A) ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)
1. This is a definition of ADHD:
a) Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a brain disorder marked by an ongoing pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity that interferes with functioning or development. [1]
b) ADHD is the most commonly diagnosed mental disorder of children, and can continue into adulthood. [2]
2. This is ‘common’ ADHD:
A fly is buzzing in my room. A motorcycle is roaring as it passes by outside. My neighbor just came in and slammed the door as she entered. I was trying to write a poem- noises are all around me as I am writing right now this text. It is so hard to concentrate with so much noise…
“Are you kidding? Do you really think that I suffer from ADHD?
Get the hell out of here!...
All of you!”
B) Medication over meditation?
3. What’s the cure? I turn on louder the radio. I turn on the range hood. I put on my earplugs. I get so anxious and try hard to concentrate as if I were going to die in a while… But wait a moment.
4. It just came to mind that to be calm and meditating is not the physical state of human beings- if a child is grown up in a problematic family, it will certainly develop problems. Should we then prefer medication over meditation? Wouldn’t it be better to remove the child from the problematic family, instead of making the child forget the problem by giving it medicine? Is this the right way by which doctors will become rich?
5. Calmness and ability to concentrate (commonly to be ‘cool’) are not self- evident. Take any example you can find from the animal kingdom. All animals more or less are afraid of rain and thunders, fire and water, and they are always cautious if they are being observed, either by predators if they are the prey, or by the pray if they are the predators. Even if they don’t seem to have existential problems about the meaning of life and death, animals always think about survival, if the food they have is enough or if they will go hungry.
6. Accordingly, human beings, who have indeed existential problems, would like to have life insurance or to get married, while they think all the time about money, if they will lose their job, or if they could become rich someday (and if they are rich then they always worry if they will get robbed)- how many times haven’t we thought about robbing a bank?...
7. We thus realize that our whole life is occupied by all those desires and fears, most of which are either excessive or irrational, and which are so obsessive without us even realizing it:
“I have a feeling that something bad is going to happen. And, if I may add, I feel this way all the time. However, retrospectively, nothing bad ever takes place (not at least most of the times).”
C) Inattention versus over-attention
8. On one hand, when we try too hard to concentrate on something, to finish an exercise for example, being worried at the same time that we will not succeed, we will finally get exhausted, unable to pay attention any longer. It’s like a sprinter who runs so fast that just before the finish line all the rest get past him:
“Let me try once more… once more… once more…
Let me have a last cigarette…
Now… Now… Now…”
9. On the other hand, being indifferent and withdrawn will not solve the problem nor help us become any better:
“I won’t participate in the race… I will certainly come first… I always do…
Let me have a last cigarette…
What is the result?... How much is it?... Who cares?...”
D) Realization and improvisation bring calmness and concentration
10. So what needs one to do in order to be relaxed and concentrated on one’s own affairs? Indifference or taking drugs is the easy way out. Is there another natural way, so natural that it could flow, almost spontaneously, out of our own selves?
11. To be relaxed and collected is not as easy as it may seem. Even if there isn’t any external obstruction, we can feel disturbed and panicked in absolute silence- and perhaps silence and loneliness are the scariest and noisiest states which exist.
12. In fact we should not try not to be afraid- fear is as natural as hope, but try to conceptualize and describe our fear- if you cannot avoid an angry bear charging towards you, just lie down on your knees, and show respect.
13. Then try to imagine that scene- a ferocious animal charging at you. You decide to stop running. You turn around. You face the animal. You face yourself and the other people. You can look at fear into the eyes. Thus there is nothing else to receive but a great respect and admiration for this new acquaintance:
“So, it has been you all the time, making so much noise…
You, my own self…”
14. Now you can close your eyes. Bring back to mind the previous event. Think of the bear sitting next to you, eating from your own hands. Think that the world has stopped moving. Think of your own thought having stopped running. Catch an idea which looks like a beam of light, with some shape and color, frozen in your mind. I guess something like this is meditation:
- You focus attention on some object.
- Then you see the object disappear while you are still on focus.
…
- You are so focused that you turn your own thought into emptiness.
- Then you snap back, and you feel so much relaxed and rejuvenated.
15. Let the whole world go by without you paying attention. Sooner or later you will be gone too. Everything will finally disappear. Even the Great Pyramids will someday collapse. Let’s not hurry to get there- we have already destroyed the Earth by going too fast. Don’t let that indefinite and self- referring mania of doing and knowing everything- without though knowing or doing something- be destructive again. Let one go one’s own way.
E) Haven’t you read the sign?
16. Surprise!
[2]: [https://www.webmd.com/add-adhd/guide/attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder-adhd#1]
10/3/2018
Image: [https://www.apqc.org/blog/4-rules-avoid-distraction]
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