Val – not our Val but rather Val Doonican – sang, “Walk tall, walk straight, and look the world right in the eye.”  Yes, and hold your head up high!

Since your retina develops from the embryonic brain tissue, and the optic vesicles are outgrowths of the forebrain, each eye’s development has a direct connection to the brain. It may not surprise us, then, when we learn that adjusting our focus can shift our mood!

To pinch Val’s tune, “Look up, look far, and look as wide as you can see…”

Look up, look far, look wide.

If we had someone to follow us each day, taking notes on where we were looking, you can guess where our dominant focus is: down and near. Chin down, eyelids drooping, close focus on screen or page… all these are associated in the brain as the physiology of drowsiness. When we are alert (one of the Moodscope cards!), our bodies are chin up, and our eyelids open more widely to let in more light. “Wide awake,” is how we describe this.

Taking a screen-break and going for a walk can be combined with chin up and looking up. This gives a message to the mind that we are ‘up’, wide awake and alert and thus ‘open’ for business.

“That was close…”

Spending too much time focusing close-up is bad for our eyes. Gazing off in the distance is good for us, as is natural light. If you follow the recommendation to go for a walk, mix your looking up with looking far.  This is good for the elasticity of the lens and the strength of the eye muscles.

“How broad is your vision?”

The narrow vision of close-up work can be harmful. One of the many wonderful skills of our eyes is to see in widescreen, panoramic vision. You can do this right now. Focusing at a word on your screen, allow your awareness to go wide and notice what you can roughly make out with your peripheral vision. If you’re up for even more experimentation, stare forwards and take your index fingers on each hand, wiggle them in front of your eyes, and then see how wide and distant you can move them (arms’ length and almost behind your head) and still notice the movement.

If you’re up for a walk, it’s good to use your wide-vision too. Of course, developing this awareness also has a profoundly beneficial impact on driving safety.

Whilst I’ve taught these techniques for years on my Speed Reading programmes, the inspiration for this blog came from: https://thebestbrainpossible.com/eyes-brain-nervous-system-calm/  Charlotte Grysolle adds some fascinating points on the neuroscience. For example, when we use peripheral vision, she points out that we activate our parasympathetic nervous system, which promotes senses of calm and relaxation.

Let’s up the number of walks we take this week and try out looking up, looking far, and looking wide!

Lex 

A Moodscope member