Eye Health

 One way to maintain good vision is to eat properly. Nutrition has an effect on our eyes. By making good dietary choices, you could slow the deterioration of the eye that comes with the passage of time. Vitamins, minerals, and anti-oxidants give your body strength. Your eyes are an important part of your body!

Eggs, kale, spinach, turnip greens, collard greens, romaine lettuce, broccoli, zucchini, corn, garden peas and Brussels sprouts, contain lutein and zeaxanthin. Red berries, kiwi, red and green bell peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, spinach, and juices made from guava, grapefruit, and orange contain Vitamin C. Vegetable oils, nuts, green leafy vegetables, sweet potatoes, avocados, wheat germ, and whole grains contain Vitamin E. Carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, eggs, and green leafy vegetables contain Vitamin A and beta carotene. Salmon, sardines, flax seeds, soybeans, and walnuts contain essential fatty acids.

Always consult your own physician when making changes to your diet and health regimen. 

Computer Vision and Industry

I have been writing about my delight with sightline readers. There are more ways to improve computer vision that I must share. First, it is easy to change the size of the text displayed on computer screens. On a PC the way to adjust the size of text is in the Control Panel where display is handled. On an Apple, look in Systems Preferences. If you are on the internet, some browsers allow you to increase the size of the text by pressing CNTRL+. If this does not work on your browser, you can do a search on google to find out how to increase or correct text size. Email programs also offer adjustments as do cellular phones. 

Another aspect to change is the brightness of the screen. Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS) can arise if the screen is too bright or too dull. If the background of the screen seems like a light source, it is too bright. If it is dull and gray, it is not bright enough.

Making your eyes transition from a computer screen to a printed page and back and forth again can cause eye strain. If you do not have sightline readers, you should mount your printed work on a well-lit stand near your monitor. An additional support for eyes is to take breaks during which you focus on something close for thirty seconds and then something far for thirty seconds and then something close again. By the way, be sure to blink. (Computer screens discourage blinking, so make yourself blink a bit more than feels natural.)

Of Benjamin Franklin’s virtues, industry has given me the biggest challenge. Today I start with proper use of my time in learning and writing about computer vision. 

Industry, Benjamin Franklin, and Sightlinereaders.com

I am almost half-way through the thirty days of the Thirty-Day Benjamin Franklin Challenge, and I am struggling with the virtue of industry. What pulls me into activities that have no value? This is the most difficult one by far for me. I write about it today to confront it. The advertisements in the corner of my screen touched my deepest insecurities and lured me to websites with information that offers nothing for me. I must seek these things in fear of what will happen if I do real work. What can that be? I do not have to analyze the behavior. The task at hand is to waste no time. I have felt the lifting sensation of making better choices in the past several days. Making a habit of industry will further elevate me, so I have to keep at it.

Franklin says:  Lose no time; be always employ’d in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions. That is how he describes industry in his autobiography.

The reason I wanted to start this blog was to tell the world about the virtues and about the amazing reading glasses I started using with three focal distances. My husband brought home a pair that can be bought at sightlinereaders.com and now I always want them nearby. They have one magnification for computer screen reading and another for reading a book or papers and yet another for talking to someone a few feet away. With sightline readers I do not take them off and put them back on again or reach for another pair when I have a different task. I can get more done without extra and unnecessary actions. They will help me with this virtue that is giving me a run for my money.

Day 12 of Benjamin Franklin Thirty-Day Challenge

Resolution, one of Franklin’s 13 virtues, is on my radar today. According to a woman on NPR and Mark Hyman (the celebrity doctor) I can reset my insulin levels by having two days without carbs in my diet. Today I had eggs, coffee, yogurt, almonds, and cheese in addition to water, aloe juice, a touch of apple cider vinegar, and some beet-ginger-carrot-apple juice. I forgot about the protein plan when I drank the juice. I may have tanked the day by drinking that. Fruits and vegetables may have too much sugar to allow the reset. Bummer. Is it not crazy that I feel guilty about the beet-carrot-ginger-apple juice? Oh, well. I worked out hard today with my friend Roz and had a great conversation with Florence about Benjamin Franklin.

To review, I am devoting thirty days to improving myself with the help of Ben Franklin’s list of virtues that he hoped would make him a better human being. The first, temperance, involves food and drink. Eat not to dullness and drink not to elevation. I have gotten through twelve days temperately, I believe. 

Franklin recommended working on one virtue at a time to make it a habit before moving on to the next. He was thinking about a lifelong commitment, so he had time to do it that way. I am only giving myself thirty days to bring my awareness up, (fine, bring up my awareness, be more mindful)so mastering each before proceeding would defeat me. In any case, I do feel good about number one. That is why I am so happy to write about it, I suppose. The truth of the matter is, though, that the easy ones are nothing to crow about. I should be delighted to improve myself in the others–the ones that challenge me.

The second on the list is silence. Say only what will help others or myself. Avoid trifling comments. For this, I must stay vigilant. I believe that I succeeded today. Yes, this one can be difficult, because so many of the tidbits of life strike me as funny. I used to like to joke about nonsense or say what came into my head when I thought it amusing. I am now working to use that energy to help my husband with his work. He asked me to do some creative work for him. It makes my musings helpful to him. That is a real break for me, because I can meet the requirement of the virtue but still express myself.

Third, if I remember correctly, is order. Everything should have its proper place. Business, too, should have its proper time. This keeps me moving along in some ways. I know that I have to divide my time so that I do work and also balance the other aspects of life. Putting things away has always felt burdensome to me, but now that I see it fitting into the big picture of life and success, I take more time to tidy up everything. I washed the juice maker twice today. I emptied the dishwasher and filled it today. Also, I did some other dishes. I took the time to complete some paperwork that I otherwise might have left undone for days.  I could have done more with order, but I am trying not to punish myself for slow improvement. 

Resolution has me smiling to myself right now. Let me enjoy that for a moment. Why am I smiling about resolution? My smile got even bigger. What is going on with me? I have never been strong in this area, but Benjamin Franklin has me sticking to the plan. Of all the ways to get inspired, an eighteenth century thinker whom I have all but ignored since childhood has changed my life. . . for now. Resolve to perform what you ought and faithfully perform all that you resolve. Wow. That is such a big one. In an earlier blog post I listed several ways to live as I ought to do–changes that I can make. To faithfully perform all is a tall order, but I am on it! I wanted to leave my shoes in the car when bringing everything in after shopping at the grocery store. Instead, however, I thought about order. By leaving shoes in the car, I would not have them where they ought to be. They would not be in their proper place. I went back out to the car and made a special trip so that my shoes would be in their orderly place. 

Sir Philip Sidney wrote in defense of poetry. He took a self-conscious tone by saying that praise of poetry was a way of expressing self love –in that he was a poet. Philip Sidney was very funny, but I cannot describe his humor. I can only say that he is worth reading and discovering for anyone who does not know of him. In the meantime, I have praised Franklin’s virtues and begun to live by them. Am I guilty of self-praise? If so, so be it. I have found a method for myself. It is personal and real for me. Its simplicity allows it to find its unique suitability to me. Going backward, for instance, over the virtues I have begun, you can see that I choose my own resolutions. This is not a cookie-cutter way to be good according to someone else’s definition. Instead, I look to myself to determine what I ought to do and what not to do. Lovely.

Order is the same. I must find the order that will work for me. Silence, again, does not shape me but refines me. Temperance tells me not what to eat or drink.

Frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity, humility.

Industry is a habit I eagerly wish to make a part of my life. The ways of waste and pursuing empty or frivolous activities never feels good to me. Still, I have moments when these call me sweetly as if they might offer pleasure. They bring me down, though. 

This work of keeping track of my progress has been facilitated by the reading glasses from sightlinereaders.com

 

 

Sightline includes Light at end of the Tunnel

I can see the movement toward perfection, but I know that the approach is slow; the asymptote is not close. Nevertheless, I can imagine it. That is saying something.

Today, day 11 of the thirty-day Benjamin Franklin Challenge, has me incorporating more virtues into my daily life than any previous day.

Temperance continues to stay within my ability and practice. This morning I had an ounce of dark chocolate, two glasses of water, some cottage cheese, a cup of coffee, risotto, and a bit of fried rice. That last bit was made by my daughter and her guest. . . delicious.  I ate until I felt almost full but not to the point of dullness. That stays within the bounds of Franklin’s virtue.

I need to find a pair of Sightline Readers so that I can read the font clearly on the computer screen. I am so happy about this product that I want to be sure to mention it to anyone who needs reading glasses so that they can get a pair, too.  Let me know if you are interested, world, so that I can send you a discount code to use. These are only for people who use no prescription glasses, but use reading glasses. Sightline readers have a progressive lens, sort of like Ben Franklin’s invention of the bifocal, but there are three focal distances and no lines between the different strengths. One of the strengths works best for computer screens, another for reading print on paper, and a third for when you are looking at a person and talking. It obviates the need to take off glasses and put them back on or put them on top of your head. If you don’t wear reading glasses, that is not a problem, but if you do, it gets annoying. Okay, now I have to find my pair.

Back to the virtues. Number two, silence, is on the ascent. I have  improved. I have avoided saying pointless trifling comments that arise in my head. I have not avoided it completely, but I have kept an awareness of the importance of only saying what is helpful. In his autobiography, Ben Franklin explains that he started with only twelve virtues, but a Quaker friend informed him that people believed Franklin to be proud to a fault. Franklin expressed his opinions and used his wit and humor to no benefit other than impressing people around him–if that. The people who gravitated toward him for his sense of humor were of a lower quality than those he attracted when he kept such ideas to himself.  Being a wise guy was fun but not helpful. Also, it did not improve him as a human being. Humility, one of the virtues, arises later in the list, but I am working on it here along with silence because they both, for the most part, involve holding my tongue.  I am nowhere near perfection, but I am acutely aware of the issue.

Order continues to pose challenges at every turn. I love this virtue. It requires that I not only put things away but also create places for items that have no set place. Further, it reminds me to take care of business each day. Order includes setting time aside for all that must be done. I am writing today. I must also work on the novel. I must get to the grocer (done) and exercise. I took care of a gift purchase yesterday that I had put off. I have to plan for the coming weeks.

Resolution is easier to maintain than ever because of the blog. “Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail all that you resolve.” That is a big one. I have resolved to work on the virtues and to floss regularly. Flossing is not difficult, but it is not as inviting as brushing or washing of other sorts. I don’t know why that is true. Maybe it has too much subtlety. Resolution will grow in me as I practice it more. I am hopeful that this is the case. A person who learns to stick to her plans can get better at it. At some point I will not consider resolutions a choice. Decide a thing and stick to it. That is that.

5.  Frugality.  Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing. This one is not much of a challenge for me. Having been raised by parents still reeling from the Depression, I have always been quite frugal. It makes my children a little sad. They feel that they have lived without some of the good things in life. On the other hand, they know the difference between wants and needs. I do not think this has hurt them at all.

6.  Industry.  Lose no time; be always employ’d in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions. Oh, this one is going to hurt. I have not started it yet. I had a few days of looking at images of plastic surgery gone wrong. I cannot ever believe that people of great beauty would take a chance on losing their looks by trying to become even more attractive. Ouch. I think that one of the disadvantages of natural beauty is the fear of its loss. People of average looks do not suffer this in the same way–I think. As a friend once told me, “The results are not in, yet.”

7.  Sincerity. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly. Maybe this arises in a world of gossip. I find it difficult at this moment to imagine a transgression here. In fiction I have seen this in action, but I have not come across the vice that this virtue corrects since my childhood.

8.  Justice.  Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty. This is another that I hardly know how to apply. Where in my life would this arise? If I kept something that was owed to someone. . . Oh! I do know an example. At the Apple Store a broken item is left with the merchant when a new one is given in its place. If a customer walks out with the old item and the replacement, that person has omitted a benefit.

9.  Moderation.  Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve. When I have felt hurt in the past, I sometimes build the crime up to be bigger than it may have been. The pain caused to me may be greater than anything the criminal may have possibly intended. Usually, in such cases, people are simply inconsiderate of others. It is not an attempt to be cruel. Instead, most people live in a state of ignorance. They do not know what damage they do to others but happily go on their way crushing the souls of people they barely know or consider.

10.  Cleanliness.  Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation. Okay. Habitation. My body and clothes are clean, but I could do a better job of dusting and scrubbing. I have hired someone to help with this, but I recognize the importance of doing the work myself.

11.  Tranquility.  Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable. This seems to go hand in hand with moderation. I know  a man who never seems to get upset about the little things. How does he do it? I think that he holds it in for a long time and lets it go all at once like John in the Green Mile.

12.  Chastity. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation. What is there to say about this? When is it for health? I think that the release can be for hormonal and psychological balance. Concern for reputation makes sense. One must be careful, Franklin warns. I have heard that Benjamin Franklin was not always so careful about reputation. How else could the wife of Benedict Arnold have reported that Franklin had a reputation with the ladies? She did not practice silence. Whom did she help by telling the world about Franklin’s venery habits.

 

Catalan

I worked on learning some Catalan phrases today.

 

Ho sento means I am sorry.

Perdon. Excuse me.

Si us plau. please

com estas. How are you?

Be, i tu. Fine, and you.

Em dic . . . My name is.

Com dius? What is your name?

Duana. Customs.

Si. Yes.

No. No.

Quin es priu? How much does that cost?

On . .. Where is . . .

Bona nit. Good night.

Bona tarda. Good afternoon.

Bon dia. Good morning.

Que. . what.

qui who

Servei. Toilet.

Sortada. Exit.

Gracies. Thank you.

Encantada de conexeitl. Nice to meet you.

Adeu. Goodbye.

Hola. Hello.

 

Day 9: Order and Reading Glasses

I am on day nine of the thirty-day challenge to make habits of Benjamin Franklin’s thirteen virtues. He made a plan to perfect himself by making each of the virtues his own. I am spending time during these days to find strength by building these virtues into my life. I am trying to take them in the order in which he arranged them. Temperance in food and drink comes first. Second is silence–speaking only to help others or to help myself. That has proved a challenge, but I continue with the work. The third is order. 

I have found that order demands a mindfulness that I must continue to develop. Today, for example, I misplaced a credit card. If I had been mindful during the transaction that last involved that card, I would probably have the card now. In this instance, I removed the main cards from my wallet in order to carry them in my small purse. The small purse looked good with my outfit, but it did not have the size necessary to contain my usual wallet. I have no alternative orderly system for my credit cards and driver’s license and insurance card that I must have with me. Instead, I just pulled them from the wallet and put them in the zipper pocket of my small purse. I must have a system for small purses to avoid this situation. Even if the alternative is clipping all of the identification and other cards together with a paper clip or binding them with a rubber band, I need a ready and reliable system. Slapdash is not orderly and leads to accidents. 

Ben Franklin’s invention of bifocals, in addition to his inspirational ideas about life, make him a lovely topic to discuss in conjunction with sightline reading glasses. I have several pairs of these glasses and keep them in various rooms around the house, but that is not orderly. I do not know which pair is where, and I am not careful with my favorite colors and styles, since I never worry about losing them. This slapdash system, too, leads to disorder. As I type these words for my blog today, I am wearing a pair of the glasses that require no prescription, and that have the right focal distance for reading a computer screen, because I have sightline readers. They have three focal distances–for reading papers or books, for reading screens, and for talking to people. Now I do not have to remove the glasses and put them back on for the different tasks I perform during the day. 

Order is a challenge for me, because I like to do one thing all day. I do not like to transition from one activity to another. I tend to hyper-focus. Today I have yet to practice piano, write more of the novel, exercise, or make a meal for the family. I have, however, shopped with the children for needed items in their wardrobes. We had fun together and had a fantastic breakfast out with their father at a place called Over Easy Cafe in Chicago. It was our second time there; we loved it. I mention this outing and the shopping to indicate that today has not been a total waste. It just still lacks some of what it needs. In searching for the missing credit card I discovered many places where order must be introduced or restored. The top right drawer of my vanity needs to be arranged and emptied. I have saved several items in the top left drawer in my closet. There are clothes to put away, and there are more clothes than used regularly. The pieces that are never worn should be removed and given away or tossed out where appropriate.

Resolution is amazing. Enforcing all that I have resolved to do reminds me of Yoda. Do or do not. There is no try. I have believed this for years, but something about the virtue makes failure appear to be corrupt as opposed to weak. I must stand against corruption. Here I stand. 

The Challenges of Virtue: struggling with the thirty-day Benjamin Franklin Challenge

My Sightline Gets Interrupted

 

If I fail to be mindful at all times regarding the virtues, I slip and transgress no matter how simple the task. Today I began with resolution. I would faithfully perform all that I have resolved, I thought. I began with using dental floss in conjunction with brushing my teeth. While getting ready for my day with other washing, I had a conversation with my husband. My first failure of the day arose during that conversation.

Silence got lost while I was thinking about one of last night’s resolutions. In the blog posted yesterday, I listed several tasks that I ought to do. In keeping with the virtue of resolving to perform what I ought and performing without fail what I have resolved, I had gotten to thinking about making my home a more comfortable and beautiful place to live. Because I resolved to do it yesterday, I would perform today faithfully by setting plans in motion. That would entail painting the room adjacent to the kitchen and turning the room into a library. That reminded me of the painters I needed to call. Coincidentally, my husband mentioned that he had the business card of a house painter. I said that we had a house painter. He suggested that we use a less expensive person for the exterior of the house. I countered that we had already used a cheap painter with poor results. He argued that less expensive did not mean cheap. I replied that by definition less expensive means cheap. This went back and forth in many ways–all disagreeable.

Oh, dear. I realized too late that I had directly contradicted my husband. I had come no closer to making the house more comfortable. In fact, by arguing about a trifling matter, I had made the household less comfortable. The children had joined in the argument with comments about the imperfection of the expensive painters.

All of this minutiae is just to share with readers the difficulty of holding to a virtue not long established.

Regarding temperance, however, I have maintained command. Mastery is still beyond my grasp, but I feel confident that temperance will be attained. I have not gone much outside of the boundaries. There have been episodes of eating for reasons other than hunger, but they have diminished.

Silence will require ongoing diligence. Silence and humility go hand in hand. When I have one, I will have the other, I believe. In the meantime, I recognize each transgression albeit too late. I may have mentioned that I heard someone recently say that there is a space between stimulus and response. I have to find that space and hold my tongue. My verbal contribution ought to provide benefit to someone. If not, I hope not to make the contribution at all. Perhaps, with respect to one of the resolutions listed last night, I shall put my money where my mouth is. By this I mean that I will either donate money or time to benefit others instead of offering suggestions.

Order, the third virtue, offers me challenges everywhere I consider. Making my life more orderly has never been at the forefront of my priorities, but my lack of order has prevented me from attaining much of what I have sought in every aspect of my experience. I stopped making social plans because I feared I would forget to attend them. In my youth I lost many associations due to a weakness in executive function. I would remember days after a missed appointment that there had been date set to meet someone. What was hazy and vague to me was a personal affront to the person who had waited and finally given up.

Benjamin Franklin had the opposite circumstance. Although he thought that order was important, he never forgot anything and always remembered where he had placed everything. His executive function was exceedingly strong. He only had a problem with this when he got older, according to his autobiography. Having never worried about where he place things, he never taught himself to put items away. Later, when his memory began to fail, he had no system developed for himself.

Each day I need to set a new system of order for a life category. It can be in time or space. Today, I am creating a system for remembering how much water I drink and a system for putting purses away when not in use. With water, I have four glasses set–two upon waking and two upon preparing for bed. That leaves only four glasses to be taken during the day in order to consume the full eight.

I must stop writing and attend to the other aspects of my day.

The Fourth Virtue: Resolve to Do What You Ought

Resolution: resolve to perform what you ought. Perform without fail what you resolve.

I believe that this will be the most difficult of the virtues for me to master. Perform what I ought? If I were doing that, I would already be perfect. I will go floss my teeth at this point. I know that a person ought to floss twice per day. I have not even mastered that. Well, let’s see whether this virtue will cement a new habit. 

The number of resolutions that belong here for me is staggering. I believe I will list them.

Actions I ought to perform:

I ought to practice piano every day, I ought to drink eight glasses of water each day. I should do thirty minutes of cardiovascular exercise each day. I should cook vegetables in a pressure cooker to maximize the nutrients. I should drink apple cider vinegar each day in my water to maintain a proper acid balance in my system. I should donate one tenth of what I spend each day to a charity.  I ought to make my home a nicer place for the people who live here. I ought to avoid gluten, sugar, and corn. I ought to volunteer my services to help other people. 

Day Six: Living the Virtues of Benjamin Franklin, wearing the best readers for computer screens, and reporting on progress

I see and feel my life improving after only six days of adhering to a system of habituating the virtues defined by Benjamin Franklin. Transformation should feel like change, but, instead, it feels like the discovery of the sleeping self. By introducing the third virtue, order, I saw myself imposing my personal sense of order on my world. Although order seems to suggest an objective value, it evinces the opposite. When I organize my time or my possessions, priorities manifest themselves.

The first virtue on Franklin’s list, temperance, has made me aware of all that I eat or drink. Mindfulness in eating expanded to mindfulness in speaking. Not only was this expansion of mindfulness intentional as part of the thirty-day challenge but also it was something that happened naturally. By this I mean that the mindfulness practiced in one aspect of my life grew on its own and snuck into other areas.

I wonder whether I would have seen the self-improvement or made the improvements at all had I not wanted to write about how much I like my new reading glasses. The littlest thing, wanting to share sightlinereaders.com, has connected me to the ideas of Benjamin Franklin. Caring about Franklin has led me to care about myself more–made me want to make better use of my life. I searched the founding father on the internet and learned that I am not unique in my interest. Although I overlooked him for most of my life, many people have been his followers all along. I have arrived late to the party, but I am here.

I will stop writing now to read what others are saying.