SPRING CLEANING, THE SPIRIT, AND ADHD-
Live Well
When I was a youngster, people practiced “spring cleaning.” Spring was a time to wash the pillows and blankets, shake the drapes, and put a shiny layer of polish on all of the furniture. The house gleamed when spring cleaning ended. What about you? Do you do a spring cleaning at your house? I usually say, “Well, maybe next year!”
A lot of what was completed in a classic spring cleaning scenario was rendered unnecessary by modern conveniences. However, taking stock of your personal life, your mind and spirit, may be one way to honor this proud old tradition. What does this have to do with Attention Deficit Disorder? Well, it’s a time to get in touch with your mirror traits!
One of my favorite internet posters asks why we would let thoughts steal our joy. The author compares these negative thoughts to a thief in a house. When persistent negative thoughts set up shop in your mind, your whole life is affected. What negative thoughts do you want to clean out? Identify them. Then, when the thought starts to emerge, squash it, and think of a more positive thought. Plan those positive thoughts. For many of us, especially each adult who had a difficult time with ADD as a child, a positive thought might be hard to find! Plan ahead. What can you say to turn that negative thought around?
A spirit needs enrichment to grow and shine. Feed your spirit with activities that you enjoy doing. I'm not talking about things that you must do. While we find time for those things that we "must do," often there is no time to develop our passions. We don't carve out the time. Find that time by planning it into your life. Enjoy those activities that bring you joy or peace. Plan your special time, and don't let anything that isn't an emergency room visit stand in your way.
In school and in life, we focus on remediating the negative traits of Attention Deficit Disorder. Instead, we could focus on the positive. Our ADD energy gives us the stamina to complete tasks that others, without ADD, can only dream of doing. The dreaminess of ADD, also known as inattention, helps us to develop our creative ideas. Without the creativity of Attention Deficit Disorder, there would be no Virgin Group of companies, founded by Sir Richard Branson. He credits his success to ADD. Should we take a peek at how ADD affects all parts of our lives? Then we can put Attention Deficit Disorder into a new frame to see it in a constructive way.
Spring is recognized in many places around the world as a time of re-birth and renewal. Use the glorious sunshine and warmer temperatures as an inspiration for a mental and spiritual tune-up and to express your energy and creativity. Embrace your mirror traits of ADD; be kind to yourself, and live the life that you crave.
This Readers’ Corner poem is spirit-filled and lights up the heart with its yearning tone.
THE LOVING VINE by BOCK BOB
I wish I had some answers-To the questions that unfold
About the way time wanders -About who writes the code
How many roads we’ve walked now -How many left to go
Or are we just here waiting -To lay our flesh down by our souls
I talk in quiet circles-With the younger and the old
We trade our tiny stories-Like they’re fragments of pure gold
I see your face in strangers-Hear your voice in empty halls
I feel a gentle pulling-Through the cracks inside these walls
Maybe the purpose Isn’t a promised land
Maybe it’s palms and dirt-And another reaching hand
If I’m just one small branch-On something old and kind
Then I can rest my questions-And lean into the climb.
We’re twisting here-We’re turning there
Never leading-But never last in line
I keep on watching for a sign
I think of all the people I’ve known-In our living times
All of us connected somehow-Growing on the same strong vine
Some of us moving forward-Some of us fall behind
But love keeps running underneath-We’re hanging from a loving vine
