Sacred Life Sunday: Today I Can See

This is a follow-up to this post about my diagnosis with age-related macular degeneration (AMD). It has now been 12 days since my diagnosis. I will be seeing a specialist in Seattle in mid-March for a second opinion and more importantly, more information on the specifics of my diagnosis and prognosis. I am doing well and am adjusting and best of all--today I can see--which I really and truly appreciate like I never have before. I expect I'll feel this way every day from now on.

I have done some things that have been helpful for me, but that maybe everyone can find some inspiration in:

(1) I have hyper-focused my life by evaluating what is truly important if I had, say, six months of vision left. What would I drop out? I'm dropping it out now. Why wait? Big changes in my life here. Everyone could benefit by thinking about this, don't you think?

(2) Although my vision is still poor, I was able to get accurate driving glasses. This means I can drive myself safely places during the day, including to Seattle to keep working on getting the other pairs of glasses I'll need. Instead of being frustrated about how blurry things are, I am grateful for every last little bit of blurry sight. I no longer feel much frustration at all, in fact. Why not always be grateful for what we do have, instead of focusing on what we are missing?

(3) I came up with a personal healing protocol of vitamin supplements (the only known thing that can positively affect AMD) and green superfoods. The doctor's nurse said, "Of course, you might think that this is the last thing you should be hearing from a doctor, and you might be very disappointed, but you need to include some specific things in your diet." I was overjoyed. There was something that I could do and it was something that I understood. Green leafy vegetables. Antioxidant fruits. I'm better with these than most people but not where I need to be, thus the superfood help. All is going well in this area as well. Why not improve our diets before we have to?

(4) I am using things instead of saving them for the future. Today is all we have. For all of us, today is all we have for sure.

(5) I am working to balance the time I spend in my head (previously 100%) with time spent in my body, focused on my body, doing things not involving my eyes and research and writing and thinking and typing and analyzing. Things like yoga. Listening to music. Meditating. Am I doing any of this? No, not yet. Not at all. Yet. But I will. I guarantee you, I will. The resistance I have to doing any of this is enormous, and it involves changing the patterns of over a half-century, but I know that it will still happen. Without striving and pushing, it will happen.

(6) Accepting what I can change and what I cannot change. I am not in control, but God/Spirit/the Universe is. And this is the way it always has been, so acceptance is what is indicated. This helps me to relax and to feel relief and to know that everything is unfolding exactly as it is supposed to.



Today is also my 11th Wedding Anniversary with LoveHubbie Mark ♥

~All photos by LoveHubbie Mark. They are from several years ago, thus the blond hair and warm-looking weather :)