The story
I remember sitting in physics class my senior year in high school when it happened. My focus started to change and I felt powerless to stop it. I tried with all my might to shift back to how I had been seeing before but just couldn’t do it, probably because I didn’t know what was actually happening. Once the change was complete I accepted it as irreversible. Sometimes I lamented the loss and came to think of it as not being able to see in three dimensions anymore.
My explanation at the time
For years I recalled the incident as being caused by watching television, a flat screen, and labeled it as no longer having depth perception. I’m sure many doctors would have disagreed with me, gone into a lengthy explanation of what it would have really been like. They would have pointed to examples of people being able to see after being blind their whole lives. Well, all I knew was that I wasn’t seeing the same way anymore and didn’t know what to do about it. The world now looked like I was seeing it on a flat screen: 2 dimensionally.
My realization
After I took a course to communicate with animals I learned how to soften my focus and found that it also softened my energy field. It made animals feel more comfortable around me. When I started practicing softening my focus I began see in “three dimensions” again, so to speak. I noticed how I could see things moving in the landscape as I walked instead of everything looking like a two-dimensional picture. That’s when I realized what had actually happened during my high school physics class. My focus had become one-pointed and I had begun looking (focusing) on only one point in space instead of being able to see the whole scene at once.
Why did this happen
Well, my theory is that it happened from spending more time being one-pointedly focused, like reading books, staring at a computer screen, watching televisions and movies, and less time taking in the scenery. What I mean by “taking in the scenery” is doing things where you don’t have to look at one point in space for a long time. This includes such as hiking, looking at a beautiful horizon or landscape, gardening, gazing off into the distance. You can probably think of other examples of things that don’t require one-pointed focus.
Making it clearer for you
Still not sure what I mean? Think of it this way, gazing at a group of people from across the room is using soft-focus. Giving someone “the eye” is one-pointed focus. Got it now?
Does it matter?
Well, that depends. You have to decide if it matters to you. It does make a difference in your energy and how you feel. I find I’m more relaxed when I use a softer focus. My whole body relaxes. I can take in more of the scenery whether I’m outside or in a room full of people. I can see more of someone’s face when I’m looking at them and the energy of our interactions is softer and more loving. I also don’t have to look back and forth from one eyeball to the other while we are looking at each other and communicating. (I find it very unnerving when I become conscious of this while I’m talking to someone. I wonder if I’m spending equal time looking at each eyeball and “am I looking at the same eyeball that’s looking at my same eyeball?” because you know, “the eyes are the window to the soul”. It’s very confusing.)
When would you use a softer focus
You would use a softer focus if you want people to be more comfortable around you, if you want to relax, if you want to slow down and enjoy the moment, if you want to take in a whole person’s face, if you want to enjoy more of the scenery, while watching a play or musical on stage, while watching a movie in wide screen, while watching a tennis match (then your head won’t go back and forth like you’re watching a tennis match; very humorous to watch someone doing that), when you are looking at the sunrise or sunset, etc. The list goes on and on.
What you can do about it
Well, if you decide you want to be able to be able to choose between using one-pointed focus (which can be useful sometimes) and softening your focus, there are things you can do to make it easier.
Paying attention
Look at the picture above. First look at the tree in the foreground then move your gaze down the line of trees, looking at each tree individually, until you get to the end of the line of trees. Did you notice how your focus changed as you looked from one tree to the next and the difference between how your eyes felt looking at the one in the front as opposed to the one at the end of the line? You can also pay attention to how you see throughout the day. Try gazing at the horizon. Can you see the trees or buildings moving as you walk (like a scene in a movie when the camera pans and suddenly you see more of what was behind that tree or building) or do they look like a picture that keeps changing its perspective? Now, find someone to talk to and notice if you see their whole face while you are talking or are you looking back and forth from one eye to the other, staring at the beautiful shape of their chin, noticing how their eyes are perfectly almond shaped or their eyebrows plucked better than the last time you saw them or noticing some other feature on their face. (When I did this I realized I had a tendency to look at people’s mouths while they spoke. This was because I got in that habit when I worked in a place where there was a noisy copier running most of the time and would look at the person’s mouth to aid me in understanding what they were saying. I was doing a bit of lip-reading while listening to what I could hear of their words.) So, how did you did? Are you more one-pointedly focused or is your gaze already softened?
Techniques to practice softening your focus
Try to feel the energy in your body and send it down into the earth to ground yourself (this step might not be necessary but it could make it easier).
- Bring your attention to your eyes and try to relax them. Look at the picture above. Look at the whole thing without focusing on any one point in it. Take in the whole picture at once and maybe the entire computer screen. This might be a challenge at first but you can make it easy by realizing that it can be easy (what you believe becomes true for you). See how long you can hold your eyes in a relaxed state and look again at that landscape.
- Take a walk and see if you notice how the trees move against each other and the background when your eyes are relaxed. Notice how different things look and how different you feel when your eyes are more relaxed.
- Now close your eyes (make sure you are in a safe place when you do this so you don’t fall over to otherwise injure yourself or anyone else) and practice softening your gaze by feeling like your eyes are sinking back into your head. If you have a hard time softening your gaze with your eyes open then practicing with your eyes shut will make it easier to do when your eyes are open. You can also notice the same feeling when you are lying in bed at night starting to fall asleep. Your eyes will just naturally relax and then you’ll get a better sense of what soft-focus feels like.
- Practice shifting your gaze from one-pointed focus to soft-focus throughout the day and it will become easier. If you spend a lot of time in front of a computer, take time once an hour to look with soft-focus at something in the distance for a few minutes. It will also help you feel more relaxed at the end of the day. (“Experts” have been advising this for years as a method to rest your eyes while doing close-up work.) It also helps to move your body often since our bodies weren’t made to stay in one position for hours on end.
- Practice looking at wide-screen pictures and shift back and forth between looking at the whole picture and looking at different things in the picture. This picture of the Whirling Dervishes will work nicely.
Other helpful things to do
What will also help will be doing things to lower stress like meditation and the methods I mentioned in the Valentine’s Day post. Tai Chi and other forms of exercise also help.
Keep a journal
Lots of healing practices encourage journaling and it could be very encouraging to see your progress. Daily, weekly or whenever you remember, jot down how you felt in both visual states (one-pointedly focused and soft focused), what you did to practice shifting between them, how your day changed by practicing soft-focus and how people and animals around you respond to you in each state. You’ll soon see which is a more enjoyable and friendly way to be.
A soft-focus example
An artist friend of mine used soft-focus. I had no idea she practiced soft-focus until one day, I think we were talking about paying attention when someone talks to you, and she shared with me that she uses soft-focus all the time. She demonstrated what it looks like when she shifts her gaze from soft-focus to one-pointed focus and, honestly, it was really intense. It made me feel uncomfortable and I was glad when she went back to soft-focus.
Conclusions
Using soft-focus can make you feel gentler and bring you more into the present moment. It can make you more lovable and more connected to the earth. It can make you more open to love and good-will coming from everywhere and help you feel more comfortable on the earth. Use it in good health. With practice and intention it becomes easier and feels more pleasant and natural. Take in the whole world and breathe deeply. You’ll feel a difference.
Love, Light, Peace, Prosperity, Abundance and Soft-focus