General

Book Arrival and Regional Conference

Living Well with ADHD has arrived! Thanks to all of you for your inspiration and contributions. Finally, there is an actual book that I can hold in my hand. It is a nice feeling after two years of work.

I sold the first seven copies of the book at a regional conference on ADHD last week in Orange Beach, AL, thanks to the generosity of Chris Dendy who allowed me a corner of her table in the exhibit hall. More importantly, I learned a lot from presenters like Timothy Wilens, who provided a lot of research-based information (more on presentations later). I was very pleased with the quality of this conference. I met many knowledgeable and passionate advocates there, and I plan to return next year. It was informative and inspiring.

Living Well with ADHD is now available online at addwarehouse.com. In the coming weeks I will be able to offer it on this website and through events at local bookstores. 

Forgetting that you did the right thing!

Did you ever use an effective coping strategy, but forgot that you did? On the last day of 2015, I had to get important documents into the mail before the post office closed. To avoid the risk of misplacing the documents, I went directly to the post office from work before running other errands on the way home. A couple of hours later, still worried about deadlines, I looked for the envelopes containing those important documents so I could mail them before dinner. On the way to dinner with my wife, I went to the office to search for them, then circled back to the house to search there once more, and then back to the office for one last opportunity to find them before the post office closed. Once I gave up and decided it would not be a catastrophe to mail them later, I recalled having already taken them to the post office. Despite the unnecessary traveling in circles and being late going to dinner, my wife – with sincere understanding and acceptance – said to me, “it’s mostly good; you got the documents into the mail on time.” She was inconvenienced and not annoyed! And I am grateful for her gift of understanding!

A Little “Board”

File Dec 16, 7 14 33 AMI just returned from a 3-day meditation retreat in Kingston Springs, TN. The retreat location normally hosts kids in summer camps and other events for youth. In the kitchen area there was a little board on the wall that appeared to have been sliced out of a log. Imprinted on the board was this four-word sentence: “I’m a little board.” It was one of the first things I noticed at breakfast time, and it is ironic because the first thing I usually have to deal with at a meditation retreat is my unquiet mind and restless feelings. By midway into the second day, my brain arrives, and I am reminded that silence is not somethnig to avoid. When I practice tolerating sensations of restlessness, I learn all over again that boredom is a phantom – something that we create when we believe we can’t tolerate being quiet and still.

MindfullyADD

Among the many discoveries at the CHADD conference in New Orleans was Casey Dixon’s mindfulness website. Go to my resources page for the link to her site. Casey and Winne Kinder presented to a standing room only classroom of people interested in mindfulness for minds like ours. 

CHADD 2015

CHADD in The Big Easy 2015

 

Three items at the grocery

I arrived home from work Wednesday night, and my wife asked, “Did you get my text?” No, my ringer was off. She wanted three items to finish making her black bean chili. I wanted to impress her with how quickly I could make a run to the grocery, and so I left without my jacket. At the checkout counter I discovered that I had neither my wallet, nor my phone. I went to the service desk to use the store’s phone. Just as my wife answered, Barry from the ADD support group walked up to me to say hi and ask if I needed his phone. Just my wallet, I told him. To my wife: “Would you ask Lindsay (my daughter) to bring my jacket to Publix. Barry from the support group is standing beside me as we speak.”

Lindsay laughs without rolling her eyes these days because she doesn’t have to live with my ADHD. She has her own place. She delivered my jacket with a smile. My wife laughed and was sympathetic that I tried and failed to make this a quick trip for her.   

Support Group Email Reminders

To receive email reminders of our meetings, click here to contact Sara Skillen.
You only need an ADHD diagnosis to attend.

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