Live a Less Stressful Life With Better Vision

Stress is the underlying cause of many health problems  Stress is related to many everyday issues, such as career, money, relationships, and among others. Stress adversely affects many of your body organs, including your eyes. Less stress, better vision!

Learn how to use the ancient wisdom to eradicate your everyday stress. Specifically, it is about Tao wisdom, which originates from the ancient Chinese sage Lao Tzu the author of “Tao Te Ching”—one of the most translated works in world literature. “Tao Te Ching” is popular due to its profound and unconventional wisdom, which is both intriguing and controversial.

“NO EGO NO STRESS” is divided into four parts:

PART ONE An Introduction to Stress: It explains how and where stress comes from; the damage and devastation of stress to human health.

PART TWO Conventional Wisdom: The major life stressors come from career, money, relationship, adversity, and time. Conventional wisdom offers many strategies for stress relief, such as exercise, herbs, medications, meditation, and psychotherapies, among many others. Conventional wisdom may reduce stress levels, but it does not eradicate stress completely. Conventional wisdom only complements the ancient Tao wisdom for ultimate stress relief.

PART THREE Tao Wisdom: This part not only explains what Tao wisdom is all about, but also contains the complete translation in simple English of all the 81 short chapters of “Tao Te Ching.” Going through the whole script, interpreted and translated by the author, will enable you to understand the essentials of Tao wisdom for stress-free contemporary living.

PART FOUR No Ego No Stress: Stress originates from the human mind: how it perceives and processes life experiences. What is stress to one individual may not be stress to another. This part explains in detail how having no ego can eradicate stress related to career, relationship, money, adversity, and time.

”NO EGO NO STRESS” points out how the human ego is formed by the subconscious mind through its perceptions and interpretations of life experiences. The author relates to the famous saying by Descartes, the great French philosopher: “I think, therefore I am.” It is a myth or misconception that you are “who” and “what” you think; you are not the products of your thoughts. “Who” and “what” you think you have become is just your ego-self, erroneously created by your thinking mind.

Tao wisdom focuses on the need of “emptying” and “reversing” the human mind in order to see “who” and “what” you truly are, without any attachment to your ego. According to Lao Tzu, the ego is unreal, because it is based on past memories and projections of those memories into the future as desires and expectations. The past was gone, and the future is yet to come; only the present is real. Therefore, the ego-self that exists in the past or in the future is non-existing in the present, except in the mind. Without the ego, there is no need of protecting or sustaining it. Without fear and expectation, there is no need of judging, picking and choosing—they often result in making wrong choices and decisions, and thus creating stress. With no ego, there is no need of over-doing to fulfill the expectation. The problem with conventional wisdom is that the mind focuses on the past or the future, but seldom stays in tfe he present. Only when the mind stays in the present can it see things as they really are and not as what they should be. Tao wisdom is essentially understanding of the true nature of things: that everything in life follows a natural orderr and pattern, such as life begets death, success is followed by failure, what goes up must come down. Tao wisdom is self-intuition to know and understand self and others, as well as the world around.

Learn to let go of your ego-self, and live a less stressful life with better vision.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

What Is Vision?

What Is Vision?

Vision is all about light. Without light, there is no vision.

“In the beginning, when God created the universe, the earth was formless and desolate. The raging ocean that covered everything was engulfed in total darkness, and the power of God was moving over the water. Then God commanded, ‘Let there be light’—and light appeared.” (Genesis 1-3)

Give care of your vision, which is a gift from God, do not abuse it; make the best and the most of your vision power. Improve your vision at any age!

Vision is about how your eyes make use of light to see the world around you:

How much light is available to the eye?

How efficient is the eye lens in refracting the light?

How sensitive is the eye (macula) in receiving and transmitting the light to the brain?

How proficient is the brain in processing the visual data from the eye?

Vision involves more than just the eye: it includes the body and the mind.

So, never strain the eye to read or to see when the light is insufficient.

So, relax the eye in order to avoid distorting the shape of the eye, which will squeeze the lens out of shape, and thus causing the refractive error.

So, protect the macula (for detailed vision) on the retina (the back of the eye) by increasing peripheral vision (on both sides) to avoid overusing the macula.

So, improve brain power through affirmations and visualization to help the eye focus and process visual information efficiently.

Good Vision

Good vision means the capability to look clearly into the distance, but nearsightedness causes blurry distance.

Good vision means having peripheral vision, but the grim reality is that there is only central vision, with little or no periphery.

Good vision means the eyes shift constantly, but the problem is that the eyes are constantly staring, or have developed eye-fixation.

Good vision means the eyes can adjust easily to light, but the truth of the matter is that the eyes tend to squint at different light conditions.

Good vision means the eyes can look close up and far away almost instantaneously, but farsightedness prevents the instant shifting of the eyes.

In other words, the characteristics of the eye with good vision are:

It will “naturally observe” or “notice” what is around.

It will never “strain” to see “everything.”

It will relax and rest even when it is “looking.”

To improve vision is to enhance and to maintain these characteristics at all times.

Stephen Lau  

Copyright© 2018 by Stephen Lau

My Story of Recovery

More than two decades ago, I was afflicted with myasthenia gravis, a chronic autoimmune disease affecting the skeletal (voluntary) muscles of the body. The hallmark of myasthenia gravis is muscle weakness, which increases during periods of activity and improves after periods of rest. Certain muscles, such as those that control the eyes and eyelid movements, facial expression, talking, chewing and swallowing, are often involved in this disorder. In addition, the muscles that control breathing, neck, and limb movements may also be adversely affected.

One of the main causes of myasthenia gravis is stress. I did not know how to relax myself.

One day, I felt intense pressure on my eyes. My first concern was glaucoma (a condition of increased fluid pressure inside the eye). I went to see an ophthalmologist; suspecting that I might be afflicted with myasthenia gravis, he immediately referred me to a neurologist, who confirmed the diagnosis after running some medical tests.

According to the diagnosis, I had developed ocular symptoms: ptosis (drooping of eyelids) and diplopia (double vision) in my myasthenia gravis. Both of my eyelids drooped, as if my eyes were tired, and I could not open my eyes wide enough to see properly.

My physical conditions also deteriorated rapidly within a few days. My neck and limb muscles were so weak that I had to use a neck-rest to prop up my head when I was driving; I could hardly use my fingers to control the mouse when I was using my computer; and I could not even raise my hand without having to use the other hand to prop it up.

Fortunately, I did not experience any weakness of the muscles of my pharynx, which could cause difficulty in chewing and swallowing, as well as slurred speech—symptoms not uncommon in myasthenia gravis.

At first, I was prescribed pyridostigmine (mestinon) as the usual first-line treatment for my immune disorder.

After several months, my conditions did not improve. I was given another prescription, prednisone, a synthetic hormone commonly referred to as a “steroid,” for my myasthenia gravis. Prednisone acts as a long-term immunosuppressant to control the production of antibodies. Essentially, it serves to stabilize my so-called “overactive” immune system.

The adverse side effects of prednisone for my myasthenia gravis included decreased resistance to infection, indigestion, hypertension, weight gain, swelling of the face, thinning of skin, predisposition to osteoporosis, and potential development of cataracts and glaucoma. The long list was not only depressing but also frightening. I was worried that I would have to take my medications for the rest of my life, not just for my myasthenia gravis but also for the many side effects related to the drugs, such as bone loss, weight gain, and high blood pressure, among others.

Initially, after several months on steroid medications, there was some improvement in the symptoms, but overall it was neither significant nor encouraging. Specifically, my eyelids no longer drooped, but the right eye and the left eye did not align (my right eye being much stronger than my left eye), and therefore resulting in double vision.

After almost two years on prednisone, my neurologist, seeing there was little improvement in my myasthenia gravis, switched me to azathioprine, a drug supposedly with fewer side effects. However, that medication did not seem to have any positive effect on my symptoms, let alone my double vision. Naturally, I became frustrated.

Now, when I look back at the whole episode, I would think that my illness might have been a blessing in disguise. Everything happens in one’s life with a divine purpose. In many ways, I was grateful that I had the illness—which has changed my life forever and for the better. I began to learn how to take care of my health, and I knew I had to do it on my own.

I was in a dilemma: on the one hand, I needed improvement in my neuromuscular transmission to increase my muscle strength and to eliminate my double vision; on the other hand, I knew that if myasthenia gravis did not kill me, the many side effects of the medications might eventually undo me.

I made a decision to change drastically my diet, accompanied by a regular fast, in an attempt to discontinue all my medications ultimately. The initial results were encouraging. Instead of gaining weight, I had lost more than fifteen pounds; instead of jacking up my blood pressure, I had made it plummet. I had won my initial battle against all the adverse side effects of medications for my myasthenia gravis. I knew that I had to do more—much more than that. My rude awakening finally came: there was no miracle cure for my myasthenia gravis; only my wholesome wellness would bring about recovery and natural self-healing.

Slowly and gradually, I discontinued all my medications. Finally, I did it! Now, I am 100 percent drug free!

To eliminate double vision, the doctor recommended wearing an eye-patch over my weaker eye. But I did not entertain the idea of wearing an eye-patch—looking like a pirate of the Caribbean Sea. Besides, wearing an eye-patch would not solve my problem of double vision. There is a Chinese saying: “Cut your toes to avoid the worms.” I thought that was precisely what the doctor recommended: getting around the problem instead of solving it. I also recalled that early on, when my muscles were weak and I asked him for recommended remedy, he told me not to use those weak muscles. I disagreed with the doctor; instead, I exercised my weaker muscles until they became much stronger.

That was how I began my journey of self-healing and recovery.  Now I am 100 percent drug free..

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Better Vision and the Mind

Better Vision and the Mind

Vision health is holistic health. Your vision has to do with every aspect of your body, including your emotional, physical, and mental wellness. Better vision is directly related to the mind.

When you see an object, an image of that object is registered on the retina, which then sends a visual signal to the occipital lobe, located in the back of the head. Vision occurs only after the brain sends the signal back to the eyes.  During the visual processing, the brain can make a blurred image clear, or vice-versa. It is all in the mind, or mind over matter. Your mind controls what you see and how you see.  In addition, your visual processing is further affected by your physiological and emotional conditions.  In other words, your inner vision controls your outer vision.

Your inner vision comprises your attitudes and perspectives that determine how you view yourself and the world.  That is to say, if you are negative about your eyes, you will develop negative attitudes and perspectives when you develop a vision problem, and your negativity will only aggravate and perpetuate the problem.

Therefore, positive affirmations play a pivotal part in vision health. If you really wish to improve your vision, empower yourself with affirmations, such as “I want to improve my vision” and “I can see better and clearer with good vision habits. Scientists have attested to the fact that the condition of the body is affected, positively or negatively, by the content of the thoughts and the nature of the feelings. Consequently, changing these thoughts can significantly change the response of the body, including the eye.

Reinforce positive affirmations with visualization, which is the highest level of visual skill to create a “reality” in the mind’s eye. Your body cannot tell the difference between what is “real” and what is “imagination.” Remember, the eye and the mind are designed to function together, not separately. A case in point, if you imagine seeing a distant object, your eyes will automatically change their focus as if they were actually looking at that distant object.

Learn how to create your own “reality” by harnessing your mind power.

For more information on how to improve vision and maintain vision health, go to Vision Self-Healing Self-Help..

Stephen Lau

 Copyright © 2018 by Stephen Lau