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taylor · 09-11-2007, 04:04 PM

I had ADD and took Ritalin for a while, but later got off of that stuff and cured it without any pills.

How did I do it?
1. I meditated.
2. I got focused on what I wanted to do and what I didn't want to do.

For me, my ADD came down to two things: fear of boredom and an anxiety for the future. I can still go into that state even now of just letting the mind wander wherever it wants. My mind will naturally do this, unless I consciously direct it where I want. I can direct the mind easily as long as I have 'space' to do it in. If I'm pulled in a million directions and am worried about a bunch of issues, I have to settle those issues first before I can really focus the mind.

I recommend writing down all of the things you think you need to think about, and then journaling about them until you reach a decision. Also, get down all of your projects down on paper, and be able to rely it, that you will do those tasks later. This is part of David Allen's GTD (Getting Things Done) which I recommend. This allows me to focus on the one thing I'm actually doing instead of worrying about all the stuff I need to do later. David Allen comes from a martial arts background and one of the goals of his system is to give you "a mind like water."

I meditate because it's the opposite of the ADD state. ADD wants to do something, do this, be distracted, be entertained, run away from boredom, etc. In meditation you accept boredom, you sit with boredom, you allow yourself to do nothing, be distracted by nothing, be entertained by nothing. This gives me lots of mental space, which I can then fill with accounting, finance, biology, etc. The mind wants to think. If all it can get is accounting, it will take accounting and enjoy it. But if it can get to think about whatever it wants, it will take the most interesting thing it can remember in the moment, regardless of if you're trying to study or not.

Some other things I stopped doing during this time were: I quit playing constant video games, I stopped watching more than an hour of TV a day, and I threw out a lot of stuff to get my room clean and organized. My room right now looks almost like a zendo.

I didn't set out to cure ADD, I just wanted to get clear about my life, and I found that after I answered all of those background questions, and just sat and let the silly thoughts fizzle out, that not only did I have great clarity and peace of mind, but my ADD vanished.

Today I got up at 5am, looked over my semester goals, wrote out my daily goals, visualized my day, exercised, meditated, studied an hour, prayed and got ready. This whole routine adds so much clarity and mental space. It also gets me in a great mood of smoothly accomplishing things.

Another great device for me is a simple kitchen timer. I wrote out my morning routine in a spiral with time limits on every action. So I wake up, hit the alarm, go to the open spiral and set my alarm and do the activity. Instead of getting sidetracked with making my goals perfect or thinking over something else besides what I'm doing, I keep a good tempo going. Set timer, do activity. Next. Set timer, do activity. Next. etc. I don't have time to suffer from perfectionism.

Good luck, you might give some of this a try. Or you could always pull an 'Overwhelming Force".

09-11-2007, 04:04 PM	#7 (permalink)
taylor Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 50	I had ADD and took Ritalin for a while, but later got off of that stuff and cured it without any pills. How did I do it? 1. I meditated. 2. I got focused on what I wanted to do and what I didn't want to do. For me, my ADD came down to two things: fear of boredom and an anxiety for the future. I can still go into that state even now of just letting the mind wander wherever it wants. My mind will naturally do this, unless I consciously direct it where I want. I can direct the mind easily as long as I have 'space' to do it in. If I'm pulled in a million directions and am worried about a bunch of issues, I have to settle those issues first before I can really focus the mind. I recommend writing down all of the things you think you need to think about, and then journaling about them until you reach a decision. Also, get down all of your projects down on paper, and be able to rely it, that you will do those tasks later. This is part of David Allen's GTD (Getting Things Done) which I recommend. This allows me to focus on the one thing I'm actually doing instead of worrying about all the stuff I need to do later. David Allen comes from a martial arts background and one of the goals of his system is to give you "a mind like water." I meditate because it's the opposite of the ADD state. ADD wants to do something, do this, be distracted, be entertained, run away from boredom, etc. In meditation you accept boredom, you sit with boredom, you allow yourself to do nothing, be distracted by nothing, be entertained by nothing. This gives me lots of mental space, which I can then fill with accounting, finance, biology, etc. The mind wants to think. If all it can get is accounting, it will take accounting and enjoy it. But if it can get to think about whatever it wants, it will take the most interesting thing it can remember in the moment, regardless of if you're trying to study or not. Some other things I stopped doing during this time were: I quit playing constant video games, I stopped watching more than an hour of TV a day, and I threw out a lot of stuff to get my room clean and organized. My room right now looks almost like a zendo. I didn't set out to cure ADD, I just wanted to get clear about my life, and I found that after I answered all of those background questions, and just sat and let the silly thoughts fizzle out, that not only did I have great clarity and peace of mind, but my ADD vanished. Today I got up at 5am, looked over my semester goals, wrote out my daily goals, visualized my day, exercised, meditated, studied an hour, prayed and got ready. This whole routine adds so much clarity and mental space. It also gets me in a great mood of smoothly accomplishing things. Another great device for me is a simple kitchen timer. I wrote out my morning routine in a spiral with time limits on every action. So I wake up, hit the alarm, go to the open spiral and set my alarm and do the activity. Instead of getting sidetracked with making my goals perfect or thinking over something else besides what I'm doing, I keep a good tempo going. Set timer, do activity. Next. Set timer, do activity. Next. etc. I don't have time to suffer from perfectionism. Good luck, you might give some of this a try. Or you could always pull an 'Overwhelming Force".