Fighting constant neck strain?

I invite you to sit down, get comfortable and close your eyes.

Take a full minute to listen to the sounds around you. Relax and let the sounds come to your ears.

You’ve no other task than to simply listen.

When you’re done, open your eyes and continue reading.

***

Were you surprised by how many different sounds you could hear?

Notice how you could distinguish that some sounds were very near to you and some far away, without trying hard.

This little minute listening practice is a nice way to take a break if you’re feeling stressed during the day. By closing your eyes and just focusing on what you hear, you can bring yourself into the present moment and just be for a minute or so.

Now that your eyes are open, look and see what’s around you.

Do you see with the same ease that you hear?

When you were listening, you could just relax and let the sounds come to your ears. You didn’t have to try hard or strain.

Guess what?

When you look you can just relax and let what you’re looking at come to your eyes. You don’t have to try hard or strain to see or grasp what you’re looking at.

Instead, let your eyes soften in their sockets and let what you’re looking at come to you. No need to jut your head forward to see better.

But this is exactly what you often do.

(Think of where your head usually ends up when you’re working hard at the computer and not paying attention to yourself).

You’re human. To be human is to have a very dominant visual sense. Your attention tends to be super focused on what you’re looking at. As opposed to what you hear or smell, for example.

And it’s just human nature for your body to follow your attention, often led by the head (that weighs 10-12 lbs by the way).

Over time this jutting your heavy head forward to see is going to lead to neck, shoulder, and upper back strain and perhaps pain.

So, try adopting an attitude I call “Let the World Come to Me”.

Try leaving your head balanced on top of your spine more often, relaxing your eyes, and letting what you’re looking at come to you.

If you really can’t see something, try adjusting the object instead of your head.

For example…

• Bend your elbow to bring a smartphone closer.
• Use a pillow on your lap to support a book a bit higher.
• Adjust the font on your monitor to make it just a bit larger.
• Install a magnifying make-up mirror with an extendable arm in your bathroom to make your image bigger and bring the mirror closer to you.

The above adjustments can facilitate letting what you are looking at come to you.

Your body and your posture will thank you for it.

P.S. Do you have any other examples of how you can adjust the objects in your life, instead of your head? I’d love to hear from you. Leave a comment below.

Image by PourquoiPas from Pixabay