Living with ADHD: Simple Exercises to Change Your Daily Life

A practical system for those with ADHD to take back their personal power and embrace their unique talents for success in the modern world

• Explains how those with ADHD grow up wounded by the negative labels and attitudes surrounding them and their “diagnosis”

• Shares simple and fast-acting techniques from neurolinguistic programming (NLP) to recalibrate painful memories into valuable learning experiences, re-pattern learned behaviors and negative habits, and discover personal motivation

• Reveals how the novelty-seeking behaviors of those with ADHD are valuable assets to society and should be embraced rather than suppressed

One of the first rules of child-rearing is “condemn the behavior, not the child.” Yet this commonsense rule doesn’t seem to apply in the case of attention deficit disorder, or ADHD, where the very name of the condition implies that those labeled with it are “disordered,” “deficient,” and incapable of paying attention. Those with ADHD grow up wounded, told by teachers, guidance counselors, even parents that they are dysfunctional and unable to succeed in the “normal” world. But, as ADHD expert Thom Hartmann explains, those with ADHD are capable of great success if they can shift the negative self-image created by others and learn to work with their unique strengths.

In this accessible guide for adults with ADHD and the parents and teachers of ADHD children, Hartmann offers a practical system of useful tools and strategies to heal the damage done to a person who grew up labeled as “dysfunctional” and help them cope with--and succeed at--daily life. He explains how the character traits of ADHD were once valuable assets in hunter-gatherer societies and that the later dominance of agricultural and industrial societies, where “farmer” and “worker” skillsets excel, left ADHD “hunters” as behavioral outcasts. Sharing simple and often fast-acting techniques from neurolinguistic programming (NLP), Hartmann explains how those with ADHD can take back their personal power, recalibrate painful memories into valuable learning experiences, shed fears and negative habits, and rebuild their self-image in a positive way.

By integrating the strategies in this book into daily life, those with ADHD can transform their way of responding to the world, discover personal motivation, and teach their children to do the same. As Hartmann reveals, it is not ADHD that needs to be healed but our attitudes toward those born with the “hunter” gift.

Contents

Foreword by Richard Bandler
Acknowledgments
The First Step to Healing

PART 1
Reframing ADHD and Why Doing So Matters
1. How We Each Experience the World Differently
2. When Is a “Difference” a “Disease”?
3. Life Is What We Think It Is
4. What Is ADHD?
5. How People Are Damaged by Growing Up with ADHD

PART 2
Living with ADHD in the Modern World
6. The Beginning of Stigmatization of ADHD
7. ADHD as a Response to the Modern World
8. If You Have ADHD, Society Needs You

PART 3
Healing Memories of a Lifetime with ADHD
9. What Doesn’t Kill Us Makes Us Stronger
10. Finding Your Calm and Powerful Center
11. Reconstructing the Past
12. Shedding Fears and Phobias

PART 4
Specific Strategies to Heal “ADHD Dysfunctions”
13. Reorganizing Your Timelines
14. Becoming Multimodally Functional
15. Building New Motivation Strategies
16. Anchoring Positive States for Future Access
17. Acquiring New Learning Skills
18. Learning New Communication Skills

PART 5
Reinventing Your Life
19. Making Intentional Decisions about Friendships
20. Discover Your Purpose ADHD Can Be Your Greatest Gift
21. Re-create Your Environment Intentionally

Bibliography

Index