How To Strengthen Your Visual Powers
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What would it be like if you could tap into and leverage your visual powers to improve performance in any area of your life, see what other people may miss and create innovative solutions to life challenges? This is not science fiction; it’s practical neuroscience that can be accomplished by anyone with an open and willing mind.
Your visual cortex is the largest, and perhaps the most underutilized, system in your brain. It’s responsible for processing and giving meaning to visual information. The primary visual cortex is located in the back of your brain in two hemispheres of the cerebral cortex. The left hemisphere visual cortex receives signals from your right eye and the right visual cortex from your left eye. Thinking visually, with your eyes closed, activates a kaleidoscope of imagery, color, symbols, pattern recognition and pictures to help you remember what was seen and to access your inner world of imagination. This basic practical neuroscience information frames the experiential exercises and ideas presented below.
“Eyes Open” Strategies
These ideas strengthen your visual acuity and give you enhanced perspective to catch information you may have been missing.
Strengthening Your Visual Powers:
- Select something visually interesting – a photograph, magazine, ad or written material. Look at it intently for 30 seconds and lay it aside. Say aloud or write down everything you remember – message, color, images and details. Look at the material again and see how accurate you were. Repeat the process many times. After you experience improvement, ask some of your friends to engage in the exercise and discover if more improvement is possible.
- Select a page of written text or something you find interesting. Rotate the page so that you are looking at it upside down. Focus on the images and words. Say aloud what you see. See how proficient you can be reading and looking at things upside down.
Balancing Your Hemispheres and Curing “Lazy Eye”
- Point your right or left thumb upwards and make a large sweeping “figure 8” pattern. Follow the pattern with your eyes for about 7 to 11 rotations, then change rotation direction. This method will help balance your hemispheres and alleviate “lazy eye” that comes from staring or fixating on a visual pattern. It helps people read quicker and with greater ease.
- Play or observe live rapid eye-hand coordination sports like table tennis, volley ball and badminton.
Improving Reading Focus and Retention
- Try placing different colors of transparency films over what you are reading. Red may perk up your energy level; blue may calm you down. Experiment and discover the effects on focus, concentration and memory. This may be the break-through you are looking for if you have a child struggling with reading.
“Eyes Closed” Strategies
Accessing Your Hemisphere of Choice
Retina eye positions connect to different portions of your brain through the optic nerve. You can access and focus on your visual, auditory and kinesthetic pathways by controlling where you are looking, even when your eyes are closed. When you look upward, you are connecting with your visual cortex. The lateral, side-to-side direction connects with your ability to remember and recall or create something new and different. The methods below may need to be reversed for some left handed people or the small percentage of right handed people with reverse wiring.
- Keeping your eyes closed, move them upwards and to the left as you are thinking about something you want to remember. (e.g. “What did I wear yesterday?” “What’s the answer to this test question?”) Ask yourself silently or aloud what it is that you want to remember and see on your internal screen.
- Move your eyes upwards to the right as you create something new or when searching for a new perspective. (e.g. “Where do I see myself on my 2-week vacation?” “What does my ideal job look like?”) Ask yourself, silently or aloud, what you want to see as possibilities and options on your internal screen.
Attaining Performance Excellence
The brain does not know the difference between actually doing something in the physical world and practicing it in your “mind’s eye.” This is a well known method used by world class athletes to practice their techniques and sharpen their performance.
- The first step is to observe and study role models of performance excellence. This can be in any field of endeavor that interests you, including sports, public speaking, teaching, parenting, leadership and hands-on professions like medicine.
- The next step involves getting relaxed, comfortable and closing your eyes. Imagine doing what your role model does when performing. Imagine observing a movie screen with you acting out a performance in which you excel. Incorporate your role model’s state-of-mind, resoluteness, values and intention, as you know them. Practice sessions should last as long as you are comfortable and not straining. Be patient, as early sessions may only last a couple of minutes before you get tired. Repetition builds and strengthens the neuro-patterns for the new behaviors. Strive for 30-40 sessions, or more, lasting 5-7 minutes each.
- You will be amazed and delighted to see your outer-world performance improve as you implement this technique and practice in your inner-world. This can be a continuous, lifelong process to get you primed and prepared before public speaking, playing your favorite sport or performing your daily work.
In conclusion, your brain is truly the most miraculous mass of protoplasm in the known universe. Your visual cortex is the largest operating system in your brain and has potential to enhance your life experiences beyond your wildest dreams. You can utilize its powers with your eyes open or closed. The eyes-closed potential may be the most exciting because you are exploring the infinite realms of possibility instead of your immediate field of vision in the outer world.
Author Message:
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It’s quite easy to strengthen your Visual sensory pathway, or your Auditory and Kinesthetic pathways, through focus and repetition. A good starting point for strengthening a pathway is to learn their strength. Your personalized Brain PathWays report scientifically measures and describes your sensory and cognitive preferences for learning, listening, visioning, doing, thinking, problem solving, communicating and decision making. The report provides practical neuroscience tools, based on your brain strengths to “be the best you can be.” The on-line process takes less than 15 minutes, the results last a life time. Click to purchase your Brain PathWays online self-assessment and download your report today.
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