Can divination mitigate ADHD? This space cadet wants to know!
I have been wondering how to get past my inability to get started on a project, even if it’s something I love and want to do! I hope sharing this technique can help you as well, keep me posted!
First: a story
Maybe you can relate to some of my recent battles.
- disorganization (this morning I could not find the cinnamon, dangit, and I spent ten minutes looking!)
- time blindness (I have alarms set for every appointment throughout my day — but when they don’t go off, or I’ve set them for PM instead of AM, well …)
- sleep troubles (insomnia, hypersomnia, and more)
What’s going on? I have sub-clinical ADHD, or Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. Some people have it much worse than I do. Do you?
By “sub-clinical,” I mean that doctors can’t pick it up, and stimulant medication doesn’t help me concentrate. But I have enough of those pesky symptoms to bug me and mess up my life!
Women are less likely to get an ADHD diagnosis. That’s because women don’t usually ‘bounce off the walls’ like a stereotypical boy who disturbs class. Women with ADHD are more likely to zone out into their imaginations. We lose focus. We’re nicknamed “space cadets.”
Late, lost, or absent. Or we dive so deeply into a book, instead of listening to a lecture, that the whole lesson goes over our heads.
(GIF by Kelly Vonk)
Do you get obsessed? I sure do. Obsession can be a hyper-fixation on a person, place, thing, or activity. I feel like I can’t put it down until I know everything about it.
“Dopamine on Demand”
But one of the biggest challenges for people with ADHD is getting started.
ADHD is chemically classed as a lack of “dopamine upon demand.”
People without ADHD can look at a list of tasks and say, “I’ll go from top to bottom” or “hardest to easiest.”
People with ADHD might look at a task list and make tea and read a novel. Instead. The list is too overwhelming.
Just because my boss says, “Time to put the data in the spreadsheet,” does NOT mean I’m going to feel like starting it. In fact, I might put my head down and sob (this is one reason why I don’t work corporate anymore).
Now, being my own boss, I am the one who cajoles myself into doing what needs to get done. But how?
Enter divination as a solution
Divination looks like flipping a coin, spreading cards, or casting the I Ching.
Divination means amplifying my inner wisdom by speaking its language.
I have made a deal with my inner wisdom. I believe that it knows. My inner wisdom has never failed me.
The answer I get from divination knocks down that first domino and the rest of my day flows beautifully after that. I’ve learned this through much trial and error over many years. Divination works.
The process and the language
Let’s say your To Do list has five items on it.
Here are five random items from my list today: Text my friend for a lunch date, type up that list of resources, download video from interview, update my social media account, find my child’s ID and passport.
Follow these steps:
- Take a pack of ordinary playing cards and shuffle it
- Draw one card for each item on the To Do list
- Lay out those cards in order top to bottom, just like the list
- Interpret!
Aces are low, Kings are high. In case you draw two cards with the same number, suits are alphabetical: Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, Spades (C, D, H, S).
Interpretation and Action
Here are my 5 To Do items again and the cards I drew for them, now in order from first to last:
- Update my social media account: Queen of Spades
- Download video from interview: 10 of Diamonds
- Type up list of resources: 8 of Hearts
- Find my child’s ID book and passport: 2 of Clubs
- Text my friend for a lunch date: 2 of Diamonds
How did it pan out?
I did number one. Updating my social media accounts is necessary but time consuming and kind of boring. I like to write the posts but I don’t like to schedule them. However, I bit the bullet and got it done.
I did number two. Downloading the interview video was important. It took two minutes (I’d been putting it off for over a day).
Now I have to do the rest, and because I’ve accomplished something already, I will have a quick snack and get to it! (I promise, just a QUICK snack!)
What’s the shift?
Instead of relying on an External Boss to coax or threaten me, I’m asking my Internal Wisdom for the wisest course of action.
Is this a cure for ADHD? Not at all. But divination can mitigate (lessen the difficulties) of one of ADHD’s worst aspects: stopping us from starting.
Once we start, we can find out how to finish. That’s important in all areas of life.
Let me know how this turns out for you!
You can email me on info@shannonwalbran.com and consider taking my classes in divination and joining one of my coaching groups to help you get started and move forward!
