ADHD Real Talk - with Zac Erickson

#005: Unlocking Awareness: Mindfulness Meets ADHD

• Zac Erickson • Season 1 • Episode 5

Share episode

Send us a text

Can mindfulness change your life when you're living with ADHD? Join me, Zac Erickson, as we explore how embracing the present moment can enhance focus, emotional regulation, and impulse control for those navigating ADHD. Discover how mindfulness transforms our wandering thoughts into a powerful tool for self-awareness and emotional acceptance. We’ll debunk common myths and provide actionable tips on incorporating mindfulness into your daily routine. From mindful eating to walking, and the use of apps like Headspace and Calm, learn how to savor everyday experiences and reconnect with the world around you.

Ever wondered why your attention feels like it's on autopilot? Let’s shift gears and embrace the beauty we often overlook. Through guided exercises and insights from Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn’s nine attitudes of mindfulness, we dive into practicing non-judgment and observing our thoughts mindfully. Also, hear about the support available at Recharge Psychology, where I'm accepting clients in Alberta, and explore how AI can assist with ADHD challenges through our comprehensive guide. Don't miss out on the chance to redefine your approach to ADHD with these valuable insights and resources.

Zac:

Hello, welcome to another episode of ADHD Real Talk. My name is Zac Erickson. Today, I am excited that we're going to talk a little bit about actually, weirdly one of my favorite topics and one of the things that I really enjoy a lot, and it's something that a lot of people with ADHD actually, frankly, I think, most people in life in general could do with a little bit more of, and that is essentially broadly what's referred to as mindfulness. Before we get into today's topic, I want to let everybody know, if you go to rechargepsychologycom slash AI guide, I have a cool guide on how you can use AI to help with a lot of ADHD related things and, yeah, it's pretty cool, so check it out over there. Rechargepsychologycom slash AI guide.

Zac:

Today we're going to be talking about mindfulness, and I'm really excited about this because it is actually one of the things over the course of, I would say, the past 10 years or so, that I have personally found to be extremely helpful in navigating my own ADHD, as well as just figuring out what I like, how to keep myself on track. Now, what is mindfulness? Let's talk about that first, right? Uh, now, what is mindfulness? Let's talk about that first, right, what is mindfulness and what is like? What specifically are we talking about? One way to think about mindfulness is in, especially in the lens of adhd, right? So for people with adhd, essentially there are two different kinds of ADHD we've talked about before. There is the hyperactive and impulsive kind of ADHD. Right, that's the like I have a thought or an impulse or something like that and then I just I'm immediately doing it, right, like it's, it's uh, and often there's restlessness in there and we can really feel like we are a slave to our ADHD.

Zac:

In that sense, we like it is in control and it controls us. Now, what's interesting is, if we are, if we think of that, that's the first one. And then, within attention, it's more of difficulty focusing, easily distracted, those sorts of things, and sometimes we can get distracted far beyond, like you know, like you might go down a rabbit hole on Facebook or Instagram or something right, go online and all of a sudden like hours have passed and oh no, I said I was going to do this thing. So mindfulness, put very simply, is being present in the moment, without judgment. I'll say that again Mindfulness is being present in the moment, without judgment. Now, in terms of sorry, I got a frog in my throat there In terms of ADHD, part of what is interesting.

Zac:

Actually, there's a great book called I'm looking over at my bookshelf here the Mindfulness Prescription for Adult ADHD by Lydia Zylowska, but she kind of talks about mindfulness in the context of ADHD, as well as paying attention to the fact that you can pay attention to what you're paying attention to. I'll say that again paying attention to what you are paying attention to and being aware. Another way of saying mindfulness, or a component of mindfulness at least, is awareness, right Present moment awareness, and so often with ADHD. Sometimes, when we're distracted, when we're kind of like in the flow of things, we're not fully consciously aware of what's going on, right? And so we get so wrapped up in things that sometimes it's hard to be aware of what I am paying attention to and is it the thing that I want to pay attention to, right? So, what mindfulness is? It's not a cure for ADHD, but it's a tool to work with the brain that you have and it's a way to understand yourself better and to reorient yourself when you need to. So some of the benefits for ADHD we can go through some of these, and today what we're going to do is we're going to talk about some of the benefits, some common myths around this, practical ways to try mindfulness, as well as, like you know, some of the other things to keep in mind with this. So let's talk about the benefits, right? So, some of the other things to keep in mind with this. So, so let's talk about the benefits, right? So some of the benefits would include, first, improved focus and attention.

Zac:

So short mindfulness practices help anchor wandering thoughts I love this word anchor when we're thinking about mindfulness and ADHD. If you think of your, your attention like a spotlight, uh, on a stage, right that? That, ideally on a stage, if there is a person on a stage. And like a spotlight on a stage, right that, ideally on a stage if there is a person on a stage in like a stage performance. I think Wicked came out recently in theaters, right, originally a theater show. If there is somebody where there's like a spotlight on stage, ideally the spotlight is anchored on the person that you want the audience to pay attention to, and the same thing with our attention. Right Is short, mindfulness practices help anchor wandering thoughts. In ADHD, that spotlight tends to wander, and so practicing mindfulness, even just in short, little spurts, right, can be enough to help us improve our ability to maintain focus on what we want to focus on.

Zac:

Another one is emotional regulation, right. So noticing emotions without reacting can reduce overwhelm. So let's say that again, noticing your emotions without reacting, this is something that is huge, right? So one of the things with ADHD that we have a hard time with sometimes, or what a lot of people struggle with, is just what I would call, broadly self-awareness, particularly if we are upset about something, if we are feeling some intense emotions, so if we are aware and we notice our emotions without reacting to them, that's huge. Even better if you go above and beyond and you accept those emotions and don't fight against them. Right, so you can see how that would be helpful, right, emotion regulation for sure. Another big improvement there. Another benefit Impulse control is the other one, or is another one?

Zac:

Sorry, creating a pause between thought and action. So this is something, believe it or not, right? I know that you know neuroplasticity, we know that this is a thing that we can definitely learn. This and we can improve. This Is that when there is a thought and an action, I'm how I'm holding my hands out in front of me. You can't see it, but they're, they're sort of like right next to each other, and what I do is, if you spread those apart, right, create space between thought and action. Hey, something happened. Okay, before I, before I react, I'm going to stop, I'm going to think, I'm going to reflect, I'm going to be mindful and aware and have somebody cut me off in traffic before, let's use the traffic analogy, shall we? Let's say there's this like surge of emotion that comes up. Oh, that's interesting. There's an emotion that just showed up here, right, like I'm quite frustrated. Part of this as well is, with this building of self-awareness, creating a level of separation from your emotions, right, oh right, that you observe those emotions.

Zac:

Next one here is stress reduction. So mindfulness reduces stress, which stress in and of itself can worsen ADHD symptoms. So obviously managing that stress is going to help, but not just with ADHD, but just with overall quality of life. And it also has been shown to improve executive functioning. So boosting skills like planning and organization, if we are able to wrangle and wrestle our mind through practices like mindfulness, then our ability to do planning, organization and executive functioning. We're intentionally using those same circuits that we will then use later to do planning and organization. Right? So there's tons of benefits. I could sit here and list them all day long, right? So there's tons of benefits. I could sit here and list them all day long, right.

Zac:

I will say just from an anecdotal perspective, when I was I first was introduced to mindfulness, meditation and to mindfulness practice. When I was doing my master's degree in neuroscience, before I got into counseling and all that sort of stuff, I was doing a thesis, and man is masters like doing a graduate program stressful, it's very stressful and you have to juggle a lot of things, and one of the things that was really great about this is that I at the time would noticed that I would sit down to like do some work and would think, oh, I'm just gonna check facebook for five minutes, or whatever it was at the time, and all of a sudden, like two hours would go by and I was just realizing, like what is going on? Like no, this, this doesn't make sense, this doesn't this, I can't do this, this is crazy. Uh, and at about that time I saw a sign for like a go sit down mindfulness. I also had like written a paper at this point about mindfulness that I think that it was beneficial for stress and for like ADHD as well. And and so I there was a, there was an on campus.

Zac:

This was in Lethbridge, at the University of Lethbridge. On campus they had like a mindfulness meditation group that they were running once a week for several weeks. I went in and they just sort of gently direct your attention, right, you sort of sit quietly. Some of them are like deep breathing exercises, some of them are more repeating mantras and things like that. But I distinctly remember this experience of okay, I'm going to sit here and focus on my breathing and then my mind wanders and then you know, the person guiding the meditation just sort of reminds okay, yeah, just notice when your mind wanders, acknowledge and bring it back to your breath again. And that's all we really did.

Zac:

But what I noticed after doing that for half an hour is that there were several times where my mind would wander. I'd notice it, I'd acknowledge it and then I would bring it back to the breath and sometimes the things that I'd get distracted by are oh, I'm thinking about things that I should be doing. Sometimes the thoughts that came up was wow, this is really boring and difficult and I want to stop that. And every time that I had a thought come up, acknowledge it, even if it's wow, this is boring and I hate it and I want to quit. Oh, that's interesting. That's a thought that I'm having. I'm having the thought that I hate this. I am experiencing discomfort as I sit here and brought a sense of curiosity to it. Okay, that's fine, bring your attention back to the breath. I'm in charge here. I'm going to do that right.

Zac:

Interestingly, when I went back to go do my schoolwork later on, those distractions still happened, but they were way less often and they were much more like, they were less often and also they didn't take nearly as long before I noticed my actual self-awareness of what I was focusing, focusing on had improved in doing that and it was. For me, it wasn't that long of a difference. It was almost more of this realization again that I could pay attention to what I was paying attention to, and even just that realization was helpful. So, uh, let's talk a little bit about this. So a couple of quick myths of uh uh about mindfulness We've got. I've got a couple here. Of uh uh about mindfulness We've got, I've got a couple here. I can't. Myth Number one I can't clear my mind, so I can't do mindfulness.

Zac:

A lot of people think of doing mindfulness meditation, like they need to sit down somewhere and uh, and they need to, like, clear their mind. And if they, you know, and if I have had racing thoughts or my mind's going everywhere, uh, that must mean I'm doing it wrong. No, that's not. That's not the case at all, right, it's not about that at all. It's about being present, right, it's about observing and noticing your thought. It's not about clearing your mind.

Zac:

Now, yes, there are some people who have been doing this for a long time and maybe have practiced a particular kind of mindfulness. That is where they're like paying attention to their breathing, as an example, and they can go a long time being able to focus on the present moment without any mind activity, without any distractions. That's great, and what I would say about that is there are also a lot of people who can run a marathon without stopping, and that does not mean that people who run a 5k or a 10k and have to stop to walk sometimes, that doesn't mean that it's not worthwhile and it's not worth doing, right? In fact, the reason that you can't run a 5k without stopping to walk half of it is actually. It actually supports the idea that if you keep doing this, you might get get better. Right, and that's the same principle. Right, that you serve to benefit even more by just going on a daily run as an example. Right, same principle applies there's more room to grow when, if you have a really hard time with this, and not that you need to focus on, like, improving your time or whatever it is Like you can if you want to, but you don't have to. Right, this is not about clearing your mind. It's about noticing your thoughts, it's about observing them and even separating from them, if you can.

Zac:

Um number two uh, I do not have time for mindfulness. Uh, the reality is is that even a minute counts and mindfulness can be quick and simple. So I'm going to actually guide us through some of these very quickly today, not too quickly, but we're going to take a moment, actually being mindful of this myself. I'm going to intentionally slow this down for us. So I want to actually to invite you wherever you're at. I want you to simply, if you can, close your eyes. If not, that's fine, but I want you to bring your attention to the room that you're in right now and I want you to imagine that the past and the future, for the time being, we're not going to worry about them.

Zac:

I want you, as much as possible, to bring your attention to the here and now of the present moment and as you do that, I want you to just take a few long, slow, deep breaths, so just in and out and with each breath, just bringing your attention either to the rise and fall of your chest or where your breath enter and leaves your nose, and just bringing that spotlight of your attention to the, to the breath, with an openness, without any sort of judgment, just being here, and this is something again being mindful, being aware and being present. So often in our day-to-day lives we're stuck in our head. When was the last time you noticed what the bottom of your feet feel like, or the beauty of nature, or the drive that you tend to make, or the things that you have within your home that you appreciate? There's so much beauty around us that we just miss, and part of this is learning to be present and mindful with this. So if you notice your thoughts wander, that's fine.

Zac:

Bring them back to the breath and noticing as well, right again, your mind may wander oh there's a thought it's okay feeling.

Zac:

Oh, he stopped talking. Did the podcast? Podcast stop? No, still here. Acknowledge and bring your attention back to the breath again. So what we just did is mindfulness just brought your attention.

Zac:

So often our attention is on autopilot, we are allowing our attention to do whatever it wants and we are intentionally turning off the autopilot of our attention and we are steering at this point. So that's the first exercise. You can do this with anything, right, you can do this in terms of, you know, in any kind of like day-to-day life, when you are eating something mindful eating and you can google these things right, like mindful eating exercises, mindful walking. Next time you eat something, your next meal, really take it in. Each time you take a bite of it, take a moment to smell the thing that you're about to eat. Pay attention to the tastes, the subtleties of the tastes, the textures, all those sorts of things. Right, really take them in and don't let them just pass you by.

Zac:

And I think that this is a big part of it too. Is that really the journey of mindfulness is learning how to enjoy the journey in general and to not be swept up by those sorts of things. Mindful walking is another one, noticing how your feet feel when they hit the ground, actually being present with that. Interestingly, you can also make a game of these kinds of things Right. I know that some people are very mindful and intentional when they when they go for a walk.

Zac:

They go for a walk and, you know, instead of having a podcast or music, just leave it at home that time or, like, at least turn it off for a part of it. Pay attention to the sounds around you. Again, going back to the book of the mindfulness prescription of adults, adhd, um, dr Zylowska talks about how there are three real, what you would almost call portals to the uh, to the present moment, your breath, your senses, right? So either what you see, what you can hear, hear uh, and then the third one is any sort of a sensation that's in your body. So checking in with your body, a lot of times in in somatic work, which is basically a form of mindfulness, essentially uh, and as, as well as a way of sort of processing uh, traumas and things like that. We won't get into the therapeutic mumbo jumbo of it, right, but a lot of it is checking in with your body and when we are stressed, we tend to carry tension in our body, maybe in our shoulders or a pit in the stomach, or your heart rate increases or there's a million other things that might happen, right? So just paying attention and being mindful of those things. There are a lot of great apps that you can find. Headspace is one, insight timer, calm, uh.

Zac:

There's a great guy online, uh that I'm blanking on on. Where is? I believe he is somewhere in the uk. I believe I could be wrong on that. Um, I believe he's. He's got like this great Celtic accent, scottish accent, andrew Johnson is his name, and he was one of the very first people that I ever did with like a guided meditation online. But I think ultimately find and I mean obviously on YouTube there's a bunch of stuff as well, and if you're interested out there, please let me know, and I can even put together some guided meditations as well. I think that can be really helpful. But, yeah, finding those things. And again, they can be shorter, they can be longer, but it's a great way to anchor yourself in the present and to learn more and get more familiar with your attention in general.

Zac:

Another I want to close this episode. Actually, there's another great. There is a great, oh, what would you call? I think he's a researcher, anyway, clinician. His name is dr john cabot zinn and he is, uh, the creator of what's known as mindfulness-based stress reduction, uh, which is a great uh form of therapy for stress reduction and for just like general mindfulness stuff, right. But he talks a lot about what he refers to as the nine attitudes of mindfulness. Now, I like this because it's less about what you do and more about your stance towards the present moment, or in other words, like a lens that you bring to the present moment. Right, because so often we're not very intentional about this, we aren't actively choosing to have this, and so I'm going to just go through each of these and you can look this up more in depth. But we'll go through each of these and discuss them a little bit.

Zac:

The first attitude of mindfulness that Dr Kabat-Zinn talks about is non-judgment, so this refers to the skill of observing what's happening in our own minds and around us, without jumping to the conclusion that they are good or bad. Instead, we experience them like, just simply experience them, right. So, for example, let's say you're practicing watching your breathing, at a certain point you may find your mind saying something like this is boring, or this isn't working, or I can't do this. These are judgments. When they come up in your mind, it's very important to recognize them as judgmental thinking and remind yourself that this is just that. We're going to suspend that judgment, right, we're going to, we're going to, we're going to try, and you know, pump the brakes on those things and instead just watch your breathing. And so non-judgment is the first one, and that is something that you can do in all sorts of things, right? Imagine that you are a parent and your child does something that usually you would judge as bad or obnoxious or something undesirable. Instead, simply observe them. Now, I get that sometimes you got to like save your kid from themselves, right, but a lot of times you don't right. So simply observing, okay, that's fine. Or you can do this as a stance towards the thoughts in your own head, and you'll notice as well that there is a difference between non-judgment and trying to say that it is good, this is not a judgment Like no, no, no, that's a good thing. It's like no, it's not a good thing or a bad thing, it's just a thing. It's a thing that's happening. Apparently, my voice, by the way, is um, adolescent again and I don't know what's going on. My voice must be tired. Anyway, that's not a good thing or a bad thing either. It's just a thing that's happening. My voice is cracking a little bit during this episode, so you're welcome there at home.

Zac:

Next one, number two patience. We're not going to go in that much detail with all of these. Patience is the second one. Right and so, recognizing that things will unfold in their own time and allowing things to happen at their own pace, sitting with patience. This is something that you may need to cultivate within yourself and draw on. In other words, you might have to intentionally be patient and tell yourself that you're going to be patient a little bit. Right, ok that I'm. I'm recognizing that things will unfold in their own time and I'm going to allow that to happen. I don't need to set that pace. I will go at the pace that the universe or whatever is setting. That's okay.

Zac:

The third one is a beginner's mind, seeing things as if, for the first time, with openness and curiosity. This is one of my favorite things, because everything is so cool. So imagine, like right, so just like. Look around where you're at right now. You know, maybe you're in traffic or you're at home, but imagine, I mean just like. Even my guess is most of you are listening to this on a smartphone. When was the last time that you approached a smartphone with a beginner's mind, where you like. Imagine that you were just like from a different planet, like an alien showed up. They'd never seen a smartphone before, and. Or imagine that somebody from like a hundred years ago showed up and they had your smart and they just picked up your smartphone and you're like, wait what it will like literally answer any question, question. You can just go online and look and and anything like. It's incredible, right, and and seeing these things as though with the first time.

Zac:

Sometimes, I think that we the reason this is also so powerful is because sometimes we're so familiar with something that we get stuck in a rut and we feel like we can't learn anything new and it's like, ah, it's all the same. And it's like, ah, it's all the same, whatever right, it's like no, no, no, no, no. Like be open and curious about it and bring a beginner's mind to what you're doing. Be mindful about that. The fourth one trust. Trusting in yourself and your feelings and believing in your own wisdom, intentionally cultivating an attitude of trust.

Zac:

Number five I really like this one non-striving, focusing on the process rather than striving for a particular outcome. I really like that right. I think that sometimes we're so focused on a particular outcome, or what we should be doing or what right, like how it should be or whatever it's like no, no, no, just focus on what you're doing right, focus on the process. Be present, don't worry about striving to achieve something right, like, sure, set goals for yourself or whatever, just to make sure. That is more about steering yourself in the right direction and aligning yourself with your values and your goals. But, like, once you've pointed yourself in the right direction, like man, enjoy the journey, just be here and focus on the process. So that's number five, non-striving.

Zac:

Number six acceptance. Acknowledging things as they are in the moment, without trying to change them. I have two different ways that I think about this. One of them it's a very common phrase that a lot of people use. It is what it is. Right, something happened and you, you know, if you are in the present moment, just just accept it. Right Because and I'm not talking about like that you should accept it forever and you shouldn't try Like that's not what I'm saying. Right Because I think that there's a lot, of, a lot of power and a lot of benefit that we can have from setting goals for ourselves and working at things. But in the moment, right now, if there is something that is unpleasant or pleasant, for that matter. Accepting it and acknowledging it. Right For as they are and not the way we wish them to be. We don't need to change them. So it is what it is. Is the first one, or so be it. That's the other one, right, okay, right, actually, okay, is probably a third one, okay, sure, why not?

Zac:

Number seven letting go, releasing attachment to certain thoughts, feelings or emotions or experiences. Right, sometimes we get so wrapped up in things, but once we've acknowledged these thoughts or these feelings, we don't have to hang on to them. Right, we can, we can release our attachment to them and we can just sort of let them go, can release our attachment to them and we can just sort of let them go. Number eight recognizing and appreciating the positives in life. This one is huge, right. I think that human beings in general, we have a negativity bias. It's easier for us sometimes, especially when we're stressed and going through hard things, that we can focus on the negative. But if we are intentional about recognizing and appreciating the positives, hallelujah, it's so much better, it's so much better. And that is not the same as toxic positivity, by the way. Still, acknowledge and accept the negative, but go a step further and find gratitude for the positives as well. Don't let the negative things overshadow.

Zac:

And then finally, the last one, number nine generosity. Cultivating a spirit of giving and sharing with others. This is the I mean this one's. I think that this one actually is again there's, there's an intention to that, and so often in modern society, right, it can be so much about like me, me, me, what do I have, what do I get out of this? And instead thinking, well, hang on a minute, like what do I have to give and am I going to like what can I give? And being very intentional about that. So, yeah, so those are my general thoughts about that.

Zac:

We went actually a little bit longer than I. Well, I guess we were about half an hour in. That was pretty good time. It's where I like to try and keep these episodes not too long. I want to leave you with a little bit of a challenge, right? So mindfulness doesn't have to be perfect and doesn't have to be time consuming. It's just having more contact with the present moment, learning to enjoy the journey a little bit more and just learning to experience life as it is in the present moment.

Zac:

Uh, one of the greatest books, or one of the most helpful books that I have read in recent memory, uh, is the power of now by Eckhart Tolle. He was in Edmonton what was it six months ago and spoke, and I went and attended that, and there's a lot of wisdom in that book, the Power of Now and he just describes that contact with the present moment as well. It's interesting because there's a lot of overlap, you probably notice, between between more like the psychology therapy side of things and what would almost be considered like spiritualness, um, not necessarily religious as much as just spiritual, in the sense that um, uh, you know, sort of transcending our own experience and trying to be able to be more in touch with ourselves, to be able to be more, uh, to release some of the suffering that we have and to be more present and intentional and bringing good to the world. So in that sense, I think that really there's a lot of overlap there, and so, um, I I found a lot of value in that and I think that, in general, I would just invite those of you at home, you know, try to to find some time uh to to be more mindful and more present in your day-to-day lives. Thank you so much for listening.

Zac:

By the way, um, again, my name is zac erickson. You can go to recharge psychologycom, uh, and you can find links there to the podcast you can find if you are in Alberta and want to be, want to attend like therapy with me. I am accepting clients. This time of year Always gets busy, but I please reach out and even if you're, you know, just wanting to chat or something you know, feel free to reach out there. Let me know Um, also on Instagram at recharge psych and again head over to recharge psychologycom slash AI guide and check out that guide there of how to use AI to help, uh, help troubleshoot and manage ADHD. It's just a good list of ideas and prompts that kind of can help you get started in using AI to help with ADHD related issues. So thank you for everything, thanks for listening and I will talk to you next time on ADHD real talk. Thank you.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Zac Erickson

Host