Recently, I was diagnosed with A.A.A.D.D - Age Activated Attention
Deficit Disorder. This is how it manifests:
I decide to water my garden.
As I turn on the hose in the driveway, I look over at my car and decide
it needs washing.
As I start toward the garage, I notice mail on the porch table that I
brought up from the mail box earlier.
I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.
I lay my car keys on the table, put the junk mail in the garbage can
under the table, and notice that the can is full.
So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the garbage
first.
But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out
the garbage anyway, I may as well pay the bills first.
I take my check book off the table, and see that there is only one check
left.
My extra checks are in my desk in the study, so I go inside the house to
my desk where I find the can of Coke I'd been drinking.
I'm going to look for my checks, but first I need to push the Coke aside
so that I don't accidentally knock it over.
The Coke is getting warm, and I decide to put it in the refrigerator to
keep it cold.
As I head toward the kitchen with the Coke, a vase of flowers on the
counter catches my eye--they need water.
I put the Coke on the counter and discover my reading glasses that I've
been searching for all morning.
I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I'm going to water
the flowers.
I set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with water
and suddenly spot the TV remote. Someone left it on the kitchen table.
I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV, I'll be looking for the
remote, but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table, so I decide
to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I'll water the
flowers.
I pour some water in the flowers, but quite a bit of it spills on the
floor.
So, I set the remote back on the table, get some towels and wipe up the
spill.
Then, I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.
At the end of the day:
the car isn't washed
the bills aren't paid
there is a warm can of Coke sitting on the counter
the flowers don't have enough water,
there is still only 1 check in my check book,
I can't find the remote,
I can't find my glasses,
and I don't remember what I did with the car keys.
Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I'm really
baffled because I know I was busy all damn day, and I'm really tired.
I realize this is a serious problem, and I'll try to get some help for
it, but first I'll check my e-mail....
Do me a favor. Forward this message to everyone you know, because I don't
remember who the hell I've sent it to.
Here, all this time I thought I was "multi-tasking!
Tricia
Used to pride myself in remembering the whole chain of events,
but now am constantly left with a trail that looks much like yours.
Don't worry, soon we will not even remember we forgot something!!!
Here's to heading back toward the abstract after a good run on fixation,
organization and concrete linear projection......
It's all so artistic, isn't it.
Was that artistic or autistic? Heeehehehe
Half of that is a joke and half serious.
I really believe the brain/mind may be designed to naturally favor abstract thought while having the ability to learn to cope with concrete linear thinking and focus on specifics, or maybe I am just trying to run cover for my teachers in grade school saying,
"Christopher! Quit looking out the window daydreaming and get your mind back into this classroom!" Haaahahaha
The autism aspect is very interesting too. So much constructive thought developed in the abstract at hyper speed, and then some of it inevitably shows up as tendency toward Genius on one or another particular subject. Something about not trying to hold on so tightly. Something about letting go and allowing brain/mind function to work more naturally....
One thing is for sure - quantum physics/mechanics has discovered an unlimited sea of abstract potential that, to date, cannot be confined to any one universal equation, and is activated by intention. That has to say something about how the brain/mind really works....
Sorry, I was daydreaming again.....
Love, Chris
P.S. And yes Tricia, I totally believe it all can be reduced (or expanded?) to Art!!!!
Good Science is beautiful Art. Good Cooking, Painting, Genius Mathematics, etc.etc.etc. It's like Art is manifest when intuition and mind dance in harmony, no matter what the outlet
Don't laugh, it happens to me all the time. But I just call it senior moments, or hours or days.............................uh, what was I saying?
oooooh.............not funny.........i think i have a.d.d.
seriously, lol.
oh, yeah.....that was kinda funny.
what was my story again?
Autism...wow! What a fascinating syndrome. Have you ever read any of Temple Grandin's books? She teaches at Colorado State and relates to animals so well that she designed ways to handle cattle so they didn't become too upset. She talks about thinking in pictures and the ability to see in 3D and turn designs around in her mind while she is creating.
My whole family thinks like that! I didn't know that there was anything unusual about this way of processing information and creating. So, I'm looking at what you wrote seriously.
Linear stuff is elusive for some of us. Yipeeee Yi Yeh
Does this mean I can finally stop trying to grow up?
Love ya brother,
Tricia
Now, if only I could find my glasses . . .
Where did I put my glasses?
Why did I want my glasses?
Oh, well . . . I think I was going to water the garden . . .
Love U
I seem to have forgotten what we were talking about.
Who are you again?
Where am I?
What day is it???
Is this my street????
Ohhhhhhhh Nooooooooo
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Love, Chris
Being you has little to do with "growing up", right?
I have, for some time, seen that there are actually no "adults".
"Be as (responsible) little children"?????
And think in 3D!!!!!!!!!
Love, Chris
In the Divine scheme of things you are all such beautiful perfection!!!
Huge smile here, and rounds and rounds of massive virtual hugs.
A.A.A.D.D .. Actuation of Angelic Archetypes by Divine Design ...?...
works for me....
Love it, Love it, LOVE IT!!!!!!!!
Wait a minute......
What was I saying???
Oh, yea! LOVE IT!!!!!!!
Love, Chris
nope.....you guys arent describing add.....lol......your'e describing dementia...*smile*.....ooh...is that a butterfly??
While this is a hilarious post, mostly because it is all too true, there is a kernel of truth here- especially as it relates to me. (And a few others, too, whether they know it or not!)
This is how my whole life went- never mind age-activated! Imagine having senior moments in kindergarten- that was me. Blessed with intelligence, I learned to cope. But I was always the underacheiver, the one who was just so smart- if only I applied myself... It wasn't until I took my younger son to a pediatric neurologist (on the recommendation of his school) that I had an epiphany. While in the waiting room, I thumbed through the literature on ADD, and saw there the answers to all the confounding "why?"s about my life. It was as if somebody had followed me around and then wrote my story. Not only did my son have ADD (which in him could easily have been mistaken for autism!), but I did, too.
More research revealed a little known fact. Scientists have found that most people with ADD have a narrower corpus colossum, which is the part of the brain that acts as a conduit between the right and left hemisphere. Narrower means less available bandwidth, if you will. Complete thoughts require input from both sides of the brain, and less bandwidth means many incomplete thoughts- which get lost by the wayside. Current stimulant medications act to speed up the the interlinks, making better use of the bandwidth available. I was dead set against having my son put on medication in the beginning. But after I agreed to give it a try and saw him emerge from his shell, I changed my mind. He was happier, more confident, and could actually look his teachers in the eye- even tell them a joke! Sometime afterward, I sought out my own neurologist, who confirmed my self-diagnosis, and put me on medication, too. For me, it was like getting glasses in the fifth grade. I was nearsighted in one eye, farsighted in the other, and astigmatic in both. I had compensated for all that, but never really been able to see. My narrow corpus colossum is part of how I came into this world. No amount of "behavior modification" is going to change its dimensions. And I look at the little pill I take each day like I view my glasses- something to help make up for a physical imperfection.
So many of us older folks have been joking about ADD without knowing it might be true about ourselves. I don't like having to take a pill any more than I like wearing glasses- but they both make my life better.
Still laughing,
Deb
Dear Deb,
You have brought to the surface a distant memory. When I was in high school, I had a high IQ. Yet, I was a low performer. I had to push myself to even make passing grades. However if the subject was something that I was drawn to, I could breeze through without trying. Bless you for clarifying something I have dealt with for over 2/3 of my life. At this time though it is an old friend and I have learned how to compensate and let my higher self fill in where my lower self lacks. And.... I make a lot of notes!.
L&L Berry
I know all about ADHD it isn't any big deal really after all I've been this way all my life and hardly anyone really notices I mean really did you and in a way it's cool because my thoughts are like six or eleventy-six channels playing all at the same time and I can pretty much control each channel and even add new ones and who said ADD was a bad thing I think they just wanted to sell more drugs I got along pretty well until I got labeled hyperactive this was in the the mid 60s and I never heard of ADHD until like the 80s but anyway they gave me downers like librium which I always hated so I just used to sell them for like a quarter but that was half a century ago since then I have learned all about the joys of multitasking and I also think that throughout most of man's history it was probably the ones who were aware of things on many levels at once who were the ones people looked to for answers instead of pumping them full of pills but I quit taking all that stuff ages ago and anyway I find that very small amounts of very low-grade marijuana work far better it's true that kids who are fidgety and off in their own worlds drive teachers crazy but heck that's always been true and somehow civilization inched forward all these years without drugging half the kids in the school for Christ's sake I mean that's just nuts isn't it but what I was gonna say was that once you get used to it you feel sort of multidimensional anyway because you're used to thinking on several levels and that just sort of plays into a higher vibrational level I think it's possible what they call ADHD is part of an accelerated evolution that seems to be taking place among several of the higher species not just humans but anyway that was very funny I have days exactly like that haha.
8-D
Were you the guy that continued one long sentence into the early morning about how to breed Screaming Yellow Zonkers in the closet?
Does this multidimensional theory explain the missing time then?
Love your voice...
Tricia
Good for you dave. I am glad that you are able to ''control'' your channels. But I think that medication, if helpful is okay. And I don't think that you can say that it is ''no big deal.'' for you maybe it is no big deal but for some of us it can be quite frustrating and keep us from accomplishing goals. Just like the joke says.....you go through the day very busily and wind up exhausted but with nothing really getting done. It is very challenging and limiting. I have been fired from a few jobs because '' We love your personality...but you don't stay on task." I literally forget what I am doing. I am scared to work anywhere because I struggle constantly to remember what it is that I came to work for. Planners don't help because I forget where I put them. It is a Real problem. I don't want to take medication either........but something's gotta give!
~with love~
Misty
Dear Misty, Whatever works is good! hot fudge,pot,coffee,or something made in a lab(or a closet) if it breaks the cycle of not feeling right in or about yourself. Sometimes our gifts aren't recognised as gifts till we look at them a different way.I read that henry ford had little education.....but hired people to figure things out.........I think that YOU are executive material! Seriously! Some people only know how to think INSIDE the box! You are gifted in many ways. Love,Mary
Dave, so good to see you around!
Misty, I was being flip, and I apologize if I gave offense. In fact, I have struggled with every one of the difficulties you've mentioned for most of my life, and although I have indeed, at last, learned to some degree to multitask and to tune in some channels why tuning others out, I think the more important thing I've learned is to laugh at myself and at life. I took medication for years, and I could relate to Deb's answer about it feeling like getting glasses. I didn't like ritalin. I liked cylert even less. But adderol worked well for me. Getting off it was a choice. I was serious about using marijuana. I'll go find the cheapest, crappiest stuff I can, and use it medicinally in very small amounts. It works better than any of the chemical stuff. But in general I do without, and I've just learned to live with it.
8-D
you were being flip....I was being reactive....lol.....our bads.....it's all good.....(insert next cliche here) thanks. Misty
Dear Deb,
ADD is one of the symptome complexes that Neurofeedback is especially good at correcting. I got into learning about and offering it because it can speed up the therapy process with PTSD & other traumas. But I've had good results with ADD. With one adult, after his 1st session (of 10) he indicated he felt strange; on further inquiry, he recognized that his mind was quiet and calm for the first time that he could remember--he was accustomed to racing around hairpin tangents at 90 mph. The kind of process I am involved with is called BrainState Conditioning & can be accessed at http://www.brainstatetech.com This particular form of neurofeed back does not treat symptoms. What we do is we balance and harmonize a person's brain to itself; at that point, many symptoms (sleep disturbance, anxiety, ADD, etc.) naturally fade or disappear.
There are currently somewhere around 100 affiliate offices around the world; perhaps there is one near you. If not, there is probably some form of neurofeedback avaliable, if you want to explore that route. In any case I am glad to hear that the stimulants worked for both you and your son...
Blessings,
John