For this meditation,
Let's do an experiment.
It's going to be a short few minute meditation and we'll discuss it a little bit afterwards.
To do this,
Have a paper and pen handy and sit where you can both meditate and write.
So obviously this probably won't work laying down.
Push pause on this if you need to to gather your supplies and then let's begin.
Instructions will happen as we go.
Let's take a few deep breaths through the nose.
Hold it at the top.
.
.
And then release it.
And really pay attention to where you're feeling the breath as it goes in and out of your nose.
This is gonna be the focus for our meditation.
So let's take a few breaths,
Extra deep,
Just to get that sensation,
Just to feel it.
And after you take those bigger breaths and you have your focus point,
See if you can let your breathing go back to normal without any effort.
Keep your focus on that spot where you feel the breath.
Try to keep your attention on your breath as I talk.
Part of being human,
And wow,
Especially being a human with ADHD,
Distractions are,
They're a way of life.
And as an exercise in this meditation,
Whenever you catch yourself distracted,
Like you have a thought that takes your attention away from your breath,
Whenever you catch yourself,
I want you to write that thought down.
It could be about your restlessness.
It could be about an errand that you have to do.
Whenever you find yourself aware that you aren't focused anymore on your breath,
Write that thought down.
And then once it's written down,
Consciously and gently put your attention back on your breath.
If it's the same thought,
Write the thought down again and then put your attention back on the spot where you feel the breath.
Try to keep it as a quick sentence,
Just a summary of a thought so that you can get back to the breath.
And with those instructions,
Let's now try this for a few uninterrupted minutes,
And then I'll come back to you.
Okay,
And we're back.
How'd that go?
My hunch is that you probably have some thoughts written down.
Maybe some of you have quite a few.
I remember doing this as an experiment on a 20 minute meditation once,
And it was a laundry list of thoughts.
Meditation to me,
It's about the art of choosing what we focus on.
It's a skill that can be developed over time.
The longer your list was,
The more times you practiced the skill of choosing what to focus on.
Those were all of your reps,
If we're going to take a gym metaphor.
You're practicing choosing what to focus on.
You're noticing that you were distracted and then you're choosing what to focus on.
Sometimes I remember this early on in learning how to meditate.
It felt like it was about focusing my attention.
And every time I was distracted,
That means I was messing up.
But that's not the case.
And this exercise hopefully gives you confirmation that not only can you meditate even with a distracted mind,
But perhaps maybe you are really practicing.
Of practice and I'm a person that is triple diagnosed.
I have ADHD.
I'm diagnosed with depressive disorder and anxiety disorder.
So focusing attention is,
Can be very difficult,
But what gets easier over time,
It's not the elimination of distraction,
But it's about how cool can we be with ourselves about it happening and how quickly can we catch ourselves and redirect ourselves back on task without the negative self critique.
And that to me has been a real benefit.
All right,
I hope that was helpful.
Thank you for coming on this meditation with me.
Nothing to be done with the list that you made unless you wish to do so.
It was meant to give us confirmation that we are in fact practicing the art of meditating.
Would be excited to hear your results,
How it went for you.
Reach out and hopefully we get to talk again soon.
