December 2022 Newsletter

Hello, and a delicious December to you!
Welcome, or welcome back, to my newsletter. Today's issue is about feeling safe, or not. Enjoy!

An energy teacher once told me that both fear and excitement arise from the same chemical messenger, namely adrenaline. The difference in response comes from whether you feel safe, or feel in danger. Since I often felt fearful as a child, and was given more responsibilities than I could comfortably handle, I must admit that yes, I often felt unsafe and overwhelmed. To this day I usually approach new projects cautiously, worried I'll make mistakes. Small successes can build my confidence, though, as I see my skills and competence growing.

Vision improvement has followed this same pattern for me. When I started, with my -10 vision, I couldn't see much at all without strong eyeglasses or contacts. However, just taking those barriers away from my sensitive eyeballs felt freeing. As I tried to make my way through the blur, I was nervous and unsure, so practicing with the eye chart, which can be an excellent tool for learning to focus on details, seemed out of the question. I could barely locate the chart from 20 feet away, let alone decipher any of the letters. It was only when I moved closer to the chart, standing a few feet from it, that I began to have some success with this tool.

After I felt more comfortable viewing the eye chart from a closer distance, only then could I start backing away. As is my habit, I'd been trying to do too much too soon, to run when I barely knew how to crawl. No wonder the thought of practicing with the eye chart made me anxious! The initial standard I was setting for myself was unrealistic, so it's no surprise I felt like a failure, then didn't want to do it at all.

Building on an earlier, smaller, success seems obvious in retrospect. When climbing a ladder, we take one step at a time. When improving my vision and reducing my prescription, first I could drive at night with -8.5, then with -6, and each was a victory to me, even though I wasn't at "the finish line" yet. One method I used back then to help me feel safe and in some control of my life was to celebrate these seemingly small victories. If I had waited the years it took me to be able to drive safely without any glasses, I might have felt like a failure rather than a success.

Yesterday morning was densely foggy and raining, much dimmer than many nights, yet I still needed to go out in the car to get some groceries. For anyone with even a slight vision challenge, the amount of illumination is a major factor in how well one can see. Years ago, even after I was mostly functioning without glasses, I would not take the car out on a dark or rainy day, sure I wouldn't be able to see well enough to feel safe. I debated with myself: should I wait until the fog cleared? I decided I was being silly, that with all my practice in seeing in blurry situations I was probably safer than most, so slowly set off on my trip.

The fog was already clearing (nice metaphor!) when I left the grocery store, with the short drives there and back uneventful. With one more minor vision victory to add to my stockpile, I set about my other tasks. What led to me feeling unsafe when I was younger was not being able to handle what was in front of me, so feeling completely out of control. Now that I am much more competent and capable at navigating my visual environment, whether driving or interacting with others, I feel safe almost all of the time. I've gotten here little by little, one small step at a time, with several missteps. Do what you can to climb that ladder toward feeling safe yourself, fully able to thrive. You'll be so much happier.

For many of us, too much or too little light can alarm the visual system, leading to feeling unsafe and helpless. To read about my guiding someone to overcome photophobia (fear of bright light), click here.

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Please send me your questions and comments
Let me know what you've wondered about concerning energy medicine or vision or dreams. I'll be glad to write a short article addressing that topic. Thank you to those who have sent me questions, or see a question you asked me in a private session written about here. You're helping many other people! Enjoy the start of this delightful month of December. I'll write again in a few weeks. Take care!