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perspectives on looking at smaller details

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perspectives on looking at smaller details
#1
I'm trying to do a little research and understand better what problems people have when they try to see.

When you, for example, look at a car in the distance, and you take a few seconds to look at blurry parts of it, such as what might be a wheel, the windshield, light glinting off the chrome, etc, do your eyes start feeling tense (or pressured) the smaller the things you look at? What happens right away? And then what happens after a minute or a few minutes of looking at another such object every few seconds, spending those few seconds to notice the smallest details or pieces of blur? Is there anything else you notice that you're doing, or that you want to do?
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"Half of our funny, heathen lives, we are bent double to gather things we have tossed away." - George Meredith
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#2
I want to give this more thought and will give you a fuller answer tomorrow -- I've got an appointment shortly and don't have time tonight. My first thought is if I look far enough, double vision starts drifting in and out, and I have to use some energy to not get upset or annoyed about it, just gently force myself (it used to be rigidly force myself when I started -- this is an improvement!) to keep most of my attention on a small piece of detail and not get distracted by the double images.
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#3
Hi all,

I’m new to this forum and also to the Bates method. New in the sense that I’ve read some books on the Bates method and practiced it on and off, but without much success. Basically, I’ve been discouraged and couldn’t keep up the momentum ( couldn’t quite get the hang of it ). I’ve recently started practicing again, applying David’s re-spin on the Bates method and I think this has begun to shed some light for me, at the end of a very long tunnel.

I’ve been myopic since my mid-teens. My prescription is now -5.25D for both eyes, but I’m wearing transitional glasses ( -3.75D ). I try to ditch my glasses altogether except when I’m in unfamiliar grounds, watching the TV or working in front of the computer ( which I spend a lot of time on ).

Since last week ( when I started ), the tension in my temples, brows and in between eyes have considerably lessened, but I still have so many problems/ question, which I’m going to post below. So here are my problems/ questions in regard to looking at details with The String method :

(1) Difficulty looking at large objects with long outlines and/or objects with uniform color
(a) When I look at a large object say, a car, I try to follow the outline of its body with the string but after a short while, I get “lost” because I can’t locate where the previous and last points are.
-- If I do this slowly, sometimes I can’t perceive properly what I’m seeing. If feels like I’m just executing a method, and not really seeing with interest.
-- It’s easier if I do this fast ( like sketching ) but I suspect it’s because my eyes are making bigger shifts?
-- I generally don’t have a problem looking at details of small objects, especially those that come with a lot of texture/contour/color changes. Why is that?

(2) How do I look at objects when I’m moving?
(a) When I’m on the move, everything goes by so fast that I get the “rushed” feeling when I try to note the details. When I’m walking around in the office, I sense oppositional movement and I try to take note of the objects in my surroundings. E.g. I note the color of the carpet that I’m walking on, that it’s got a checkered pattern and 2 shades of grey or I see a guy walking in front of me and I note what color of shirt he’s wearing….but it always feels “rushed”, like I’ve got no time to see more details.

(3) How do you see in between shifting your attention from Object A to Object B?
For e.g. I look at mug on my desk to my left, noting its details. When I’m done with it, I want to look at the phone to my right. So what do you notice when you’re in the process of shifting your attention between the mug and the phone?
--I can only sense oppositional movement without stopping for any points in between. If I do it fast, it feels like a blur of oppositional movement.
--I asked my husband, who has near-normal sight, and he says he doesn’t notice anything in particular when he’s shifting this way.

(4) Here’s what I’m putting into my practice. Please critique if I’m off track or mis-interpreting anything?
(a) I practice The String method on small objects. Since I spend a lot of time in front of the computer, when I read, I go over the details of the first letter of every word, then shift to the next word repeat it on the first letter. I also like going over the details of small objects ( 3D ) like the weavings of a fabric, handicraft, jewellery etc.

I find it difficult to look at the Snellen with the string method. ( problems with the long outline, uniform black color ). I’m substituting it with a printed picture of a Celtic cross with intricate details. The picture’s resolution is not that good, so there are grainy details when I print them out and I find these grainy details very helpful in guiding my eyes to the next adjacent point.

Question : How far away should I put this practice chart away? Should it be where I can see it clearly, or with some blur?

(b) Outside of my practice sessions, I find it difficult to see things with the string method, though I still check out the details. For e.g. when I look at a house, I note the shape of its windows, the color of its curtains, the designs of its gates etc. I think I’m making bigger shifts? If I’m using the string method, either of these things will happen :
-- I get “lost” halfway ( as described above ) or
-- I get bored because the scenery doesn’t change much and I’ll need to take a very long time to note the details if I go at this pace

It’s important for me to get the answer to this question so I’ll just type it in bold : Am I right to think that The String practice session is to stimulate the eyes’ microsaccades and if I practice it enough, it’s just a matter of time before I’m able to naturally make smaller and smaller shifts, regardless of what I’m looking at?

Some other questions I have :
(a) How important is it to be aware of oppositional movement? I don’t notice it much when I’m looking at small objects, especially with the string method, only when I move my head or body. Some books on the Bates method seem to stress on this.
(b) I spend a lot of time in front of my PC and I currently am wearing transitional glasses. Can reduced prescription slow the progress? I can’t decipher what’s on the screen unless I bring it real close to my face.

I apologize for the long post. It’s very confusing starting out, and it’s been very frustrating for me trying to start out a few times before but never really getting anywhere. I hope with the help through this forum, I can finally get the momentum going!

Warm regards,
Marlene
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#4
Ok Marlene, great questions. That's the kind of detail I was hoping someone would share. I'll see if I can answer your questions all at once by just describing it better.

Since writing about following a string of details, I've realized that the instructions are too incomplete, as reflected in how you're having problems doing it when looking at multiple objects far apart relatively quickly. The problem, of course, is if you follow a string of details, your gaze moves at a pretty slow pace, so it isn't practical to do it nonstop. It also isn't practical to follow a string of details on particularly blurry objects or large uniformly colored areas, because you'll just lose your spot, like you describe, and it's hard to maintain interest. So I guess it's just something that is done when you can see a certain amount of detail clearly.

So go ahead and make jumps. The large jumps, as when you look from your mug to your phone across your desk, are done instantaneously. I often blink when doing a large shift like that. You already know how to look quickly from your mug to your phone, and that particular part you pretty much already can do right without trying. Don't try to make it unnatural and hard on yourself. Oppositional movement does happen and is more noticeable in certain conditions, but I've never really found much of a use for noticing oppositional movement as far as vision improvement goes, and I messed with it a LOT. I could be wrong, but I'm just not seeing its practical application. So if you want to look from your mug to your phone, just ignore everything else and do it. What you do immediately after that is the next step.

Once you look at your phone, you should immediately look at the first detail you notice. The shiny glare off it, or a detail of its design, anything. Your attitude should be that if something isn't clear, you're not looking at a small enough detail. So if nothing is apparent right away, don't think of it as blurry, just think of it as you not seeing it because you're not looking at a small enough piece where something exists. It's like for it to exist as something you can see fully, you have to look at a small enough detail of it. People with normal vision have to do that all the time, whatever they look at. They instinctively do it because that's how they make something clear.

Once you hit on a detail, or even possibly a blurry detail, look for another one right away. How you do that depends on how blurry it is. If it's extremely blurry, it's going to be large enough that you look for a smaller detail within it. If you aren't able to, look for one close by, on another part of the object, or another very close object or spot. If it's clear enough, you can follow a connected string of details.

Don't look at details in the smallest spot for more than a few seconds. Look at another spot or object. Once your vision improves, you can look at smaller areas for longer durations. And maybe you'll find that you can do that occasionally. So yes, over time you should learn to make smaller shifts by practicing this, including the microsaccades.

The Snellen chart is kind of cool for practicing this because you've got a lot of distinct objects at different distances apart, so it's easy to know what spot you're going to look at next, or how far away the next one should be. But something more interesting, with more detail, is also good. Maybe ideally it would be like a Snellen chart but each letter is more detailed and colorful. Any distance where it's blurry is ok, as long as you can see things well enough that it isn't just one big blob of blur.

Personally I don't think glasses hurt too much as long as you're practicing this stuff, so go ahead and wear them when you need to.

When walking, it's going to be the same, but a little more challenging, in that you'll have a harder time looking for details that are moving past you. You still should be looking for the smallest details for a few seconds in the things you look at, when possible. As your vision improves, you won't have to spend as much time finding the details in each spot.
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"Half of our funny, heathen lives, we are bent double to gather things we have tossed away." - George Meredith
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#5
When I look at really distant objects - for example on my daily bicycle tours - I don't have much problems with small details. On the contrary, I am always amazed, how clear I can see distant objects, the 'double image' being so far underneath the clear one, that they hardly interfere with it.
Yesterday I could even make out the familiar logo on a truck about half a mile away (although I could not read the smaller letters, but the really big first letter with its special design was distinct enough).

At closer distances, I have the most difficulties to read the text on traffic signs. For example when I approach a 'stop' sign (red hexagonal wit white writing) I see it distinctly from rather far. When I've passed pre-sign (165 yards before the sign itself) I am able to read 'stop' for a short moment, before the double image 'creeps up' and makes the whole sign blurry until I am rather close to it and both images melt together.
I didn't find any means yet to deal with this problem. It doesn't really make any difference whether I concentrate on the details which have been clear a little further away or concentrate on the blur, I just can't separate the images.
So, it became a habit to look at something else - something more pleasant to see - as soon as the confusing double images start to trouble my sight. In the nature or even houses, cars etc the double images are much less disturbing as there are always shadows present and movements.

When I practice with the eye chart I get the best results, when I am totally relaxed - so relaxed that I even don' t care any more whether I can read any letter at all and just enjoy the relaxation. Then everything becomes very easy and clear.
If I don't reach that stage, the best way is to concentrate only on the black colour first, not trying to 'read' a letter, because when I am straining my eyes in order to read something in the distance, the letters take all sort of grey images - sometimes darker grey on light grey squares -, sometimes they even vanish completely.
Only when my eyes are relaxed, the letters are really black.
So I concentrate on seeing the letters as black as possible and enjoy the colour becoming more and more deep and dark, intensified black. With the deepening of the colour the letters become more and more distinct.
Then only I start concentrating on the details of one letter; but only shifting my attention, not trying to focus the eyes willingly, but keeping them relaxed and trying to 'scan' the letter very 'softly' (not trying too hard to get it clear which causes strain immediately), as if I would move my finger over a relief surface.
This way I shift from one letter to the next one and back ...
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#6
Welcome Marlene! Nini, you answered my implied question about double vision in the distance with your sensible point about looking away when it creeps in --- I think I'm still trying to "fix it". In general your posts have been very helpful to me, so thanks.

David, your point about interpreting "blur" as looking at too big of an area will be a big help. (For big areas of uniform color, I've been imagining a tiny pixel to focus on.) I am focusing more and more on what I can see clearly, and it seems to be increasing, detail and clarity and depth. Keeping my emotional state calm and optimistic (not TRYING to be calm!) remains central for me, and I can tell pretty quickly when I look at the chart, which does not lie, if I'm kidding myself about this or not. This may not be the case for the majority, but I'm coming to realize I was very tense for most of my life, and being relaxed still doesn't feel quite normal, so this is a big goal now.

The one place noticing oppositional movement helps me is when driving, to keep me aware of the periphery so I don't go into that tunnel vision mode, which can be my habit if I get stressed and am not paying attention to my body. Keep the wisdom coming!
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#7
My problem with looking at small details is that I have a tendency to fixate on said details and severely constrict my field of vision. It's a terrible feeling when I eventually notice what I have been doing! I find it almost paradoxical to give attention to something so small without losing the periphery. Is it a balancing act? Or am I overthinking everything again?
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#8
Pikachu, yes, me too. This is why I like the periphery moving past and behind me when I'm driving, since this helps me remember to be aware of it. When I'm doing the chart I can sometimes notice when I'm narrowing my gaze or starting to almost squint. My "helpful" mind seems to think this will help me focus better on details. Not! Then without trying to open my eyes more (and look surprised) or straining to widen my gaze, I just see if I can relax my eyes into more openness. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Any hints David or anyone else has for dealing with this, other than just to keep noticing it and practicing letting the strain release, would be great.
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#9
Hi David,

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. You cleared my doubts about how to shift quickly between 2 objects far apart and why it’s difficult to practice looking at strings on certain objects. Your answers opened a whole host of questions for me so here comes another long post. ( Hopefully, it’ll provide some helpful feedback for you from the perspective of a newbie? )

Actually, I find that the most difficult thing starting out is not being able to grasp the idea, or worse, mis-interpreting it. With that, comes the question “How will I know that I am doing this right?” So, here’s more questions :

(1) If you’re not practicing the string all the time, how do you go about looking at objects the rest of the time? I still feel that your example on the phone refers to the string method. ( Or am I mis-interpreting it? Or maybe what I’m practicing is aligned with your ideas? )

Here’s the process of how I go about looking at objects ( without the string ). Can you provide some critique? Having made a few false starts, I’d really like to know if I’m doing the right thing this time around.

When I look at the phone on my desk, say my attention initially falls on the keypad. I zoom in on the REDIAL button. The word ‘Redial’ is a glob of blur to me, so I tend to pay attention to the shape and color of the button. Once I’m done inspecting it, I make a fast and larger shift towards the cord and start looking at the details, and so on and so on.

(a) When you talk about looking at a string of details, I get the impression that I should be following a path and moving in the forward direction, though not particularly in a straight line. But I find that when I’m engaged and interested in what I’m looking at, this is not the pattern I follow. E.g. when I look at the Redial button,
-- say if I look at the contour of its edges, my attention goes back and forth, back and forth along its lines. If you imagine points A, B, C and D are joined with short lines, my attention goes from A to B and C, back to B then C, then D. Is regression normal?
-- imagine the 4 corners of the button as P, Q, R and S. So I’ll inspect corner P and note that it’s rounded, following its rounded shape, then make a bigger jump to corner Q. I find that my attention falls into a start-stop pattern in this case as I tend to spend more time noting the rounded corner. There’s a reason why I dislike the brushing/sketching technique because I tend to use a uniform pace with it.
-- I might sometimes cross hatch the whole button, going all directions but keeping my attention within a small area. When I do this, I find that I can sense contours very well. In this case, I will note that the button has a soft indentation in the middle.

Question : Is this way of looking aligned with how normal people see?

(b) When you talk about looking at a point, then at the adjacent point or imagining a tiny pixel, I have difficulty doing that for most objects that I look at, except those that are small and comes with intricate details ( like jewellery ) and only if they are within a few inches away from my face. I find it difficult to concentrate my attention to a very tiny area, like a point you describe. Here’s what I can do :
-- If I’m reading on my laptop, on font size 11, I can concentrate my attention to maybe 1/3 to 1/5 part of a letter. E.g. the letter “W”, I can place my attention at each of its 5 pointed edges and notice that I see this area best and the rest of the letter worse.
-- If I’m looking at larger objects, the area of attention could be larger. Generally, about a quarter the size of a finger nail, sometimes smaller, depending on the object.

My interpretation of “concentration of attention” is the size of area where I know this is where I see best. If I try to narrow it down to a point/ a pixel, I feel a strain ( I can feel my eyes going hard when I do this. ).

So, my spin on “looking at a point” is that I try to concentrate my attention to the size of an area where it feels just nice, but it’s definitely not a point/ or a pixel.
I’ve just read Aldous Huxley’s “The Art of Seeing” and I think he mentioned somewhere that it’s not necessary to purposely confine your area of attention to align with a certain size as it could produce strain, as long as you’re aware that you see best where your attention is.

What’s your take on that?

(2) Difficulty perceiving when I’m following a string of details.

When I’m practicing the string, it feels like I’m really just executing a set of instructions. E.g. if I’m practicing The String on the phone, I’m just going through the contours of the Redial button, going at a steady pace, and that’s about it. Whereas if I’m just looking the usually way, as I cross-hatch the contours of the button, I’d start asking my “Why do they make an indent in the middle?” or if I’m going over the cord, then I’ll start to wonder “Why do they make it into a bunch of spirals and not just a flexible, straight cord?”

Question : I look at things the usual way as describe above, and only practice the string method a fraction of the time ( to stimulation high-resolution seeing, microsaccades ). I wonder if this is what you have in mind as your articles mention mostly about looking at a string of details, a point ( which I can’t do most of the time ), a tiny pixel, or looking at a smaller detail within the blur.

David Wrote:Don't look at details in the smallest spot for more than a few seconds. Look at another spot or object. Once your vision improves, you can look at smaller areas for longer durations.

Could you clarify more on the above? Are you referring to when I’m practicing the string that I should move to another spot after a few seconds?
If you’re referring to looking at details of objects ( when not practicing the string method ), I guess that makes a lot of sense since I can’t look at too small of an area for objects placed beyond a few inches off my face.



I’ve learned a lot these 2 weeks :
(1) That I should keep my attention moving, and not to simply move my head/eyes for the sake of moving them. That was what I did for a couple of months after reading the T. Quackenbush book.
(2) That I’ve significantly reduced that “inner” voice within me, the one that’s always chattering non-stop, repeating the same thing over and over.
(3) That I’ve started noticing things around me and starting to enjoy it. It’s a shock that I’ve worked in this office for a year and I did not even bother to notice the color of its carpet. That’s how “not in the moment” I was.

Haven’t made a budge yet on the clarify portion. Hopefully that’ll come in time.

Warm regards,
Marlene
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#10
Ok, fun stuff. I'm going to consolidate a few replies. So as always, I'm not sure how much sense this all makes, so let me know if there's another perspective to it.

Nancy - When you notice something you're doing wrong, like you're tensing your eyes and getting tunnel vision, be careful about trying to do the opposite thing, like trying to open your eyes wider or doing anything to relax them. In a way it seems like the right thing to do, but consider whether people with normal vision do it. It's okay to take a break sometimes, and palm or whatever to relieve some excess strain if it works, but be careful about what you're teaching yourself about what you need to do to see. It can add just another layer of programming that you'll have to come back to again and deal with. Or in other words, two wrongs don't make a right. So when you catch yourself doing something that you know is wrong, it may be enough to just stop doing it, and be patient as you catch yourself doing it over and over again and eventually stop doing it.


Pikachu - Yes, it's a balancing act and requires some concentration to set things right. Looking at or for a smaller detail without narrowing your field of vision, without tensing your eyes. But like described above, don't try to do the opposite by widening your field of vision.

So you make mistakes tons of times, catch yourself, and just start over in every moment. You're always starting over.


Marlene - Seeing without going along a string of details is the same, but without each detail being connected. That way you have the freedom to notice any other detail around there without having to see what's right next to it.

So when you look at the REDIAL button, noticing the shape and color is good, but also notice some pieces of the blur. It doesn't matter if you can tell where the pieces are supposed to be or what they are, or even if you can see them at all. It's about what you pay attention to. If you aren't open to seeing a few individual pieces of detail (or blur) within the larger blur, you won't. You're never going to possess it anyway, as it always goes away in the next instant, because of the way the visual system perceives images in flashes and not continuously. So when each detail goes away as soon as it came, it doesn't take any effort to look at them, because effort takes time.

Regressing to previous points along a string is fine.

In your example, when you look at corner P of the button and notice it's rounded shape, instead of going to corner Q you should look at corner P more closely first. If you could tell that it was rounded, well, it takes a lot of information to perceive that, so you're going to be able to see smaller pieces of it that make up that roundness.

As far as your area of attention, it's a balance of being aware that you're still going to see your whole visual field while learning to be more open to seeing smaller details all the time. It's more intense, because you're taking in more information that the field of blur doesn't provide, and I think people have trouble with the intensity of it.

It's fine to notice the shape of the phone cord, for example, but realize that you're going to see that phone cord better, and see more things on it, if you pay attention to the details of it as you do so. Just noticing the shape itself is too large of a thing. It's like your visual system needs to have details to align the image around. You really have to want to see more than just the fact that the phone cord spirals. You might be assuming that the spiral is the only interesting thing about it, and you might be right, but you have to find a way to be interested enough to see more detail, or you won't look and you won't see.

Jump to another spot to find details in after a few seconds, whether you're going along a string or not.
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"Half of our funny, heathen lives, we are bent double to gather things we have tossed away." - George Meredith
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#11
David Wrote:I'm trying to do a little research and understand better what problems people have when they try to see.

When you, for example, look at a car in the distance, and you take a few seconds to look at blurry parts of it, such as what might be a wheel, the windshield, light glinting off the chrome, etc, do your eyes start feeling tense (or pressured) the smaller the things you look at? What happens right away?

Hammer: It depends on how relaxed my eyes are or in what state my mind happens to be in in order to be able to use the biofeedback of looking at smaller details in a relaxed way.
Some days I have no problem to look at smaller and smaller things, and I think thus it is due to how well I have managed to put myself in an inner tranquility.
I have a problem that my vision changes rather much.
Thus other days when I for some reason are more strained I guess mentally then I have a hard time and it takes strain to stabilize my vision in order to see smaller details, then I just quit looking for smaller details, it will just cause more strain to do it when my mind is in strain.
What I recently found out is that I in some way can recall the memory of the feeling of seeing good at far distance. So I apply this feeling of seeing the sea horizon and in my imagination I can see a line with one point in the middle that I see much better than the surrounding line. It is like the feather or connection vector, but I have a much more positive imagination/memory/ feeling associated with the horizon line so it is thus much more efficient for me.

Ok, so what I recently found out was that why should I have this certain good relaxed feeling just in this special case when I looked at the horizon, why, why cannot I have this the very same feeling when I look at any detail, anytime, anywhere, anyway my mind wants. Ok, then I said I have to give this one more chance, and now I really feel that when I look at any point/detail what so ever it is like if I looked at the horizon. The conclusion is that it was not the horizon as such that gave me peace, instead it was that I recalled a memory of perfect eyesight when I looked at the horizon, so I have learnt to know about this feeling and I have learnt to apply it. I also noticed that my eyes were moving much more effortless after this mind set change, like if my gaze is hoovering over the details without locking due to strain.
Also following a line or what ever in 3D becomes much more easy. Looking at details also involves a 3D aspect in which you shift a very small distance, and you only able to do this if your eyes are really perfectly relaxed.
Thus my strain depends on feelings/memories/state of mind/ mental stuff.

But, if I just performs this in the right way then the blur clear up, that is important to note, and also i feel much much better inside, it is a huge difference, i get much more healthy also concerning a lot of other aspects. I have another problem that I suffer from alopecia areata also and I am working on cureing that too, and it is a dream that I have that I can help others concerning that.



And then what happens after a minute or a few minutes of looking at another such object every few seconds, spending those few seconds to notice the smallest details or pieces of blur? Is there anything else you notice that you're doing, or that you want to do?

Hammer: as I wrote before the blur disappears if I do the right things concerning the state of mind. Though I have to take a break after some minute. What I do is that I just look at a point very far away, quite long time actually works best, and maybe do some very easy small shifts every every now and then simultaneously. Well, I am the person who seems to have very hard to get better vision out of Bates exercises, but I am not giving up, since I get much more relaxed, tranquil, anti-stressed, much less ill nowadays, feeling much stronger mentally and so on, a long list of positive consequences. I must be heading in the right direction, I see improvements in my eyesight but only if I put myself in the right state of mind, and then I talk about drastic improvements like almost normal vision, but the thing is that it is hard to keep up the mind set in natural state. I though think it will become easier and easier. For instance I had trouble with tunnel vision before and even dizziness, it is gone now, I have good peripheral vision when I look at smaller details and I see things in the environment also. I am very happy for this, especially that the dizziness seems to have disappeared.
Envisionclear has written that

 Shortsightedness - fear of future;
 Farsightedness - fear of present and escape in future, also anger;
 Astigmatism - not willing to see some aspects of self, fear;
 Strabismus or crossed eyes - anger.

Yes, I think the feeling of seeing the horizon could be matching the farsightedness mind set maybe.
So what I do is that I combine the present with the most pleasant imagination of my minds representation of the future.

PS. Also remind you that I have some alignment/fusing problems that I cope with using the 3-cups method. I have already seen that it works with some efficient result, because I can move my eyes vertically more effortlessly !
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#12
LOVE
That is the answer.
LOVE God above all, and LOVE your neighbor as you LOVE yourself.
And remember when you were born you received - without your consent - unnecessary neonatal eye antibiotics.
One eye was treated first; the other eye second.
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#13
JMartinC4 Wrote:LOVE
That is the answer.
LOVE God above all, and LOVE your neighbor as you LOVE yourself.
And remember when you were born you received - without your consent - unnecessary neonatal eye antibiotics.
One eye was treated first; the other eye second.

Ok, I'm going to have to ask you to confine the subject of neonatal eye antibiotics to your thread in the Other Eyesight Topics forum.
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"Half of our funny, heathen lives, we are bent double to gather things we have tossed away." - George Meredith
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#14
JMartinC4 Wrote:LOVE
That is the answer.
LOVE God above all, and LOVE your neighbor as you LOVE yourself.

I actually think I get what you mean, you are pointing out exactly what a lot of myopes suffer from:
You mean that if you start learning to love yourself as a kind of concept of living where you have to remind yourself of your inner awareness and maintain your love, then you will have less fear of the future and thus your vision will improve.
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#15
hammer Wrote:
JMartinC4 Wrote:LOVE That is the answer. LOVE God above all, and LOVE your neighbor as you LOVE yourself.
I actually think I get what you mean, you are pointing out exactly what a lot of myopes suffer from:
You mean that if you start learning to love yourself as a kind of concept of living where you have to remind yourself of your inner awareness and maintain your love, then you will have less fear of the future and thus your vision will improve.
Exactly. It is that attitude which has gradually pointed me in the correct direction(s) for my life. It isn't easy, or materially rewarding, but results in a life which is more abundantly alive. It also requires that I always try to make and take the most life-affirming decisions and actions I can, whenever I can. I don't always manage to do it, because I'm human, but I choose to believe in an omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent God who forgives me and gets me back on track. He and I have an understanding, though: I reject any 'evidence' of Him, because I also believe in science, and I know that, since the enlightenment, any evidence we humans acquire about anything gives us power over that thing. And I need my God to be all-powerful. So, anything that He wants to do with me has to be at a level where I am unaware of it. But I constantly invite Him to do so. And I believe He does.
As I said before, Hammer, you and I are operating on very similar wavelengths, so to speak. Reading your blog gives further confirmation. BTW - are you aware that the link is giving this error: visualequilibrium.wordpress.com is no longer available. The authors have deleted this blog.
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