Thread: Reducing reliance on crutches

I have decided that a part of my methodology for attaining lucidity needs to be eliminating or reducing my reliance on crutches, and I don't mean literal crutches, but crutches such as the following:

Caffeine (already reduced, but I can do even better)
Sugar (need to work on that)
IPhone and DreamViews / Social Media (sorry, if successful, you may see me here less, I am an iPhone and DV addict, and that's not good)

And added to the list today: my glasses. I am severely short sighted, but does that really mean that I need to use my glasses all the time? I just took my glasses off during a walk, and became more aware of my senses, including eyesight which I needed to struggle with. Then I came home and exercised to the Wii (Just Dance 3) without my glasses, and you would think my glasses benefit me there by allowing me to follow the movements of the dancers on screen better, not so! I scored as well without glasses as with them. And I noticed my sweat more. My glasses have allowed my eyes to get lazy, and I am not compensating as much for poor eyesight with other senses as I should. Of course, I will still drive with my glasses and use them for various activities where really needed, but I plan to start asking myself, "Do I really need my glasses for this activity?"

I think you have good instincts.

The glasses thing is debatable, but I was told when I was young that I would need glasses every day. I absolutely refused to wear them most of the time and have had great vision my entire life. Recently I had my first exam in many years and he basically told me that I have developed an amazing ability to focus that compensates to a large degree for the initial problem. Though it needs to be said that it doesn't totally compensate.

Interesting. Now you got me thinking about all my crutches. I too have no cell phone or facebook account (actually, my wife and I created an account several years ago, but never used it), but I have a feeling if I had a cell I wouldn't use it much -- I still can't figure out what people are constantly typing into those things! Sadly, when I do forget to put on my glasses, things get a little dangerous, so I can't go there.

I think my crutches fall in the range of way too much alcohol consumption (not good for LD'ing at all), which I'm working on, too much TV, and, oddly, a complete disinterest in going to bed at night. There are probably plenty more things that get in the way of successful LD'ing, like my bad diet and refusal to exercise, or my increasingly scattershot memory (working on that too), and maybe my elevating procrastination to an art form, but it would take a bit of introspection to really scoop out what's holding me up.

I never thought of DV's as a crutch, honestly; more of an albatross (sorry DV's guys ). I got a little obsessed with it for a while, but now I tend to only post on or start threads when there is a hope that I can learn something.

Interesting thread, JoannaB; you've given me something to think about ... whether I like it or not!

This evening I left off my glasses during a walk around my neighborhood. All the cars' headlights were much bigger and cooler. The light through the branches of trees produced an almost magical effect, like a kaleidoscope: I could not actually see the tree branches distinctly, but the light shining through them so amazing, I had to put my glasses back on briefly to see whether they were just ordinary trees (they were), and even after that I had to reality check - you see I have been wearing strong glasses since childhood, and I have never before today that I can remember gone on a walk without glasses since the time I got glasses. The smells and sounds and feelings against my skin were intensified. I wish I knew what that sweet cloying smell was. Oh, and I heard an owl, which was only one of a myriad of bird sounds. I would probably have missed most of that with my glasses on because I tend to focus on my eyesight, and overlook things that look ordinary most of the time, but with the glasses off, nothing looked ordinary.

I highly recommend this experiment to anyone who wears strong glasses all the time as long as you think you can pull it off safely, of course.

I love going without my glasses/contacts. I'm very nearsighted but I don't mind the blurriness as long as I'm not driving or trying to read something far away. Years of glasses has made me ignore my peripheral vision and I've been focusing on being more aware of it lately as part of my lucid awareness exercises. Removing the glasses also helps me with visualization exercises I do, they seem to be a lot easier without the crisp clear vision getting in the way.

Coffee I definitely need to cut back on. Maybe my current struggles with insomnia will finally get me to do this.