Thursday, January 25, 2007

An Eye for the Right Life

Wednesday, January 17 ~ Thousand Oaks, California

I'm sitting in the car, rain streaking down the windshield. The building in front of me houses my optometrist (chosen largely because he calls his clinic "Agape"). I've just completed an eye checkup that has left me stunned...and pleased.

Some ten years ago when I was living in Toronto, I embarked on a personal campaign to improve my physical vision. With one eye conventionally uncorrectable and the other severely myopic, I was determined to take off my glasses and see, to borrow the title of optometrist Jacob Liberman's powerful primer on vision improvement (Take Off Your Glasses and See).

Over the years, first by working with Toronto vision educator Elizabeth Abraham and later on my own, I have steadily improved my vision and been able to weaken my prescription.

Last year, for the first time in nearly a decade, my eyes weakened. And this past year, having experienced frequent eye strain, I expected to need another strengthening of my prescription.

Although disappointed, I wasn't surprised. I've spent so much time behind a wheel or in front of a computer screen over the past two years that my eyes could easily have suffered. Besides, it's been quite some time since I maintained a regular regime of eye exercises.

So imagine my surprise when the doctor said, "Your eye strain isn't because you're glasses are too weak. It's because they're too strong."

They had improved!

But how?

As I sit in the car pondering that question, I'm reminded of the philosophies I try to live and model. Call them Mark David's 10 Rules for Living:

Rule #1: There are no rules
Rule #2: What works today may not work tomorrow
Rule #3:
Listen to your heart; it speaks with the voice of God
Rules #4: Treat yourself as you would your best friend: with love and respect
Rule #5:
It's not what you do, it's how you live
Rule #6: It's not how often you meditate, it's whether you live your life as a meditation
Rule #7: It's not what you shed, it's what you embrace
Rule #8:
It's not how hard you push, it's how fully you surrender
Rule #9: It's not about being perfect, it's about being human
Rule #10: There are no rules

Through all the stresses and strains of the past two years, I have done little exercise, taken few supplements and eaten pretty much anything -- a function of life on the road. Yet I'm healthier than I've been in a long time. I even look better (and younger), according to many.

I'm not advocating a couch-potato, fast-food lifestyle. What I am saying is that activity, meditation and diet -- what you do -- will always be secondary to what you are.

If, ultimately, everything is vibration, then it's the vibration you live that is the ultimate arbiter of your health. The highest vibration is the one closest to your divinity, your passion, your light...the one that loves your humanity while living your divinity.

I haven't done it perfectly, but it's not about being perfect. It's about being human.

Drawing by Mark David Gerson: "Freeing the Voice of Your Vision"

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Mark...
I agree and appreciate your view of vibration being the determining factor of health in our lives (along with everything else too). I am having a lesson in that right now, I made an agreement with myself to quit smoking recently, and it hasn't been easy at times.

What has made a difference though is consciously choosing to love and respect myself more...then the healthiest action becomes easier to follow through on. Living my highest vibration, "the one closest to your divinity", as you said....will also facilitate healing and better health for me in the future.

Thank you for the insights here on your blog. Its a pleasure and very inspiring for me to read about your journey, I admire your courage and persistent faith to live in the moment with absolute trust. Wishing you the very best. Love, Bill

p.s. I like your 10 "rules" for living!

Anonymous said...

Dear Bill,

Thanks for sharing your story, itself an inspiration to all of us who are doing our best to give up self-destructive behaviors.

Blessings,
Mark David

P.S. Rule #2 is a good one for all of us to remember on that score

Rhoda said...

Hi David,

Just got done reading your newsletter and you had requested for us to share our new year of transformations. I have been experiencing a lot of releasing and of course I spun once again into another corkscrew on that spriral. It's kind of like being on a rollercoaster and you get spun or turned into a unexpected circle. For me since Fall and the last time I saw you it felt like I was in limbo but now things seem to be taking off and directing me in the direction I should be going in and also reminding me of what I truly want - what my heart truly desires. I seem to be more adamant today in my personal journey but also have to understand that not everyone is on the exact same path as me. It's been somewhat of a challenge but also a good learning experience for me.

I enjoy your newsletters and blogs. Thank you for sharing your journey and for keeping us informed of the constant changes that are happening all around us. I wrote a poem yesterday. It was written after doing some major releasing a few days ago.

It's time to start again.
Time to seed another begining -
Start new
A new flower to grow.
Fresh rain to wash away the past -
To begin a new path.
To find new faces with deeper understanding
and unconditional love.
To help you rise above.
Time to share -
Time to love -
Time to show the world what it's really all about.

Take care and God Bless,

Rhoda

Anonymous said...

Dear Rhoda,

Thanks for sharing and for the poem.

It is time to love. Truly, there's nothing else.

Blessings,
Mark David

Pamela McDowell said...

Hi Mark,

Thank you so much for this powerful reminder to stop worrying, fussing and attempting to be perfect and instead to live, live, live.

I'm very happy to hear about your improved health and eyesight - you're an inspiration to let go and just be.

Sincere Blessings,
Pamela

Anonymous said...

Blessings to you, too, Pamela.

Thanks for your comment.

Mark David