A Woman of Substance Continued...

I don't know where all of this is headed but since Wednesday I feel like my life line is on a uphill climb. It's been kind of a straight homeostatic pace for a long time so when a small little annoyance was occurring, I was taking a dip down and some not so happy inner thoughts were occuring.  Luckily I'd come back up to the steady line I was at.  I've been kind of quiet, drinking Pespi and watching Netflix after work knowing there's really no sense in making a lot of social plans because I have seen this scene and the outcome before.

But I am more than ready to have a reason to wake up in the morning and light some fuel under my behind. I want to stretch my boundaries.  A steady life.....to me...is a boring life. I feel like I teenager stuck in a boring high school class. It's been uncomfortable because I am doing what I was told would make me happy.

I'd prefer a long project that would allow my creativity and brain to come alive. Where do I find that?

In August I went on an online date and when I left...the first thought that entered my mind...well at least it only took 60 minutes of my time.  Work feels similar.  MSU games, going to movies or any type of beer tent almost feels equal to this.  I'm so bored.

Going on a vacation, facing a fear and sharing it in my words and pictures and then learning I inspired a friend on facebook to cross The Mighty MAC, opened up a path for me that I am ready to start walking down.  It was much more exciting than that match.com encounter. I know.....it's weird. But sometimes we have to trust these unexpected feelings and just - go for it!

There are other thoughts and ideas full of substance.  The name and motto for a business.  The attempt to create my own webpage.  Late nights of googling things like the "4 Hour Work Week" and reading articles about investing appropriately and wondering if I am on the right track to go above and beyond filling out dittos for the next 25 years.

Another facebook connection sent me a link to a life coach's website.  First off, she is doing things that interest me. Discussing topics with women that I would love to discuss, think about and get paid for.  So I saw what she was doing, I thought, how do I do that? Then, after my 12 week respite, I began the next 9 months of going somewhere that has given me lots of fulfillment and stability but I find myself growing out of what it has to offer.  And before I have felt happy and excited about these feelings, negative feelings have arose.

So, I took action! I contacted this life coach.  I emailed her and said I have this idea for starting my own business but it seems impossible. Like always, I am trusting my gut rather than staying where I am currently at.  Despite my feelings of comfort and security and despite advice from others.  This is only the beginning of making decisions about this path I am headed down.

Like a good coach or teacher on Wednesday this week this coach reminded me of the first email I sent her in late September.  I wrote down "It seems impossible."  I think for me, that's the allure. Bring it on! As a life coach she has easily given me deadlines and gentle guidance that is only sending me down the path I was hoping to go. She has given me mini assignments and I have produced results that I was only imagining.  For whatever reason I needed this! More than a prince charming, a vacation or a drunken night out.

In 2 months I have created a business vision and I am starting to pitch my ideas to professionals in the community. I'm still brainstorming a lot! But I'm brainstorming for a trademark for my company? Really!

I'm excited to see where all of this substance takes me!

A Woman of Substance...The Reason Why I am Grateful!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! Of course I am grateful for the food on the table, parents that are still healthy and with me today! A new sister in law on the way, cats sitting next to me on the couch this morning as I relax. Friends in 5 (+) states and across the world who I am able to keep in touch with. And of course a stable job, home, nice car.  There's a lot of physical and external things that have given me a great life.

But the past couple of years I've learned that there is so much more! This fall has given me the chance to fully experience that.  Who am I, really? What do I really need to live the best life that I can? What makes me happy?

I've been able to give myself the opportunities to answer these questions and that makes me grateful! Unlike 5 years ago, I like having time alone so I can hear my inner thoughts. I really like myself and where I am headed. I know this will make me a better family member, friend, employee to be around!

I have learned that happiness, fulfillment and love comes without a rule book (despite other bloggers and authors in our society). These 3 things are like our hand prints they look different for everyone! All of our stories look different and therefore it is okay if our reaction towards certain situations are different.

Even though I say these things, I am still learning to always trust my inner intuition. I am still learning that my time is valuable and I only get one chance to make this life what I want it to be. My story and path is turning out differently than other women around me. When I was 18 and 21, the only thing I wanted was to be like everyone else. I'm grateful this has changed! I am grateful I want extra forks in the road and I am willing to stretch my boundaries. My story will not be boring when I am in the nursing home. I am a woman of substance!

 Remember to show gratitude for the qualities that you offer to every situation. Whether it's pure logic and rule following during meetings, or a totally awesome sense of humor when people need to lighten up, will power to work out every morning at 5am, or a caring and patient heart when parenting and nurturing America's youth....as an individual you have something to bring to the table. Own it and be grateful for these qualities!

Gratuity.....So long overdue!!!



Oh my....do I need at week about writing about everything gratuity.  I think we all do! Take a Siesta or 2 or 3 this week and process what gratuity means to you! I will do the same!

It is the month of Giving Thanks, even though I feel we should all experience Gratitude more than 30 days a year. November and Thanksgiving is a great place to start!

In years past I have posted daily on Facebook about one thing a day that I am grateful for. One fall I was keeping a journal next to my bed so every night I could write about what I was grateful for. I will say that I believe writing it down for myself gave me a chance to get my deeper personal thoughts out there about my gratuity towards people or situations. And this did change my perspective at a time when I was healing. As I have practiced gratuity and thought about the meaning of the word and concept, I've grown, changed and learned lessons. What I am now able to write and share regarding my gratuity towards this life I have been given is much less superficial than what it initially was 7 years ago when I did this for the first time.

Maybe that I means I can be grateful for becoming a woman of substance.

I know all of you have been loving my quizzes the past several months.  So :)

What are you grateful for?
Do you write these things down?
Do you recite them in the back of your mind when you are having a bad day?
Do you say these things out loud to your loved ones, at your place of worship, in the mirror while looking at yourself?
How does your perspective change towards your current life situation?  

Learning About Vision Therapy

I recently attended a conference about vision therapy. I summarized the following information for a presentation I am giving to my OT colleague's this week.  I hope you find this information useful and interesting.

VISION THERAPY CONFERENCE

Interesting Facts:

The goal of vision therapy: clear (20/20) vision, comfortable, single binocular (no double and both eyes seeing the same thing)

Ways to fix lazy eye: patching, surgery, vision therapy and atrophy therapy which doesn’t help encourage binocular vision

Ocular Alignment:

• Exophoria - eye goes out at resting point
• Esophoria - eye goes in at resting point

Infant C = 6-12 month sensorimotor exam for free; 9 months is the best

7 out of 10 juvenile delinquents have vision problems which are affecting performance in the classroom - California Department of Youth Authority

American Optometric Association:

• 1 out of 4 children have an undiagnosed vision problem that interferes with their ability to read and learn
• 60% of children with learning disabilities have undiagnosed vision problems

Components of Vision:

• Oculomotor
• Pursuits = smooth eye movements
• Saccades = eyes are jumping while moving
• Function = reading, sports (tracking a ball)
• Treatment = word finds, mazes, dot-to-dots, tracing, hidden pictures, letter cancellation, Mardsen Ball
• Binocularity
• Eye teaming
• Supression (shutting 1 eye down)
• Double vision (both eyes working and moving differently)
• Function = navigating unlevel ground or stairs; scanning the environment; writing; pouring
• Treatment = Near/Far GTVT Charts, Red/Green Bar Readers, Red/Green TV Filters, Marsden Ball
• Accommodation
• The automatic adjustment of the eye seeing at different distances
• Amplitude - getting it clear (a problem for farsighted individuals who usually pass the Snellen chart)
• Sustenance - keeping it clear (print comes into & out of focus, especially with fatigue
• Facility - changing focus from one distance to another
• Function: ability to take notes in school shifting from whiteboard to notebook; shifting focus from speedometer in the car to traffic signs; ability to read directions on recipe and then setting the time/temperature on oven
• Treatment = Near/Far Hart Charts
• Vergence Skills
• Convergence
• Required for near work; common to have difficulty with both accommodation and near work
• Function - sewing; reading a pill bottle; dialing a phone
• Divergence
• More strenuous/harder than convergence
• Changing alignment at change in distance; affects how quickly we can change our viewing distance
• Function - playing board games; measuring ingredients; reading labels at the grocery store
• Treatment = Flashlight Mazes, Brock String, Aperture Rule
• Depth Perception
• Binocular
• Stereopsis or 3rd degree function
• Requires 2 eyes working together
• Brain uses retinal disparity to compare information from 2 different points of view
• Lack of stereopsis leads to difficulty with coordination
• Function - driving; stairs; getting into bathtub; pouring liquids
• Peripheral vision
• Important in moving about, speeds performance
• Many times amblyopic (lazy) eye maybe better at peripheral awareness
• Visual fields overlap
• Symptoms
• May look like an eye movement disorder (doesn’t track in certain quadrants)
• Bumping into things
• Decreased night vision
• Spatial insecurity
• Decreased body image
• Dry eye & low blink rate
• Function - riding a bike; sports (balance, awareness of other player while playing sports)
• Visual Fields
• Visual field deficit - a partial or complete loss of vision in the central or peripheral range of vision
• Homonymous hemianopsia
• Homonymous quadratanopsia
• Visual neglect - a more severe form of visual inattention, often paired with a visual field deficit
• Function - walking, driving, riding bike, cooking, shopping, writing
• Treatment = putting items in the ignored/lost visual field (including people that are talking to them, use activities with a wide field of view
• Visual Midline Shift Syndrome
• A neurological event that often corresponds with hemiplegia & hemiparesis
• The ambient visual process attempts to create a balance by expanding a concept of space of the unaffected side and compressing the concept of space on the other side
• The individual will lean or tilt their head away from the neurologically affected side
• Yoked prisms can move the image to midline
• Visual Perception and Processing
• Visual information and processing speed
• Figure ground perception
• Visual closure
• Form constancy
• Size and shape discrimination
• Visual memory
• Treatment = beading tasks, pick up sticks, yard games, interactive video games, pattern play, hidden pictures, mazes, dot-to-dots, word searches, cutting tasks
• Things to look for when there maybe a vision issue:
• Headaches
• Dizziness
• Double vision
• Fatigue
• Difficulty reading (errors, decreased speed, loss of place)
• Red, sore, itchy eyes
• Jerky eye movement, one eye moves in or out more than the other
• Head tilt or covering one eye when reading
• Avoiding near work
• Low self esteem
• Temper flare ups/aggression/irritability
• Vertigo