This is the beginning of the 6th year of FOCUS+!
Where do we go from here? Sub groups? Different locations? Status quo? More speakers? More sharing? Leverage Blog more?
The group concensus was that speakers were helpful and we should continue to invite them, but that the core value of the FOCUS+ group is in the group exchanges with one another.
September is National ADHD Week. Ideas to acknowledge this?
1. Email Ruth (revenhouse@hotmail.com) with ideas.
2. Panel discussion on neurofeedback pros and cons?
Quote of the meeting:
“Self Awareness is the core component of managing ADHD.”
Ruth Evenhouse facilitated a discussion about the four “big picture” strategies from the FOCUS+ web site for managing and living with ADHD; the group offered their own experiences and ideas on each strategy:
Relax. It’s a well-established fact that when we’re physically calm, we’re mentally the most creative, perceptive and flexible. What methods do you use to help yourself relax/calm down?
- Relaxation techniques
A. Progressive Muscle Relaxation
B. Deep Breathing - Meditiation techniques
A. Meditation
B. Visualization
C. Prayer - “Hobby” techniques
A. Listen to/play music
B. Yoga
C. Exercise
D. “Zen” types of sports activities like archery and golf - Behavioral techniues
A. Take a break from stressful situation; go for a walk
B. Journal. Writing down things that you’re ruminating about and are generating anxiety can help to “let go” of them mentally
C. Support Groups. Meeting and interacting with other people who face similar challenges to your own can help to feel less isolated.
Learn. Learning more about ADHD, treatment options – and just as importantly, learning more about yourself – can be empowering and help identify new options to explore.
1. Reading
2. Conferences/Presenters
3. Internet
4. Learn from your mistakes.
5. Learn that it’s okay to make mistakes…everyone does.
Experiment. Find out which solutions, or more realistically, which combinations of solutions, work best for you.
1. “Cognitive Kinestetics” activities…activities that involve repetition, focus ad muscle memory, are beneficial for relaxation and for developing improved focus and concentration. Examples include physically challenging (and often with an element of danger) activities like figure skating, downhills skiing, mountain biking and martial arts are enjoyable and require your full attention. The risk element motivates you to “live in the moment” and perform the activity to avoid potentially getting inured.
2. Organizational/planning techiques
A. Scheduling “concentration” activities around the times of day when you’re most focused
B. Maintaining journals,calendars and to do lists
C. Keep goals realistic and achievable
D. Focus on the priority tasks first; don’t use low-priority tasks as an excuse for procrastination.
E. Learn starting with the last step and working backward to the beginning
F. Plan starting with the last step and working backward to the beginning
G. Develop mutual accountability / mutual support arrangements for things like exercise, relaxation practice, etc. with another person
H. Sample different activities, e.g. trying Wii Games, Wii Active Fit, Wii Sports,
I. Revisit on communication
1. Compassionate Communication; Refocus on empathy, "seek first to understand" to help with communication.
2. Are you picking the best time and place to communicate with the other person?
3. When working for someone or as part of a team, get clarification on what the priorities are.
J. Neurofeedback, e.g. the NeuroCore program
K. Change or control your environment (eliminate distraction, create ‘always visible” reminders, set up a plan where important things (like car keys) are “pre staged” in the same places every time, etc.
L. We all have “to do” lists, but do we have “don’t do” lists? Half of improving things is adding new behaviors; the other half is ceasing current, counterproductive behaviors.
Keep some perspective. ADHD is a situational disorder. There are times when it's an impairment and times when it's an asset.
1. ADHD is also an “interest-based” disorder; we focus best on the things we’re most interested in.
2. Keep in mind the positive attributes shared by most people with ADHD: empathy/compassion, creativity/problem-solving, humor, rapid “big picture” analysis
3. As part of the Keep Some Perspective discussion, three new basic strategies were suggested…and rejected (In other words, keep a sense of humor!)
A. Find a Scapegoat - How do you transfer the blame for your mistakes to other people in a convincing way?
B. Deny - What methods do you use to ignore the negative impact of ADHD on your life?
C. Retaliate - How do you exact revenge against people who have angered you because of your ADHD?
The conversation raised several other common challenges and considerations for addressing them:
Many of us continue to put off projects until the last minute. Some like the excitement and challenge of the time pressure, others find that scrambling at the last minute “absolves” them of making incorrect choices or mistakes that they’d feel accountable for if they had more time to think through the project more thoroughly (but still made mistakes).
Many of us are terrible at estimating time and anxious when assigned an arbitrary time frame to do something.
“What” (am I doing) is a more helpful question than “Why” (am I doing it)
Questions about the discussion? Anything we missed in our notes? Anything you'd like to add to the discussion? Jump in! We're anxious to hear from you.
Next Meeting: Tuesday, September 14, 6:30PM, Christ Memorial Church, Holland. Details to follow.
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