My New BLOG: LIVING-LONGER WISDOM

My NEW BLOG on How to Live Longer

Get the WISDOM to live as if everything is a miracle: live a life of balance and harmony.in this chaotic world.

Click here to visit the blog.

Stephen Lau

Are Cataract Surgeries Necessary?

Cataract surgeries are commonly practiced in people who are 65 or older; approximately 3 million Americans undergo cataract surgeries each year.

Are cataract surgeries necessary? When do they become necessary?

Cataract surgeries are performed on people whose lenses have become blurred or cloudy due to mainly aging. As a deterioration of the lenses, vision has become considerably compromised. So whether cataract surgeries are necessary or not depends on the individual.

If your work requires detailed vision, then a cataract surgery may become necessary. If you have problems driving at night or worries about road safety, then a cataract surgery may be an option. On the other hand, if you think that taking off your glasses while reading a book or a newspaper, then it may only be a nuisance that you can live with, then you may have second thoughts about taking a cataract surgery. In other words, it all depends on how bad your vision has become an interference with your daily activities.

A cataract surgery is no more than a procedure to remove a cloudy eye lens with an artificial one, and that's all there is to it. Just like any other aging process, you have to deal with it or to live with it. My book Your Golden Years and Santa Claus explains in detail the importance of living a life of meaning and purpose despite your aging, which is an inevitable as your demise. It is important to have the mental capability to cope with you physical incapacity.

As for when you need to opt for a cataract surgery, it is your decision: nobody can make it for you, not even your doctor.

Remember, taking vitamins, herbs, and eye drops may delay or slow down the aging process of your eyes, but they may never cure your cataracts. There is another myth: you need to wait until your cataracts become "ripen" before surgeries can be performed. Nothing is further from the truth. Life is full of choices, and taking or not taking a cataract surgery is one of those choices.

All in all, make your eyes healthy, and taking care of your vision health is wisdom in living in your golden years.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

The Power of Letting Go

The Power of Letting Go

“People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.” Thich Nhat Hanh

Letting go is the natural surrender of the human mind to any involuntary reactivity aimed at removing anything that might threaten or undermine the ego-self. Letting go should be a natural instinct, and not a technique that one has to learn and master; it is simply a spontaneous human ability to give up all human attachments that create the unreal ego-self.

It is letting go, and not holding on, that makes us strong because it overcomes the fear of the unknown and the unpredictable. Let go of yesterday to live in today as if everything is a miracle; let go of the world to have the universe.

The Human Resistance to Letting Go

“When you talk about what you want and why you want it, there's usually less resistance within you than when you talk about what you want and how you're going to get it. “ Esther Hicks

Letting go has to do with human feelings. Humans have a life-long struggle, often without much success, to overcome their inner fears and to escape from their projected negative expectations. As a result, it is a natural human instinct to react involuntarily to anything that might bring about any undesirable scenario or outcome.

How to overcome the human resistance to letting go?

Letting go involves human feelings, which come from human thoughts of the present and past experiences that originate from the processing of the human mind. Given that letting go has to do with human feelings, overcoming the human resistance to letting go begins with the human mind that is responsible for processing all human feelings and experiences.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

The Role of Human Wisdom in the Art of Living Well

The Role of Human Wisdom in the Art of Living Well

Wisdom plays a pivotal role in the art of living well.

Wisdom is the capability of the mind to draw sufficient conclusions from insufficient premises. We never have sufficient data for anything and everything because we are all limited in our capability in acquiring our knowledge.

Wisdom is not quite the same as knowledge: knowledge is the acquisition of facts and information, while wisdom is the application of acquired knowledge to everyday life and living. For this reason, being knowledgeable does not necessarily imply being wise. Wisdom is beyond knowledge.

Human Wisdom

Socrates, the famous Greek philosopher, once said: “An unexamined life is not worth living.”

Wisdom is examining life by frequently asking self-intuitive questions, as well as by finding answers to the questions asked about life and living. In real life, we must frequently ask ourselves many questions about anything and everything at all times.

Asking relevant questions is introspection, which is a continual process of self-reflection, without which there is no self-awareness and hence no personal growth and development. A static life is never a life well lived. So, asking self-intuitive questions is self-empowering wisdom—a life-skill tool necessary for the art of living well.

Why is that?

It is because the kind of questions you ask also determines the kind of life you are going to live. Your questions often trigger a set of mental answers, which may lead to actions or inactions, based on the choices you have made from the answers you have obtained. Remember, your life is always the sum of all the choices you make in the process of going through your life journey.

To make the right daily life choices, you need human wisdom, which is clarity of thinking, to know who you really are, what choices are available to you, and why you decide on those choices.

TAO Wisdom

TAO is the profound human wisdom of Lao Tzu, the ancient sage from China, more than 2,600 years ago, who was the author of the immortal classic Tao Te Ching on human wisdom.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Wisdom Begins With An Empty Mind

Wisdom Begins With An Empty Mind

“Focusing on status gives us pride, and not humility.

Hoarding worldly riches deprives us of heavenly assets.

An empty mind with no craving and no expectation helps us let go of everything.

Being in the world and not of the world, we attain heavenly grace.

With heavenly grace, we become pure and selfless.

And everything settles into its own perfect place.”

(Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, chapter 3)

You are in the world, but not of the world.

So, do not identify yourself with anything and everything in the world—the car you are driving, the neighborhood you are living in, the name-brand dress you are wearing, and among many others.

What is wrong with them? You become attached to them; they only enhance and inflate your ego, making you shackled to the material world.

With a deflated ego, on the other hand, you may become enlightened and see who you really are, and not what people think you are. Enlightenment opens the door to the TAO of living for life.

The reality is that many of us are not only in the world, but also of the world; so, we are living not for life, but for the world.

We are all somehow connected with one another, so focusing on yourself is not the Way of TAO, and not the TAO of living for life.

Human wisdom requires only an empty mind, not necessarily acquisition of knowledge. As a matter of fact, the more you know, the less wise you may become. The explanation is that knowledge previously acquired and accumulated often pre-conditions your thinking mind, and thus distorting your perceptions.

Human wisdom is already inside you. What you need to do is to search for it with self-intuitive questions.

Remember: less for more, and more for less; ask and you shall receive.

Stephen Lau        

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

My Book Just Published

This 145-page book is about TAO, the wisdom of Lao Tzu, the ancient sage from China more than 2,600 years ago, who authored the immortal classic Tao Te Ching on human wisdom. 

His unique and controversial wisdom shows you how to think. It is your thinking mind that may make you live longer. Continue and go through the rest of your life journey with self-awakening to the realities of your true self, of others around you, and of the world you are living in. Look at anything and everything through the lens of the TAO.

According to the TAO, the end of anything is always the beginning of something else; the material world you are living in is forever filled with these cycles of beginnings and endings. Get the profound wisdom to intuit these cycles of balance and harmony so that you may continue the rest of your life journey and live as if everything is a miracle.

Here is the outline of the book:

INTRODUCTION

ONE: THE QUESTIONS AND THE ANSWERS

TWO: THE THINKING MIND

The Composition of the Thinking Mind

The Thinking Process

The Conscious Mind and the Subconscious Mind

The Power of the Thinking Mind

The Role of the Thinking Mind

THREE: THE WISDOM

The Ancient Wisdom

The Eastern Wisdom

The Conventional Wisdom

The Spiritual Wisdom

The Essence of True Wisdom

FOUR: THE TAO

Tao Te Ching

Empty Mind and Reverse Thinking

The Mind and the Now

Humility and the Ego

No Judgment and No Separation

No Picking and No Choosing

No Expectation and No Over-Doing

Control and Spontaneity

Embracing and Letting Go

Attachments and Detachments

The Awakening and the Manifestation

FIVE: YOUR JOURNEY OF LIVING LONGER

The Step of Intent and Desire

The Step of Unlearning and Relearning

The Step of Body Awareness and Mind Focus

The Step of Being and Becoming

The Step of Actions and Inactions

The Step of Recovery and Rejuvenation

The Step of Patience and Perseverance

The Step of Accepting and Embracing

The Step of Confronting Changes and Challenges

The Step of Returning and Awakening

APPENDIX A: THE MEDITATION

APPENDIX B: THE BODY CHEMISTRY

APPENDIX C: THE FAST

Click here to get your copy.

Stephen Lau

Vision Self-Healing

VISION SELF-HEALING SELF-HELP

“Vision Self-Healing Self-Help" is a 147-page book on vision health based on the author's own experience of vision impairment due to his myasthenia gravis, which is an autoimmune disease affecting eye muscles and thus vision.

The book is also based on the Bates Method of vision improvement through eye exercises, as well as body, mind, and eye relaxation.

This book covers various types of eye disorders, including macular degeneration, glaucoma, and cataracts, among others. It also includes vision nutrition.

Improve your eyesight through awareness of good vision habits, such as blinking, shifting, eye palming, and soft vision, among others. It is never too late to improve your vision and to have better eyesight. This is a holistic approach to better vision.

Click here to get your copy.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Vision Self-Healing Self-Help

VISION SELF-HEALING SELF-HELP

“Vision Self-Healing Self-Help" is a 147-page book on vision health based on the author's own experience of vision impairment due to his myasthenia gravis, which is an autoimmune disease affecting eye muscles and thus vision.

The book is also based on the Bates Method of vision improvement through eye exercises, as well as body, mind, and eye relaxation.

This book covers various types of eye disorders, including macular degeneration, glaucoma, and cataracts, among others. It also includes vision nutrition.

Improve your eyesight through awareness of good vision habits, such as blinking, shifting, eye palming, and soft vision, among others. It is never too late to improve your vision and to have better eyesight. This is a holistic approach to better vision.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Overcome Stress to Improve Vision

Stress experienced in everyday life may come in different forms. Your experience of stress can be past, current, and future.

Past stress—also known as “residual stress”—is stress from the past that you have not overcome completely despite the passage of time.

Current stress is a “current state of arousal” caused by an existing situation that requires your immediate attention but that you do not enjoy addressing it.

Future stress is “anticipatory stress” or worry about what might happen in the future. Residual stress can lead to future stress, passed on from unpleasant past experiences.

Perceptions of stress are generally based on the following: the more you care and value about something, the more stress you have; the more choices and options available to you, the less stress you have; the more conscientious you are, the greater is your stress; the more enjoyment you have, the less stress you have; and the more responsibility you have, the greater is your stress.

But stress may also affect your vision health, given that the mind and the body are inter-connected, and that your vision is also affected by what is happening in your mind.

William Shakespeare once said: “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” John Milton, the famous English poet, also had this to say: “The mind is its own place, and in itself can make Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.” Both spoke volumes of the perceptions of stress.

That is to say, stress is all in the mind—your thinking mind. The bottom line: empower your mind to live a stress-free life as if everything is a miracle.

Stephen Lau     

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

NO EGO NO STRESS is a 134-page book by Stephen Lau on ancient human wisdom for stress relief. 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. Learn how to let go of the ego-self to remove all the stressors in modern living due to finance, careers, relationships, etc. and live as if everything is a miracle.

 

Wisdom in Living

WISDOM IN LIVING

This is a completely updated website on how to live your life as if everything is a miracle.

The journey of life is long and unpredictable. We all need wisdom to guide us along the way so that we will not get lost; even if we do, we may still find out way back to where it will eventually lead us to our final destination.

This website may provide you with wisdom as your compass and roadmap on your life journey.

Wisdom in living comprises seeking God's wisdom through understanding human wisdom in order to live a meaningful and purposeful life, even in the golden years. The ancient wisdom of Tao holds the key to applying these principles of life and living in this modern world.

Stephen Lau

Improve Posture to Improve Vision

Improve Posture to Improve Vision

Vision is inter-connected with body posture. Therefore, to improve eyesight, you must also improve posture.

The explanation is that vision health is holistic health, which means it includes the health of the body, the mind, and the spirit. Eyesight is an integral part of vision. Your eyesight determines how you see the world at large; your perception is your reality. Therefore, your perception becomes the raw materials of your life experiences, which will directly or indirectly affect your physical, mental, and emotional wellness. By the same token, your physical, mental, and emotional health will have a bearing on your vision health, and hence your eyesight.

According to Dr. William Bates (1860 - 1931), the founder of natural vision improvement, poor vision is the result of eyestrain, due to mental and physical stress on the eye, and hence the distortion of the eye shape, causing nearsightedness and farsightedness. Dr. William Bates strongly believed that eye relaxation holds the key to improving vision.

But eye relaxation begins with the mind first, not the eye. The mind must be completely relaxed before it can relax the body—and then the eye, which is only one of the organs of the body.

Improve posture to relax the body and the mind, and hence the eye. After all, posture health is overall health: it affects your whole being in many different ways.

Improve posture to improve your breathing. Incorrect breathing results in compromised lung functioning, leading to inadequate oxygen intake by all body organs and tissues, and hence a host of health issues, including vision health. Improve posture to optimize breathing for vision health.

Improve posture to avoid debilitating body pain, such as neck pain, leg pain, and even headaches. In addition, an arched back exerts undue pressure on the joints and nerves, causing joint pain and rheumatism. Due to poor body posture, all the muscle groups supporting the crooked spine may become stretched and strained, causing wear and tear, resulting in lower back pain. Chronic body pain often interferes with natural sleep, which is a major factor in relaxation of the body and the mind, in particular, the eye. Therefore, it is important to improve posture for eye relaxation to improve eyesight.

To successfully improve posture, you must develop an acute awareness for good posture at all times.

Good posture does not mean "jamming your shoulders back, tucking in your tummy, and standing stiff"; this posture does not align your body, nor is it practicable in that you can maintain that position over an extended period. Good posture means that in any standing position, you body posture should be as follows:

Your head is directly above your shoulders.
Your chin is tucked in.
Your ear, shoulder, and hip are in a straight line from a side view.

Your upper back is straight, not slouched.

Your shoulders, relaxed and straight, are flat against your back.

Your pelvis is in a neutral position.

Your knees are unlocked.

Be mindful not just of your standing posture, but also your sitting and sleeping posture—they all play a pivotal part in eye relaxation, which holds the key to improving eyesight.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

 

Wellness Wisdom and Vision Health

Health is one of the greatest assets of your being, and your eyes are of the most important organs in your body. For without vision, you see nothing, and your perceptions of the world and your experiences will be totally different. The importance of vision health cannot be overstressed.

Many people don’t pay much attention to their vision health as long as they can see. But vision health, like the health of any organ, may deteriorate over the years; worse, the deterioration will be gradual and subtle, but permanent and devastating long term.

The overall health of an individual is often ignored, just as Dr. Deepak Chopra, M.D. bestselling author, and founder of the Chopra enter for Wellbeing, once said: “If you don’t take care of your health today, you will be forced to take care of your illness tomorrow.”

To take care of your overall health and wellbeing, you need wisdom, and not just common sense. The explanation is that health and wellness have to be holistic: that is, it includes, the body, the mind, and the soul. For example, in vision health, it is not just relaxing your eyes when you work for too long on your computer; your mind can stress you, and the toxic desires of the body can adversely affect the mind and the souls as well. Wellness wisdom is about the body, the mind, and the soul—they all play a pivotal role in your overall wellness, which ultimately affect your vision health as well.

Look beyond what your eyes can see, and that is wisdom in living.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Using the Mind for Better Vision

Poor vision is often caused by poor vision habits, such as eye fixation and eye strain.

But how do you change your bad vision habits?

There is a saying: “It is difficult to teach an old dog new tricks.” The conscious mind is often reluctant and resistant to any change. Believe it or not, most of us are stubborn creatures—more like an old dog—who do not want to get out of own comfort zones. The only way to overcome this obstacle is through changing the subconscious mind.

To initiate any meaningful change, you must rely on your mind, specifically, your subconscious mind. Give your mind the tools it needs to change for the better.

Your thoughts pre-determine how your eyes function. Use positive affirmations and creative images to change your thinking in order to change how your eyes should function.

Affirmations and visualization

Affirmations and visualization are powerful mind-power tools to change your subconscious mind in order to change your conscious mind. They are effective in changing bad vision habits that inhibit vision self-healing. Remember, these bad vision habits may have become long-term memories in your subconscious mind. You must eradicate them!

For affirmations or self-suggestions to be effective, they must meet the following criteria:

They must be simple and easy to remember (Always use the present tense!).

They must be practical, realistic, and achievable. (Do not visualize yourself as a billionaire!)

They must be what you strongly believe in, not just what you wish for. (Always know the difference between what you need and what you want!)

They must be repeatedly constantly and consistently in order to have an impact on your subconscious mind. (Always be consistent and persistent!)

You can repeat to yourself daily the following positive affirmations or self-suggestions (of course, you can always make up your own self-suggestions):

I am willing to accept any change in order to heal my eyes.

I am learning how to correct my bad vision habits in order to see better.

I am working diligently to achieve my goal in vision self-healing.

I am committed to improving my vision.

I believe one day I do not have to wear glasses.

I possess the mind power to overcome any challenge in my pursuit of vision self-healing.

Creating your visualization

Visualization is the use of positive images to create the “reality” in your subconscious mind such that “seeing” the positive result of your efforts reinforces your determination and perseverance to reach your goal of vision self-healing.

Visualization plays a pivotal part in your vision improvement: you visualize what your eyes can see through your efforts, as well as how your eyes can improve through regular practice.

Vision research has attested to the close connection between the mind (visualization) and vision (focusing). If you visualize seeing a distant object, the focusing mechanism of your eye can physically respond to your imagination; that is, your eye can actually change its focus through visualization.

In visualization, you close your eyes in your imagination, you relax them in your imagination, and then you re-open them in your imagination. It is all in your imagination.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Good Habits for Better Vision

The following are some good habits for better vision:

MENTAL HABITS

Make no comparison between vision without glasses and vision with glasses. Learn to be comfortable with blur. Do not strive to see clearly. Clear vision will automatically come with improved vision.

Clear vision has to do with the strength of the eye muscles, and the shape of the eye. Mind power has this capability.

Harness your mind power for self-affirmations and positive visualization for vision improvement.

VISUAL HABITS

Develop good visual habits to enhance your vision improvement.

Blinking: Blink constantly to relax the eye. Blinking has to be soft and complete, not rapid.

Shifting: Shift your eyes constantly (the healthy eye sends more than 50 images per second to the brain) and rapidly by changing your eye focus frequently. Your eyes move more rapidly when they are relaxed.

Peripheral vision: Be aware of your total field of vision whenever you focus your eyes. Use BOTH central vision and peripheral vision at the same time.

Natural sunlight: Spend more time outdoors instead of indoors to reap the health benefits of sunlight in nourishing your visual system.

Palming: Relaxation of the eye cures all vision problems. The eye rests completely only in total darkness. Practice palming (covering your eyes with your palms but without touching them), and visualize blackness even for as little as 1 to 2 minutes per session. Of course, the longer you palm, the more relaxed your eyes become.

Vision without glasses: See without glasses to bring back your eye’s natural “accommodation” for better vision. However, remember not to strain to see without glasses. Reduce your time of wearing glasses, and delay the time you put on glasses in the morning. Use under-corrected prescription to slowly and gradually wean yourself from wearing corrective lenses.

VISION AWARENESS

Vision health is all about awareness—awareness of what you should do and what you should not do. Your conscious mind may want to change the bad vision habits that continue to impair your vision, but it is constantly held back by your subconscious mind.

Form the habit of awareness. Always be aware of the following good vision habits:

To heal the eye, change your vision habit!

Your mind determines how your eyes see!

Use your subconscious mind to change your vision with affirmations and visualization!

Breathe right to relax both the mind and the mind!

Consciously train your eyes for distant vision!

Regularly look up from your computer or your book!

The shape of the eyeball determines the power of vision. The relaxation level of the eye predetermines the shape of the eyeball.

See only selectively! Never STRAIN your eyes in order to see better! A blurry image is OK!

Look without blinking (soft vision) for 10 seconds or so!

Do not STARE! Blink to stop frozen gaze!

Do not let a day pass by without palming your eyes!

Always BLINK—soft and complete! Form the habit of constant blinking!

Always train your eyes for peripheral vision to see what is on both sides of your eyes!.

Swing and shift your body with clear and soft vision of your eyes!

Edge and track a distant object with your eyes anytime and anywhere!

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau