ADD…Always A Gift To Me

I am so honored to be featured in Brad Worthley’s thought provoking and cutting edge book about ADD, ADD is a Gift, Not a Disorder. My husband, Yom, affectionately calls me “Hyperlink” to express how my creative and sometimes crazy mind speeds along with efficiency in a chaotic manner to most. It all works for me as I explain below!

I discovered my gift of ADD in my early adult years. I am positive that my childhood contributed to the development of this creative talent, as I moved every six months, attended over 17 schools from kindergarten through twelfth grade, and experienced more than my share of familial dysfunction! I believe that all of these experiences enhanced my creative gift of ADD, which I now use to manifest a fabulous life each day.

Now, it hasn’t always been any easy road of mastering my mind that races and moves at record speed with more ideas then I can keep up with! In fact, even as I write this piece, my typing cannot “keep up” with the words and ideas that are flowing out.

As I stepped into my adult life with the responsibilities as a career woman, a wife and a mother of six, I discovered that the multi-tasking that I needed to be successful at actually shifted me into what I like to call… my gift of ADD. I perceive my ADD as mastering a mind of creative genius with many windows of opportunities. I envision my mind as a large house with many open windows of thoughts, that in turn become creative ideas and then are eventually put into action. But the challenge I encountered in my early adulthood was a feeling of overwhelm of all the ideas that came to me at hyper speed. I did not know how to organize them and harness the creativity of each one of these beautiful thoughts. I also had not shifted my perception that my creative mind was actually a gift. I truly felt trapped in a house where I couldn’t close any of the windows of ideas and thoughts.

It wasn’t until a few years ago that I realized my true gift! I discovered a tool that worked for me to allow my creative process to flow. I was sitting at my computer writing a piece for a publication and I made a choice to surrender to my mind and let it go wherever it needed to. In the past when I would sit down to put my thoughts on paper, I would make myself just stare at a blank piece of paper until I finished what I had set out to do. This time I allowed my mind to be in charge. Each time I had a thought that had nothing to do with my subject, I would allow my mind to go there for just a minute and then gently bring it back to the task at hand. Sometimes I would open up my web browser and shop, and then come back to my writing. I wrote a bit more and then I would answer a few emails – then gently bring myself back to my writing. As I surrendered I noticed I had over 30 windows open on my computer! This would probably make other people cringe, but by allowing my mind to “take control” I discovered an opening to creativity. After a few hours, I had written the most beautiful piece of writing I had ever done. This is a tool of mine. You may ask, “How is that a tool?” Well, as my mind moves into a new “room” of ideas and thought patterns, I open another screen. I discovered that when I gave my brain something to distract it for a few minutes, it got out of the way so that my creativity flows through beautifully and efficiently.

So for those of you that are feeling stuck by the label “ADD” I give this piece of advice: Get out of your own way, allow your mind to wander and be curious about the creativity that flows within that unfocused, beautifully spontaneous mind of yours! That is the greatest gift you can give yourself!