Mid-September 2024 Newsletter

Hello, and a meaningful mid-September to you!
Welcome, or welcome back, to my newsletter. Today's issue is about appreciating your accomplishments. Enjoy!

Some of us were raised to have every imperfection and mistake highlighted by the adults around us. They might have said they were hoping to motivate us to improve, though a little more encouragement or praise would have gone a long way. Even though we're well past childhood now with those caregivers and teachers out of our lives, we might still be treating ourselves like this.

One of my main self-care practices is a nightly gratitude note to a friend, who writes one to me. The little things which went right during the day, the times I handled a difficult situation without getting so upset I could barely cope, deserve recognition. Like those well-meaning caregivers, we often tend to focus mostly on what's not working. Look for the bright side; when a scheduled appointment is cancelled, you have more room in your day to do other things.

Most of my life I've been a perfectionist, and the fact that I was near the top of my class in school just fed this tendency. This is a trap, as there is always someone better, or with skills I don't have. Feeling like I need to be perfect to be acceptable leads to being very disappointed in myself if I keep trying to meet those impossible standards. Vision improvement brought this tendency right up in my face, since when I started I couldn't hide how limited my unaided vision was without those -10 hard contacts. Simple acceptance of What Is in this moment, including being honest about what I'm feeling, is the first step.

As I continue to improve my eyesight and trust it more fully, that perfectionist tendency in me can lead me to think I'm not far enough along. No, I can't see the moons of Jupiter with the naked eye, at least not yet, but I function without correction which I would have never imagined possible when I was younger. My face and eyes feel so much freer! The child learning to walk isn't blaming himself because he can't leap tall buildings, he's excited about taking the next step. That eagerness about going forward, and joy with what he can do right now, is an attitude I want to embody myself, with my vision and in other areas as well.

My formerly limited eyesight has been an example to me of how I approach other areas of my life, once I learned to look at it that way. If I'm ashamed my vision isn't perfect every minute and in all situations, even after the fundamental improvements I've made, where else am I being too hard on myself and selling myself short, even though I'm doing my best? Sometimes I just need to give myself credit for getting through the day, and taking care of my responsibilities and myself. Maybe this is true for you too.

Although I'm willing to accept mild praise for some of the things I've done in my life, it's a big stretch for me to let in congratulatory words about my visual progress. I've been so programmed by my upbringing, the culture, and my own thinking to see my visual system as flawed. Truly believing my eyes and visual brain are healthy and well-functioning is a major change in attitude for me. Where are you minimizing your own accomplishments, from getting through school to raising a family to building a business? You've probably accomplished a few goals, and overcome some hurdles that you're forgetting. Give yourself credit, and be grateful for your human drive to continue learning and growing.

For a blog article about not needing to be perfect, 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 second half of this stretch-your-limits month of September. I'll write again in a few weeks. Take care!