by zedzap

Bloggers’ eyes are at strains as blogging requires tons of reading. Especially it is painful for part time bloggers as they do it at night when the light is less than optimal.

The result is pretty expected – at some point bloggers prescribed to wear eyeglasses.

That is exactly what happened to me a year ago at age of 36. While almost everyone tells me the glasses suit me I admit it is a pain – physical and logistical [and financial].

William H. Bates shares practical techniques to improve eyesight in his book The Bates Method for Better Eyesight Without Glasses. I adopted 3 of them as they seemed to me something I can stick and practice for a long period of time.

Resting the Eye

Bates writes:

The simplest way to rest the eye is to close the for a longer or shorter period and think about something agreeable. This is always the first thing to do, and there are very few people who are not temporarily benefitted by it.

Nothing seems scientific here, right? It is very natural to close eyes and give it a rest for sometime. Now ask yourself, how many times you do it throughout the day?

Here is the plan – allocate 5 minutes each reading hour to close your eyes and give it a rest.

Palming

Bates writes:

A still greater degree of rest can be obtained by closing and covering the eyes so as to exclude all the light… When you can palm perfectly you will see a field so black that it is impossible to remember, imagine, or see, anything blacker , and when you are able to do this yours sight will be normal.

Light is what helps and hurts our eyes, when at rest it’s best when no light is felt at all. Palming helps me.

Sun Treatment

Bates writes:

Sun is as necessary to normal eye as is rest and relaxation. If it is possible, start the day by exposing the closed eyes to the sun. Just few minutes at a time will help.

I must admit – I feel most productive in the morning. Now I clearly understand it is because I read and write with sun light that makes reading much easier and fun.

Practice This – Get Results

Blogger, improve your eyesight with these simple practices:

• Give your eyes a rest by simply closing it and palming.
• Let sun heal your eyes – expose your closed eyes to the sun.
• Read The Bates Method for Better Eyesight Without Glasses for more practices and the explanations why it works.

My Related Posts

• Consultant Substitutes Leisure For Labour
• Close Your Eyes And See Bigger Picture

If so, your must recharge yourself in one or more of personal power dimensions: Physical, Emotional, Mental, Spiritual.

by aeter

In The Power of Full Engagement the authors state that in order to achieve sustained peak performance you need to be:

• Physically energized.
• Emotionally connected.
• Mentally focused.
• Spiritually aligned.

Physically energized

There are three ingredients to empower yourself physically:

• Breathing right. Thinking and controlling breath seemed to me over-kill. I started to notice I sometime take really deep inhales, It helps me to focus, switch gears. It recharges me.
• Eating right. This one is my favorite. I strongly believe in eating right. The following post was inspired by the book – Food, Energy, And Day Rhythm. I also like blogrdoc’s “Eat no food that makes a health claim”.
• Sleeping right. The authors recommend 7 to 9 hours of quality sleep. Sleeping less is killing, more sleep kills too. I stopped staying awake until midnight and beyond. I wake up earlier and full of energy.

Emotionally connected

Emotional resilience – active engagement with others’ and personal emotions – is the other energy source for personal power.

I was totally drained emotionally lately. Both work and family are the sources of the drainage.

The authors recommend switching channels. So I did. I started focusing on positive emotions both at home and at work. I switched off all sources of negative emotions. I do not ignore it, I do handle the situations but I never get stuck on it. I move on to the positive emotions sources.

I also started to apply Mike King’s morning smiling technique he describes in his A great way to Start and Finish Every Day.

I feel much less drained and with much more motivation to cope with more challenges.

Mentally focused

Mental acuity – intellectual challenge. What do you feel right after you solved tricky problem? Empowered, satisfied, ready to another fight. Right? What do you feel doing tedious work? Boredom. Mental atrophy.

I am always looking for interesting jobs, challenges. When there is none, I make up them, solve it and publish on my technical, other blog. When I finally post and share the solution I feel empowered. Would you?

Spiritually aligned

Spiritual capacity – periodically revisiting deepest personal values. Few of my values are:

• Honesty
• Loyalty
• Respect
• Openness
• Partnership
• Calculated recklessness …

Got values? Stick to it and you will never feel spiritually down.

Flat-liner

The authors say without stretching you muscles – physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual – your life becomes flat-liner. Flat-liner life is atrophy that kills. Push yourself out of your comfort zone, stretch your muscles, get fully engaged, feel the power. The Power of Full Engagement

Snap! – The Power

P.S. Yes, it is Russian in the beginning. It goes like this:

“Amerikanskaya firma Transceptor (not sure here…) Technology pristupila k proizvodstvu computerov Personalnii Sputnik”

Which means “American company Transceptor (not sure here…) Technology just started producing computers named Personal Satellite”.

DISCLAIMER: below is my personal practice. I am not physician or diet specialist.

by 46137

Morning – high energy

Morning meal is most important one. It should provide me the energy to survive high rhythm from 6:00 AM to 13:00, 6 to 7 hours of morning pressure – getting kids to school, getting through heavy traffic, planning the day, finishing unfinished work from yesterday, completing current work items. I consume carbohydrate rich food for breakfast – cereal, bread, chocolate, honey. Food that transformed directly into energy to start and keep my engines moving.

Morning anti-patterns

• No breakfast.
• Deep fried food.
• Protein rich food (consumes more energy to process it).

Lunch time – supporting energy to move on

Short break to refuel. Feel hungry. I tend to eat either easy-to-burn sea food, which is protein rich or no protein rich ingredients at all – salad and potatoes, pasta, or rice. I am not vegetarian, love meat, but not for the lunch on work day. My body consumes more energy to burn meat than it generates to keep my engines moving. That is why I feel sleepy when I break this rule, when I eat meat for the lunch. In the case when I do eat red meat I mix it with vegetables only, lots of veggies.

Lunch time anti-patterns

• Meat mixed with carbohydrate rich food like rice, potatoes, bread.
• No vegetables.
• Fast/Junk food.

Evening – low energy, recreation

Time for recreation, no energy needed, no carbohydrate rich food allowed. Meat and wine time, fruits and veggies too. Water, just water, lots of water.

Evening eating anti-patterns

• Carbohydrate rich food.
• Lot’s of any food.
• Snacks.
• Alcohol.

The result

I maintain acceptable weight, I did not change my jeans size for last 15 years. I feel good level of energy throughout the day. I breath with full chest. My mind is clear and not overwhelmed.

Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food – Hippocrates

My mom came visiting us the other day. After she left my wife told me what my mom told her. It was “Darling, Alik was such a pretty boy, what happened to him now? He is so fat…”. I decided it is time to take action.

I set 4 rules that I can easily follow and also enjoy my life:

• Rule #1 – Eat protein rich food separately from carbohydrate rich food. This is practice I use for last 15 years and it kept me from becoming really fat. Once I stopped doing it and in one month I became a real behemoth. The technique is simple – I never eat meat with bread, rice, potato, or pasta. I do eat all these but separately. My breakfast is carbohydrate rich food. My lunch is about meat and vegetable. I sometime give up on meat and eat just rice, potato, or pasta for my lunch.
• Rule #2 – Do not eat after 7 PM. That one is not easy. That is why I made one exception to it. I can eat low calories vegetables – my favorite are kohlrabi and cabbage.
• Rule #3 – Drink a lot of water. I made a habit to carry a big bottle of mineral water with me to any place. I usually drink 2 1.5 litter bottles a day. It helps me pushback my desires for a snack. I heard fashion models eat ice. It is far fetched for me but carrying water is reasonable. Make sure the toilets are in proximity…
• Rule #4 – Do sport. I needed something that fits into my life rhythm. I only can do sport late at night – starting 10 PM. It must be something both stretching and relaxing. Swimming was natural choice. Luckily, there is great country club in the neighborhood and they have great pricing plans.
• End result. I lost 8 kilograms in one month while eating without any strict restrictions on amount and type of the food. I feel great, I stopped snoring – my wife really love that one, my friends compliment me I look good.

Lately my sister visited me and she has noticed at once I lost weight. 30 minutes after she left I got a phone call. It was my mom on the phone – “Son, I just have spoken with your sister and she said you lost weight. It is no good, dear. You must eat well. Promise me you will eat well”. “No probs, mom, I will”. Go figure….

“God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers.” – proverb.

Summary of steps

• Boil rice – 10 minutes
• Slice veggies – while rice is boiled
• Roll sushi and slice – 10 minutes or less
• Serve and eat – take your time

What you need to make 60 sushi rolls is:

• 300 gram of smoked salmon
• 8 nori sheets
• Cup of rice (about 200 gram)
• 2 carrots
• 2 cucumbers
• Sushi bamboo mat

Following are detailed explanation for each step. I know that it is far from “classic” or “the right way” of making sushi. Nevertheless My wife, both daughters, and the rest of the family and friends just love it.

• Boil rice – 10 minutes. I boil the rice in microwave. I am not picky about the rice type – any rice works for me. To prepare 60 sushi rolls I take cup of rice and little less than two cups of water. First I wash the rice thoroughly. Then I put it in plastic microwave box and pour the clear water into it. I set the microwave for 10 minutes but it may vary according to the power of the microwave:
• Slice veggies – while rice is boiled. While the rice is getting boiled I slice the vegetables. My favorite are carrots, cucumbers, and avocado. Essentially any veggie is just good:

• Roll sushi and slice – 10 minutes or less. Have smoked salmon sliced in stripes handy. “Classic” sushi is prepared with rear salmon but I use smoked salmon – it is safer for me and easier to keep it fresh in my fridge. Place nori sheet on the bamboo mat and spread the rice. I put 4 spoons of rice for each nori sheet. One spoon of rice to each nori sheet corner and spreading it using the spoon itself. Place smoked salmon stripe on the rice and then the vegetables upon it. Roll the nori sheet using bamboo mat while pressing on it making sure that it gets tight. The end result should look like sausages - I actually call it sushi sausages. Leave it for 3 to 5 minutes and then cut the sushi sausages using very sharp knife – be careful. Make sure that the kids are not around – usually they impatiently snoop around to steal a roll while your are trying to slice.

• Serve and eat – take your time. Slice each sausage for 7-8 rolls and serve it on a plate or a tray with soy souse. I do not like wasabi since it it too spicy for me but I like it with ginger. Serve it with your favorite drink. I love it with beer or white wine.

20 minutes up.

Enjoy