Renaissance of Attention?
January 21, 2009
Rebecca Shafir
January 21, 2009
Barack Obama certainly faces a worldwind of distraction on day one of his presidency. It makes me think of how many of the problems on his plate are due to the collective dwindling of attention, impulsive actions, “honest mistakes” and general restlessness of our leaders, decision-makers and society in general.
I have been reading (more like studying!) a fascinating book, Distracted, by NY Times journalist Maggie Jackson. She writes about the multi-facted nature of attention within the context of post modern life. Through her interviews with researchers in the attention arena, she provides a compelling road map for cultivating sustained focus and for nurturing a more enriched and literate society.
Researchers in the field of neuroscience report on the mounting evidence for attentional malleability. Conditions like AD/HD, depression, etc., once considered biologically fixed and treatable only with medications, can be strengthened with various exercise regimens: Cogmed Working Memory Training, Meditation, among other kinds of effective brain workouts at any age. Exercises aimed at bolstering our existing allotment of focus and adding new pathways can make the use of compensatory strategies or tools more effective. This may be why persons with AD/HD have difficulty implementing the organizational strategies, time management skills generously doled out at therapy sessions. Might the use of these tools and methods get a better foothold in our brains if some attention training takes place first?
Power Outage & The Power Within
January 20, 2009
Like many in the New England area, I recently endured a 9-day power outage. After the initial shock, the first few days were like an adventure. Light, heat, boiling water and hot food were all provided by a wood stove. No lights, no television, no phone, no computer, no running water, no modern conveniences to clutter the mind. It was quiet and dark.
After days became a week, primitive living seemed endless. What had been novel became drudgery. As the days went by, however, I came to a realization. In those long hours of silence, I could hear myself think. The business of life gave way to a time of contemplation and peacefulness.
No matter how unwelcomed, the power outage gave me the opportunity to allow other “circuitry” to come back to life. I was thinking again. I was not just sitting back and watching or listening. I had the time to think about my dilemmas and dreams, my conflicts and comforts, my jealousies and joys. I was examining the very fabric of my existence.
Socrates once proclaimed an “unexamined life is not worth living.” What is an examined life? As adults, we are controlled and influenced by our experiences beginning in the very earliest stages of development. Our brain takes in whatever our environment teaches us, and these “lessons” become chemically “hardwired” over time. Perceptions, or as Robert Gerzon would describe them, “toxic voices,” take up residence, make themselves at home and begin to influence how we feel about ourselves for many years to come.
These are well rehearsed and powerful thoughts that are always with us, often tricking us into believing that we are flawed, incompetent, stupid, inferior, less than, and defective. We feel guilt, a lowered self-esteem, in short that we don’t matter as much as others. We begin to believe that we must keep our deformed and hideous selves hidden from others, often from ourselves.
When I once asked the participants of a men’s group what was so hideous that they needed to hide it from others, there was a long pause.
· I got teased for having a smaller chest than the other guys in gym class
· I was overweight and had to wear glasses
· my father always yelled at me
· teachers refused to deal with me and banished me to the hall
· my father made me cry and then ridiculed me for crying
· I wasn’t smart enough
“Who taught you to see yourselves in these ways?”
· parents
· teachers
· peers
“And who encourages you to see yourselves in these ways now?”
“We do!”
Then, at that moment magic begins to happen. There is, even if for only a brief moment a light that shines down on the prison cells they are held within. With illumination comes the insight that they are both the prisoner and the prison guard, the punished and the punisher. Then, and only then, change begins to happen. Men begin to see themselves anew, often because of the perspective of their comrades, they see themselves as not so flawed, not so damaged, not so hideous after all.
And so, perhaps inspired by the ever-present glow of the wood stove, I took the time to illuminate my own prison walls. Within the surrounding silence, I examined my life and decided to free myself from anxiety and worry. As a result of the power going out, I discovered the power within.
An unexamined life is not worth living. Truer words were never spoken.
ADHD Continues To Be Misunderstood
January 14, 2009
One of the biggest problems I see facing children, parents, and families affected by ADHD is the general lack of understanding about ADHD as a condition. Today, thanks largely in part to conspiracy and media coverage, almost everyone has an opinion about what it means to have ADHD or what ADHD behaviors look like.
The sad truth of the matter is that most people have it completely wrong.
As far as I am concerned, the success you have in managing ADHD and overcoming the challenges you have in life relies as much on your own understanding as it does the understanding of those people in your life and around you.
This is true for everything in life, but it is even more true for a condition like ADHD.
The Sad Truth:
Most people have it wrong. Most people do not understand ADHD, and they do not understand how people in life struggle.
Now I’m not here to put you down. On the contrary, I’m here to stand up and shout at the top of my lungs in support of you and your family. Why?
Despite everything we know about ADHD as a condition, many people still don’t believe it exists. There are countless myths about the condition, and how it should be treated. Simply put, there are professionals and non-professionals alike who have the wrong information.
And they are as passionate about sharing their information and beliefs, as I am and my colleagues are here at Cerulli & Associates.
I might be standing on a soapbox here, but I spend a lot of time trying to ensure that my clients have the right information as a foundation to supporting themselves or a loved one. I want the very same for you.
So all in all, please be careful who you listen to when it comes to the loved ones in your life. ADHD is incredibly complex - and I’m not sure we still fully understand it. But it all starts with the information you have access to and the supports you choose to have in your life.
What Do You Think?
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The ADHD Dance
January 4, 2009
My dog knows I struggle with planning the steps needed to complete some tasks. Well, he probably isn’t actually aware that I struggle, and come to think of it I don’t so much struggle as sometimes simply skip some of the planning.
This all became clear to me as I got giggling at myself the other day. I was reading “Spark,” John Ratey’s new book. He describes what he calls the “pirouette” as his ADHD patients leave a session only to spin back to retrieve their keys or cell phone. I realized I was doing my version of the ADHD dance as I left my house on the way to the office, and my dog was watching the whole process.
I pick up my purse and tea mug, say goodbye to the dog and walk out the door. Sometimes I make it to the car before I hurry back in to retrieve a paper or book I want to share with a client and then I’m out again. Often I’m back in again to grab my gym bag or yoga mat. All the time my dog is quietly watching me come in and out organizing my leaving as a sort of “in action” style of planning.
ADHD is diagnosed through a series of recognizable attributes, but those same attributes are shared by many people who aren’t diagnosable with ADHD. I also like Ratey’s term to describe these people with ADHD style symptoms but not the full blown diagnosis; he calls this “shadow” ADHD.
Understanding this notion can be a real help to individuals who feel the diagnosis has essentially pushed them into an image of themselves that makes them uncomfortable. Having the diagnosis doesn’t make you completely different from others, just different in the specifics of your style of coping with life.
Those with ADHD are only distinct from many, many others in the severity or complexity of their issues. They are in step with the American dance, just doing their footwork to a slightly faster more complex beat and occasionally stepping on their own toe.
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