Positive Mindfulness. The perfect combination.

[Billy50]

I read a book about Mindfulness, which is basically about how cognitively aware we are about what is going on around us. It started me thinking, and I knew there was something missing from just "mindfulness". A few weeks ago, it came to me "mindfulness" goes hand and glove with the word "positive". But, I mean more than "positive" as in a "positive person". I mean like "There was a positive reading when I checked the barometer today". I mean "Positive" more as sort of a "gatekeeper" that monitors and evaluates every word and thing that happens in my day. It is also contextual. For example, if I come home from work and say to my buddy "So, the Bulls and The T Wolves played last night", my buddy might be likely to me in the mindset to accept this. But if my buddy and I work as Air Traffic Controllers and while landing a plane I say to my buddy "So, the Bulls and the T Wolves played last night", it will generate a far different response.

In a big way ADHD is like that. I think of we with ADHD as not being totally devoid of "mindfulness", but like someone with an old knee injury more easily tiring when running. I am not a Morning Person, and 8 O'clock in the Morning will find me almost "mindless". I tire in attention span more easily than average people.

So, what do I need to be my best with ADHD. I think it is that combo of Positive and Mindful. I am mindful by making extra efforts to be aware of things. It is easier to remember to turn the lights off before leaving my house. The social conversation is like a whirling dervish with we with ADHD. For average people, socializing is like riding a bicycle. You learn it as a kid and go from there. For we with ADHD/Autism, it is a complex thing, almost like a chess game where one has to be playing offense, defense, and strategy at the same time.

You can definitely say within my lifetime, that if you are "Not with it", it is like being sent out of Camelot. I mean it literally threw me out of it and created a huge life long depression. So, what do I do? I have to be "Positive", too, meaning that I gate keep things that can wear me out easily and have no productive purpose. The first thing to gate keep is the Media. 24/7 News blaring away in the restaurant I walk into, that restaurant loses my business. I do not need news. I do not want it cluttering up my mind and interfering with me being okay. But, it can be lots of other things too. If it is sports, okay, I want my team to win, but at the end of the day life moves on. I cannot let things that do not really making me strong and positive and focused come in and take away my day. It is about being "Positive" and "Mindful".