How do you quiet a busy mind when you want to sleep?
This is a paraphrase of a question asked in an ADHD group on Facebook yesterday. My recommendations were meditation and reading. To which someone replied, “Great! Two things I can’t do.”
I used to think I couldn’t read until I discovered text to speech technology. If you have difficulty sustaining attention for only a few minutes then only read for a few minutes.
In addition, I find the meaning of meditation is still grossly misunderstood. It seems people believe meditation requires you to sit for long periods of time with a still mind.
For the ADHD community, this idea is laughable. It’s also incorrect. I have ADHD, and I have practiced meditation for 25 years.
The one thing to understand about meditation is that its a valuable tool for becoming intimately aware of how your mind works. How it reacts to the world, meaning it assigns to things, the conclusions it draws.
You develop a deep awareness of all of this by simply sitting and being aware of the chattering of your mind without participating it. This is something everyone can benefit from in the world that seems to be filling up with the easily offended.
For those with ADHD this awareness is critical for managing impulsivity, negative thinking, and any other thought that slams the door on your ability to see beyond the limitations you impose upon yourself because you have ADHD.
When I first began meditating my mind was all over the place. It took catching my mind wandering and then bringing it back to the moment over and over and over again to reach the level of awareness, calm and focus that I experience now.
Only a desire for perfection can make you a failure at meditation. It is the most powerful tool I have discovered for managing my ADHD.
It won’t take you 25 years before you experience these benefits. One of the many benefits I’ve experienced is the ability to simply shut off my mind when I’m ready to go to sleep.
No book, course, app, or medication can do for you what increasing your self-awareness can. You want answers to how to manage your ADHD and live fully. Start by looking within.
