I’ve been in four different locations in the last four days, and I sit here now in a beautiful home integrating cataract surgery.  There’s a great deal involved as the brain works to orient to a new way of seeing.  I think of how we focus, wide and open, small and detailed, and I see how my eyes are being challenged to learn new ways of seeing.

Oddly, with the new lens the right eye is fixed.  It will never change.  I have a card saying I have an “artificial” part in my body.  When I had the patch on the right eye, the left eye worked hard to compensate even though it has limited vision, but it took over with a mighty force, and now it seems a little lost or maybe afraid.  I’ll have surgery on that eye on the 14th.

All of this is to say how precious vision is.  We all know it in one way, and perhaps we take it for granted in another.  Stop now and give your eyes a tender recognizing hug and kiss of gratitude. What a gift is sight!

In this new place, I hear different birds chirping this morning.  I’ve left the marsh and am perched upon a hill with the changes spring brings.  I’m immersed in sensing, sensitivity, response and responsibility, and love and trust.  

In the end, it’s only when we face ego down that we truly see ourselves.

– Ashwini Narayanan