Hello friends,
You are so welcome here.
My name is Stella Billery.
I am a Senior Mental Health Occupational Therapist and I have a private practice for friends who have ADHD.
This meditation is designed for ADHD friends to help you overcome procrastination and to start to tackle overwhelming tasks and support you into taking action.
Therefore,
You might want to listen to this practice at a time of day when you are alert and physically ready to make that vital first step.
Likewise,
You might want to have a pen and paper at hand so that you can record your insights as you come out of the meditation.
Procrastination in ADHD stems from various different factors such as feeling overwhelmed by the task,
Fear of failure,
Difficulty in initiating the task,
Or a lack of immediate reward.
Recognising these underlying reasons is crucial in developing strategies to combat procrastination.
Understanding the roots of procrastination,
Particularly in the context of ADHD,
Is essential for developing effective strategies to combat it.
Procrastination is not simply a matter of laziness,
Nor is it simply a matter of poor time management.
It has deeper psychological and neurological underpinnings and that's really important to remember.
So as we move into the practice,
You're invited to find a quiet and comfortable place to sit or lie down,
Remembering that we're trying to keep a sense of alertness as well as groundedness as we move through the practice.
And you can choose to close the eyes,
Or if it's more comfortable to have the eyes open with the gaze lowered,
You can opt for that as well.
And as we start our practice,
You're encouraged to start to take a few deep breaths in through the nose,
Allowing the chest and the belly to rise,
And exhaling slowly through the mouth,
Perhaps with a sigh,
Letting go of any tension,
Relaxing the shoulders,
Relaxing the space between the eyebrows,
And just repeating this breathing pattern a few times,
In through the nose,
And out through the mouth.
And then coming to nasal breathing,
So breathing in through the nose and out through the nose at a rate that feels comfortable to you.
We start to ground ourselves in the present moment,
Bringing your attention to your breath in this moment,
Just noticing any sensations as they appear to you,
Perhaps a gentle awareness of the ground beneath you,
So the support that you're receiving from your chair or your bed,
And ultimately the support of the earth.
And feeling the air as it rises in and out of your lungs,
Body breathing the breath,
And as much as possible,
Just allowing yourself to be fully here in this moment,
Relinquishing any thoughts about the past or the future,
Just focusing on the breath.
And now you're invited to bring into your mind's eye the task or tasks that brought you to this meditation in the first place.
So perhaps there's something that you've been putting off for a long time and you know that you need to do it,
Just calling that into the mind's eye.
And you're invited to visualize this task as an object,
Just knowing that not everybody's minds work in the same way,
And if you find it difficult to visualize the task in a lot of detail in front of you,
Perhaps you have a sense or feeling instead of an image and that's okay.
Noticing the complexity of the task in front of you,
And if you're visualizing perhaps you notice the size or the shape or any details that seem to make it daunting.
And if you're not visualizing the task rather that you're feeling it,
Notice where the feelings come in your body.
Is the sensation more in the chest or the belly or somewhere else?
So we're just noticing and knowing that it's okay if at this point we're feeling overwhelmed,
We're not judging,
Just observing.
What is this task?
Why is it so complicated?
Now what we will do is imagine that this very large,
Very complicated,
Very emotive object can be broken down into smaller and more manageable pieces.
And if we think of each piece as something that you can easily handle,
So you can easily pick it up and move it and put it down.
And perhaps it's like a puzzle where each smaller piece contributes to the whole.
Just taking some time now to notice how this task can become smaller and more manageable.
And if you're working with the somatic feeling of the overwhelm of the task,
Perhaps you start to breathe into the place in your body that you can feel the daunting task.
And with each exhale have a sense of the task starting to diminish and starting to feel a little more manageable.
Let's take one more breath here.
And now the invitation is to set an intention to focus on just one small piece of the task.
So it might be that you focus on the part of the task that is easiest to do or requires the least time.
And it might just be something like gathering materials or writing the first sentence.
Or finding the password so that you can log in,
Whatever it is.
And if that still feels too big or too unmanageable,
Perhaps you can break it down further.
If the first step seems too big,
Like you can't pick it up and move it and put it down,
How could you break that first step down even further?
And the invitation here is to trust that by starting with one small piece of the puzzle,
You are supporting yourself and taking action.
And a reminder that your progress,
Doesn't matter how small it is,
Is still progress.
And the fact that you're here and listening to this is progress in and of itself.
You're now invited to bring a hand or hands just to the left of your breastbone.
To the left of the centre of the chest where the physical heart is located.
And with the palm resting on the chest,
If that feels comfortable to you,
Just taking a moment to acknowledge the effort that it takes to face overwhelming tasks,
Especially for us friends who have ADHD.
And taking a moment to offer yourself kindness.
And it's okay to find things challenging and it's okay to be a little bit more open.
It's okay to take things just one step at a time.
As you breathe into your heart and into your hand,
Just being gentle with yourself and recognising the courage that it takes to take action.
And then as you're ready to,
Just letting the hand fall.
We start to return to the present moment and bringing the focus back to the breath.
And perhaps you start to return to that breath in through the nose and out through the mouth.
Just taking a few more cleansing breaths here.
Feeling the air enter and then leave your body.
As you inhale,
Gently drawing in energy and focus.
And as you exhale,
Again,
Just relinquishing any residual tension or worry.
And when you're ready to,
The invitation will be to move out of this practice mindfully and towards your pen or paper or device or whatever you're going to be writing on.
And the invitation,
Before you forget,
Is to write down that one small step.
What's the first step that you need to take to be able to complete this task and to stop procrastinating?
Write that down.
Just remembering that you don't have to do everything at once.
Breaking it down and taking it slowly.
And carrying what you are capable to carry is a very good way of approaching procrastination.
And we'll just take one more deep nourishing round of breath in and out.
Thank you so much for joining me,
Friends.
Wishing you all the luck in starting.
This task,
Which is challenging and daunting to you.
