Sight or Vision?

Hello! Are you ready for a little more information regarding your health and well-being? As we go into another "season", fall in the northern hemisphere and spring in the southern, it's often a time for reflection and reassessment. While sight and vision can be synonymous, I'm going to approach them each in a different context. This is a two-for-one this week!

Our sight is important. I don't think anyone would argue with that. As we age, we might see some changes. Reading glasses are big in the over 50 crowd and a lot of us have turned them into fashion statements. They are incredibly helpful and it's also good to know how to preserve and protect our eyes in other ways.

Here's a breakdown of some Vitamins and foods that can support us.

Vitamin A can help lessen or prevent night blindness. It's found in sweet potatoes, pumpkins, and leafy green veggies.
Vitamin E protects our cells throughout our bodies. Sources are found in salmon, avocado, and leafy greens (again).
Vitamin C is necessary to make collagen and it's believed to help lower the risk for cataracts. Tropical fruits, broccoli, kale, and bell peppers are recommended.
The "B" vitamins, B6, B9, B12, help address inflammation. They're in fish, eggs, dairy, and meat.
Vitamin B2, also known as Riboflavin, assists in metabolic energy production. It converts food into fuel for energy. You can find it in liver, eggs, and green vegetables.
Vitamin B3, or Niacin, helps the nervous and digestive systems. It can also lower "bad" cholesterol levels. Again, get your B3 in greens, meat, poultry, fish, and eggs
Omega-3 fatty acids are good for avoiding or improving dry eye disease. You can source it from fish, flaxseed, chia seeds, and nuts.

Of course, you can also take supplements. Either consult your healthcare provider or do some research on where and how the supplements are produced. But what about Vision? How does having a vision or visions support your life? You probably can answer that question on a personal level better than I can and I invite you to consider what it means to you. Here's some of my thoughts... Just like vitamins can help fuel our bodies, visions charge our lives. Isn't it fun to look forward to something? It's so much easier to get out of bed in the morning when there's a good plan for the day. One definition I found for vision was a vivid mental image, especially a fanciful one of the future. I love it! Can you imagine living your life by creating it and then, stepping into it? I once heard a speaker use the phrase, "life by design, not by default" and I took ownership of the concept. The thing is, we are actually doing this on a daily basis without realizing it. We can get caught up in a vision of what we don't want and fall into it. Here's a few suggestions for creating a picture of what you really want.

Make a vision board. You can do one, for free, online, with Canva (www.canva.com/create/vision-boards/). Or, find pictures and words in magazines and paste them on a craft or poster board.
Write out your hopes and desires and create scenarios in a special journal. Use colored pens or pencils or stickers to give it some oooomph!
Create a community, a group of like-minded people who want to support each other in envisioning. There is a wonderful resource for this in Barbara Sher's work: www.shersuccessteams.com and www.BarbarasClub.com. I had the extreme pleasure in attending one of Barbara's workshops many years ago and then being part of a Success Team. It was profound.

Research has shown that it feels good to be anticipating something. It makes us energized, hopeful, and inspired and can help us better deal with the day-to-day. It triggers our creative side and helps to feel optimistic about the future. Finally, it gives us an opportunity to be appreciative of the present and what's right in front of us because it becomes the launching point of what we contemplate as possibility moving forward. Fashion your own fabulous vision(s) and always remember to be care-full.

Happy Healthy Habit Hump Day,