My visual impairment causes the world to appear muted and dim, lacking in detail and color. My memories, as well as my dreams, however, are bright and clear. Both the internal slideshow of my past and my nocturnal images are vivid and crisp and it’s always a surprise to me that they are.
About six months after my sight became compromised, I learned to meditate and also how visualization can play a part in healing the body. Conventional medicine was unable to restore my vision and I was open to other options. Unfortunately, the pink and healthy optic nerves I pictured in my mind’s eye did not heal my damaged transmitters. But I was taught how to calm my thoughts and my body and get intentional and focused about the things I want in my life. I am able to Imagine myself in specific places and situations in great detail: the smells, the sounds and, of course, the sights, and those scenarios have become very real to me.
It is certainly not magic. Putting yourself where you one day will be is not enough. You must put in the work and take the necessary steps. But you can craft your future and take it out for a test drive before it actually occurs. We all have plans and hopes, and seeing them ahead of time can really be believing.
The present is a different story. My view of right now is skewed because of a physical condition but often we, myself included, perceive our lives at this moment in a distorted way. We don’t see things as they actually are and can feel like life will always be murky. But with the ability to envision our past and our future with absolute clarity, the present, too, can come into focus. I miss my old sight every day but I am grateful to be able to conjure up an image as if I still had it. When we know where we have been and where we are going, when we see it in our dreams of the past and dreams for the future, in beautiful detail, how can today not be perfectly clear as well?
