Three Helpful Things for ADD ADHD
Everyone agrees that certain things are helpful for anyone but especially helpful for those of us with ADD ADHD:
Exercise
Sleep
Meditation
And I would add, getting out-of-doors.
Meditation
I’ve been practicing a simple form of meditation for years. I find it helpful, but difficult.
On a good day, I can meditate for maybe 10 minutes, on a very good day.
Meditation helps me with the inner sense of time pressure –“Rush, hurry, urgency, so much to do and so little time to do it in!” This is an ADD ADHD symptom.
Meditation helps this. But of course, this same time pressure gets in the way of meditating.
(I will probably write more about time pressure in the next post. Probably.)
Meditation Light
For now I’m continuing my short daily meditation but experimenting with meditation light.
In our new living situation, I need to walk the dog three times a day. I could see this is a burden. It takes up precious time. But it’s an opportunity. It gets me out-of-doors. There’s a bench where I sit for a minute and pet the dog. I’m going to count this time as meditation.
There’s also a Koi pond. I enjoy just looking at the fish. I’m getting to know some of them individually. I’m going to count this as meditation as well.
So I plan to continue the morning meditation but I’ll try to feel less pressured about it — –“I need to meditate. I don’t have time to meditate. I’m not meditating long enough.”
(These damn voices!)
Do you think this will work? Do you think it will count as “meditation light”?
doug
Relax! Just try harder to relax!
Bonus Links:
Meditating, sitting, willpower
ADDadultstrategies 
Here’s a lightly descriptive example of using physical sensations to meditate with a cup of coffee (tea?). http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/13/coffee-meditation-easy-and-necessary_n_7184624.html
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vicki – neat!
thanks
doug
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Hi Doug, Sounds like it will work and count as “meditation light.” I contacted an expert recently. He told me I should shoot for 10-20 min of meditation once or twice daily. He added that some meditation is better than none. But I personally quit meditating about a year ago after meditating twice daily in 20 min sessions for a few months. Haven’t been able to get started again because “I don’t have time to meditate.” (Sound familiar?)
One thing meditation helped me with was in temporarily putting a stop to all of the thoughts running through my mind. This has been especially helpful in helping me fall asleep in bed at night. I seem to be able to fall asleep much easier once I stop the many thoughts that are preventing sleep!
I’m making progress with your book. Now I know that I’m not the only person who needs all of my shirts to have pockets – for all of my notes. And I just ordered a white board for my office. Thanks for the tip! Jeff
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jeff – sounds like meditation was really helpful to you. i’m impressed that you could do it.
the old Methodist minister Wesly said ” I have so many things to do today, I’ m going to need to pray an extra hour this morning.” I may write about this not having time phenomenon.
glad you’re progressing with the book, taking it slowly and that its helpful. and youre certainly not the only one with this stuff.
thank you for commenting
doug
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You know, Doug – sometimes I forget which of the things I struggle with are ADHD and which are other issues. This statement from your post:
““Rush, hurry, urgency, so much to do and so little time to do it in!” This is an ADD ADHD symptom.”
was very helpful. This is how I’ve been feeling my whole adult life but especially lately. I keep thinking it will go away when things settle down but it just hit me that it won’t and things won’t probably settle down. This craziness is my new normal. But it doesn’t matter whether my life is crazy or not, I always feel this way. I didn’t really attribute it to ADHD but to having too much to do. I do have a lot to do but I always have. Somehow I’ve been less able to handle it these days but I think that’s because it’s different than before. Before it was primarily tasks and now it’s primarily people. Tasks are easier to control than people are. Plus the whole menopause thing.
So what I concluded was that “Rush, hurry, urgency, so much to do and so little time to do it in!” is probably never going away so I need to learn to manage it and defeat it. Wish me luck.
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Homey – very insightful.
yes, people, sometimes they’re a gift and sometimes -ugh!
“Too much to do” and “I dont have time for that.”- i need to write about these. (title may be – “lies we all tell ourselves” but that may sound a little harsh.)
most of my problems i just assume are to do with ADD ADHD – i’m not a bad person nor an idiot and mostly not even lazy, so why else would i be like this?
wisdom- learning to manage what we cant change.
do you ever stop to consider, maybe write down even, all that you do? you’re pretty amazing!
so good luck, and thank you for commenting.
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Well, Doug, I think what you do could count as meditation heavy, the real deal. It seems that you are really paying attention to the koi, if you can tell them apart. And you could enhance both of these meditations by focusing on even more of the sensations – how your dog’s hair feels against your hand, what happens to his or her breathing when petted, or your own breathing, how does the sunlight reflect on the pond, is the wind making ripples. Noticing. I don’t think it matters whether you’re noticing thoughts or focusing on sensory information about the world around you. Noticing something, rather than running off with your thoughts is I think the crux of meditation. Good job!
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vicki- wow! that made me feel good. i will do what you suggest, paying more specific attention. that sounds like mindfullness meditation? is that different than just meditation?
thank you for your comment
doug
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That’s a great question, is mindfulness the same as meditation? I don’t know the exact answer. There are so many ways to meditate – repeating a mantra, gazing at a candle, or for Sufis, spinning in circles. But it seems to me they all are aimed at detaching from the ego, or that which tries to run the show, and being open to the awareness of spirit, whatever that is for each of us. It seems to me that present day mindfulness does not stress so much the awareness of spirit as it does just finding a way to separate from the constant chatter of our minds and the unhelpful places that can take us.
I like the approach of Donald Altman, who is seeking to help people find the type of mindful activities that fit for them, rather than trying to fit themselves into a classic model of meditation. According to him, there are lots of ways. Here are some ways to look at this from The Mindfulness Toolbox, by Donald Altman, M.A., LPC (who has a number of books on mindfulness) http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_22?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=the+mindfulness+toolbox+50+practical+tips+tools+%26+handouts+for+anxiety+depression+stress+%26+pain&sprefix=the+mindfulness+toolbo%2Caps%2C187
pp.3-4 Modern Definitions for Mindfulness (a small selection, similar to what you describe)
– opening to the moment – (i.e., pausing and petting the dog)
– living in the WHAT-IS as opposed to the WHAT-IF (i.e., I’m outside with the dog and can pet him or her rather than think about what else needs to be done)
– getting freed from habit and reactivity
-focusing on the moment
– stop, look, and listen
and from p. 7, a couple of the benefits there stated:
-Mindfulness changes one’s relationship to self-critical and self-blaming thoughts, thus promoting greater patience, kindness, acceptance, and hospitality toward oneself and others. Mindfulness skills and tools also help to overcome dualistic all-or-none thinking.
-Mindfulness encourages greater fulfillment in daily life by focusing more on the present moment, and by reducing rumination and negative thoughts, as well as anxiety about the future.
I hope this is helpful. I still don’t know the exact answer to your question. It seems what you’re doing is good and working for you now, and maybe the category it fits in doesn’t completely matter.
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vicki- that’s great! clearly i dont need to worry about the name of it if its helping.wonderful informative comment.
thanks
doug
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Mindfulness sure sounds something I should work at. Rumination (excellent use of the word!) and negative thoughts are certainly a daily foe of mine.
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ram – vicki’s suggestions are very good. sounds like “working at” mindfullness might be almost a paradox 🙂 i checked out the book she recommended, looks good. i will check it out – from the library this time.
the rumination and negative thoughts are our enemies for sure – we do need strategies against them. also, sometimes the serotonin meds help, even if you dont have depression
thank you for commenting
doug
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