> <p>Think about the woman in The Secret who healed her breast cancer. She wasn't saying, "I <i>want</i> to be well" or "I <i>want</i> this cancer to go away." She was living in a state of gratitude for the healing that had already occurred in her mind and in her heart. She already had what she wanted -- inside. Eventually (three months later), physical reality caught up with what she had been living at the level of her consciousness. Reality has no other choice!</p> <p>Stephen Mitchell believes his message (which is Byron Katie's message) is opposed to The Secret. Stephen stated his message as “You can want whatever you have.” Whether he realizes it or not, the message is complimentary to and nearly the same as The Secret. In fact, it could accurately be called the prerequisite for really mastering The Secret.</p> <p>The way I state the message Stephen is sharing is as follows:</p> <ul><li>You can feel serenely positive emotions. </li> <li>You can be happy. </li> <li>You can have love and gratitude for everything in your life. </li> <li>You can love what you have inside. </li> </ul><p>When Stephen says, “You can want whatever you have," do you see how that is the same as saying that you can be happy and experience serenely positive emotions? If you want what you have, you will be happy with what you have (your life). Do you see how this fits in with the <a href="/IAmLovingGlaucoma" title="Loving Glaucoma" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153);">ideas expressed in this blog</a>? How many of you reading this have glaucoma? How many of you with glaucoma <strong>want to have glaucoma?</strong> Until you want what you have, you haven't really understood The Secret. Wanting what you have is the first part of The Secret.</p> <p>This is intimately related to the universal healing concept of <a href="/We_2D00_Have_2D00_Chosen_2D00_Glaucoma" title="That which we resist persists" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">that which we resist persists</span></a>.</p> <p><span style="font-style: italic;">(By the way, there is a closely related issue of "identifying with glaucoma." Some smart people are aware that they can benefit by not identifying themselves as a diseased person or a person with glaucoma. The message I'm attempting to convey here is not at odds with that particular bit of wisdom. In another article I will clarify the subtle relationship if my readers are interested. For now I will simply say that we really do have to start by loving what is. That's the very first step. When we really love what is, we recognize that there is nothing "diseased" about it at all.)</span></p> <p>The second part of The Secret is that we can choose to be happy. We can live in a state of joy. And from that inner state we create our reality.</p> <p>Of course, we create our outer reality from any inner state we experience, but The Secret is, in part, about improving things. That outer improvement the DVD focuses on is a direct result of living in a state of joy.  There is nothing else responsible for it.</p> <p>Positive thinking is not the answer. Neither is <strong>wanting things to be better</strong>. Both of these ideas are total misunderstandings of The Secret, in my opinion.</p> <p>The things that we have inside (in sum, our state of consciousness) are what create the life we live. What you have inside is what you will have outside (physical reality). And if you want what you have inside (i.e., you are happy) then you will also want what you have all around you -- and you will draw even more happiness to yourself. It becomes a virtual cycle (the opposite of a vicious circle) -- and that's the real secret.</p> <p>One area where The Work Stephen Mitchell was referring to and The Secret differ is in the extent to which each camp believes we can control our thinking. I'll have to address this more fully in another blog post, but once again, there is no fundamental conflict. Western societies tend to believe that "I think, therefore, I am." In truth, the chatterbox function that keeps a stream of thought words flowing through our waking state consciousness is not who we are at the deepest level. The true "us" is not this stream of thought words. Stephen Mitchell and Byron Katie have it right in many ways. We are not identical with our thoughts.</p> <p>As Byron Katie explains, we can disidentify with our thoughts through practices such as The Work or Serene Impulse or others. And I know from personal experience with Serene Impulse that we can achieve states where the chatterbox function of the mind that ordinarily never seems to stop becomes very settled. Thoughts do not stop completely (in my experience) but the nature of the thoughts changes completely. My experience shows that, with practice, we can achieve a settled mind where we have fewer thoughts: less anxiety, less worry, less stress, less anger, etc. In fact, I have found that many of those anxious thoughts and those angry thoughts just completely disappear! (I didn't directly control my thoughts in real time, but through practice of Serene Impulse I did do something that resulted in a change in my habitual thought patterns. So there is a subtle distinction between these two points of view that I am contrasting.)</p> <p>As a side note, it is said that the average person thinks about 60,000 thoughts per day. Most are repetitive thoughts. Today's worry may be the same as yesterday's worry, for example. Our power gets diluted by those 60,000 thoughts. If we could learn to think one single thought per day, and put all our power into that one thought, we would accomplish far more in our lives than even the most successful role models we see in the world today. And we would be at peace while doing it.</p> <p>You will discover that when the mind is quiet, the experience is joy. It is that simple. We can "control" what we think by developing a state of mind that has less anxious, angry, stressful thinking; and by thinking less we automatically enter into a state of serenely positive emotions. And that inner state automatically draws more happiness into our lives. This is a powerful state, and it is the foundation for manifesting intentions.</p> <p>From the state of loving what is (living in gratitude), together with a more settled state of mind where we are not overwhelmed by our thoughts, the real power of The Secret emerges. This is the level from which we are truly healed. (The happiness that comes to us from living in gratitude can come in any form, including better health -- or the material stuff that is featured in The Secret DVD.)</p> <!--break--><p>Oprah's show on "The Secret Behind The Secret" featured Louise Hay. I wrote about <a href="/FearAElevatedIntraocularPressure" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Louise Hay</a> in my article on the Relationship Between Fear and Elevated Intraocular Pressure. I said, "Louise Hay mentions that glaucoma can be related to the following unresolved emotions and experiences: stony unforgiveness; pressure from longstanding hurts; overwhelmed by it all." You owe it to yourself to look into the relationship between glaucoma, emotions, <span style="font-weight: bold;">loving what is (The Work, Bryon Katie, Tathata) and The Secret. Disease is incompatible with the state of inner joy. When we are serenely positive inside, everything is as it should be.</span></p> <blockquote><p>Louise Hay mentions that glaucoma can be related to the following unresolved emotions and experiences: stony unforgiveness; pressure from longstanding hurts; overwhelmed by it all.</p> </blockquote> <p>In addition to those emotions, on a day-to-day basis, anxiety and anger can often be seen to directly elevate intraocular pressure. In fact, any time we are not loving what is, there is a good probability our IOP will show some elevation. The elevation may come immediately or it may come within 24 hours. Or, if this state is so much our normal way of living, it may be that our IOP is elevated so consistently all the time (and possibly moderated by drugs or surgery) that we cannot directly connect the feeling states to our own present intraocular pressure. However, in my experience, if we investigate our emotions with the objective feedback of self-tonometry and we approach it like a scientist (a true scientist, not one who is irrationally biased by philosophical materialism), we will begin to see some of these relationship. They will be our own personal relationships. The specific emotions may be different and our intraocular pressure may respond in its own idiosyncratic way, but through careful observation (and the ability to disidentify with our thoughts) we will begin to see the patterns.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-2 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline inline clearfix"><h3 class="field-label">Filed Under (tags): </h3><ul class="links inline"><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-0"><a href="/tags/glaucoma">glaucoma</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-1"><a href="/tags/emotions">emotions</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-2"><a href="/tags/Eye-Pressure">Eye Pressure</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-3"><a href="/tags/vision">vision</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-4"><a href="/tags/beliefs">beliefs</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-5"><a href="/tags/fear">fear</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-6"><a href="/tags/thoughts">thoughts</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-7"><a href="/tags/health">Health</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-8"><a href="/tags/the-secret">The Secret</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-9"><a href="/tags/tathata">Tathata</a></li></ul></div> Fri, 08 Feb 2008 05:07:00 +0000 dave 78 at https://www.fiteyes.com I am Loving Glaucoma https://www.fiteyes.com/IAmLovingGlaucoma <div class="sharethis-buttons"><div class="sharethis-wrapper"><span st_url="https://www.fiteyes.com/IAmLovingGlaucoma" st_title="I%20am%20Loving%20Glaucoma" class="st_facebook_large" displayText="facebook"></span> <span st_url="https://www.fiteyes.com/IAmLovingGlaucoma" st_title="I%20am%20Loving%20Glaucoma" class="st_twitter_large" displayText="twitter" st_via="" st_username=""></span> <span st_url="https://www.fiteyes.com/IAmLovingGlaucoma" st_title="I%20am%20Loving%20Glaucoma" class="st_sharethis_large" displayText="sharethis" st_via="" st_username=""></span> </div></div> <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>I am loving what glaucoma does for me on a daily basis. I have changed so much. I am a different person now -- and much healthier than ever. How did this happen? </p> <p>When I walked in to my ophthalmologist's office for the first time, he found that the intraocular pressure in my right eye was 48 mmHg. The ophthalmologist said that was the highest intraocular pressure he had seen. That was enough to shake me up a bit. On <a title="visual field test" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(51, 102, 204);" href="/VisualFields1">my very first visual field exam</a>, I had already lost a significant portion of my eye sight. The rapid loss of my sight was enough to scare the crap out of me! And that was before my optic nerve scan showed damage of 99 on a scale of 2 to 99 (99 being the worst)!</p> <p>I have experienced fear, depression and a whole range of frightening negative emotions related to glaucoma and the prospect of losing my vision. However, those of you who read my blog know that those fears are largely a thing of the past for me. I have said many times, and it remains as true as ever, that glaucoma is one of the best things that has ever happened to me. It is one of the best things because <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">I have made it so</span>.</p> <p>That doesn't mean I am making a mood -- I'm not. I'm not pretending I'm happy when I'm really not feeling so well. As you know from many articles (such as <a title="Glaucoma has made me a better person" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(51, 102, 204);" href="/glorious-illuminating-glaucoma">Glorious Illuminating Glaucoma</a>) the positive changes in me and in my life (and my relationships) are very real and very profound.</p> <p>Glaucoma is <strike>one of</strike> the best thing<strike>s</strike> that has happened to me because I chose to use it as an opportunity. Several people have responded to my articles about my positive experiences by saying things such as, "I<span style="font-style: italic;"> have not found a single positive aspect about the prospect of losing my eyesight. It has certainly not helped me to become a better person, or find new meaning in life, or anything like that.</span>" I can see why people think like that because I've been through that. But thinking that way ("there's nothing positive about glaucoma") doesn't make it true. However, believing it is true does cause you stress, anxiety, fear and a host of other negative emotions. And those negative emotions do contribute to poor health. So one's beliefs -- whether true or not -- can lead to the type of thing one is resisting.</p> <p>The reality is some of us have health issues related to our vision. That is the reality. To argue with or deny reality is a mentally unhealthy state. Feeling negative, angry or upset about <i><b>what is</b></i> can't be a healthy state of mind. Those feelings are simply a manifestion of our disagreement with reality. Our level of suffering is in direct proportion to our distance from truth. When  we argue with reality, we lose -- and we suffer. When we love <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">what is</span>, including the reality of our current health situation, we begin to find inner peace. We begin living life directly and fully.</p> <p>We can all always find a way to become a better version of ourselves as a result of any adversity in our lives. The method I advocate for making lemonade out of lemons is not spin doctoring. I did experience the same fears and emotions about blindness. I don't believe in suppressing emotions. I do believe in feeling <i><b>what is</b></i>. Only through directly participating in the present moment reality can we have a chance to change how that reality evolves. This is part of the truth behind the saying,<i>that which we resist persists</i>.</p> <p>I have evolved away from dwelling on the prospect of losing my eyesight. However, there is even a positive side to my earlier very real and very scary experience of losing a significant amount of my eyesight. I believe the impact on my emotions -- right down to the core of my being -- was so great that I found the motivation to break out of all the old patterns that had put me in the position of developing glaucoma. I was willing to change anything in order to maintain my vision -- and I still am. If there is one thing I have an abundance of it is motivation to properly care for my remaining eyesight.</p> <p>I walk for an hour almost every single day -- even if it is raining and cold outside. Why? Because I have found that walking helps lower my intraocular pressure. I pay for the very best medical care out of my own pocket. I have radically changed my eating habits and almost every single aspect of my life in order to care for my eyes (and my general health). Please don't assume from reading this that I have more innate self-discipline than you do -- I don't. What I do have is the benefit of significant visual field loss and significant optic nerve damage.</p> <p>That brings me to another statement someone made in response to my positive experiences with glaucoma. The person said, "<span style="font-style: italic;">I think I would find it easier to believe that by changing my thoughts I could conquer glaucoma if I knew I had a kind that can be self-limiting.</span>" Of course we all think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. However, let's assume it is true that my form of glaucoma is easier to treat or to deal with. Is that better? Is that better for me to have an easier to manage disease?</p> <p>In actuality, I believe it is due to the fact that I have a particularly aggressive form of glaucoma and that I was losing my vision so fast -- and that I had already lost so much vision so quickly  -- that I have experienced all these wonderful things in my life from this point forward. Before this experience I would not have believed it was possible for something considered "worse" to actually be better for me. But in reality, no one knows what's absolutely good and what's absolutely bad.</p> <p>I doubt I would have found the courage to be willing to change anything and everything in my life had I been faced with a minor condition. Indeed, I would probably be stuck in my old ways were it not for the fact that I was in a very dire situation.</p> <p>Therefore, the correct statement is that <i>it is harder to make the changes to create health in one's life when one is faced with a self-limited or minor health condition</i>.</p> <p>I have the benefit and the blessing of significant visual field loss and significant optic nerve damage. You may ask how those things can be advantages, but as I hope I explained above, without those negatives I doubt I would be in the positive place I am now enjoying in my life.</p> <p> </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-2 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline inline clearfix"><h3 class="field-label">Filed Under (tags): </h3><ul class="links inline"><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-0"><a href="/tags/glaucoma">glaucoma</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-1"><a href="/tags/stress">stress</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-2"><a href="/tags/emotions">emotions</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-3"><a href="/tags/vision">vision</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-4"><a href="/tags/beliefs">beliefs</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-5"><a href="/tags/visual-field-0">visual field</a></li></ul></div> Mon, 14 Jan 2008 02:16:00 +0000 dave 76 at https://www.fiteyes.com Can the heavy use of a computer be a cause of glaucoma? https://www.fiteyes.com/blog/vis01/can-the-heavy-use-of-a-computer-be-a-cause-of-glaucoma <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="premium-message"><div class="premium_teaser_login"> <p><strong>Only registered users have access to the most valuable content of the FitEyes community: Blogs, Comments, FitEyes Discussion Group Archives, unique information on self-tonometry and other user-generated research.</strong></p> <p><strong>You must register</strong> because we have content that cannot be viewed unless you agree to our terms and conditions. </p> <h4>New users please <a href="http://www.fiteyes.com/user/register" target="_self" title="New user registration">click here to create new account</a> to read more...</h4> </div> </div></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-2 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline inline clearfix"><h3 class="field-label">Filed Under (tags): </h3><ul class="links inline"><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-0"><a href="/tags/glaucoma">glaucoma</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-1"><a href="/tags/emotions">emotions</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-2"><a href="/tags/ayurveda">Ayurveda</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-3"><a href="/tags/myopia">myopia</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-4"><a href="/tags/computer-monitors">computer monitors</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-5"><a href="/tags/beliefs">beliefs</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-6"><a href="/tags/thoughts">thoughts</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-7"><a href="/tags/the-secret">The Secret</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-8"><a href="/tags/exercise">exercise</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-9"><a href="/tags/computer-use">computer use</a></li></ul></div><div class="sharethis-buttons"><div class="sharethis-wrapper"><span st_url="https://www.fiteyes.com/blog/vis01/can-the-heavy-use-of-a-computer-be-a-cause-of-glaucoma" st_title="Can%20the%20heavy%20use%20of%20a%20computer%20be%20a%20cause%20of%20glaucoma%3F" class="st_facebook_large" displayText="facebook"></span> <span st_url="https://www.fiteyes.com/blog/vis01/can-the-heavy-use-of-a-computer-be-a-cause-of-glaucoma" st_title="Can%20the%20heavy%20use%20of%20a%20computer%20be%20a%20cause%20of%20glaucoma%3F" class="st_twitter_large" displayText="twitter" st_via="" st_username=""></span> <span st_url="https://www.fiteyes.com/blog/vis01/can-the-heavy-use-of-a-computer-be-a-cause-of-glaucoma" st_title="Can%20the%20heavy%20use%20of%20a%20computer%20be%20a%20cause%20of%20glaucoma%3F" class="st_sharethis_large" displayText="sharethis" st_via="" st_username=""></span> </div></div> Wed, 01 Aug 2007 21:01:00 +0000 vis01 297 at https://www.fiteyes.com