What if mindfulness doesn't work for you?
On Tuesday, I ran my first session with ADHD UK.
It was the largest mindfulness practice I’ve ran, with about 32 people stopping by. I was a little bit nervous (or excited) to tell the truth however it went really well & I’m looking forward to the ones that will follow
Despite a lot of great feedback throughout the session and in the enquiry part, I actually enjoyed reading this comment the most.
Someone said that it didn’t really help, whilst acknowledging that it was the first time doing it and their mind just kept wandering off.
Just saying yes
I loved this comment because it’s very easy to fall into a people-pleasing mindset and even though you didn’t have a ‘good experience’ you may likely say yes to keep me or another facilitator happy.
At one stage I probably would have although nowadays, I don’t take it personally.
Mindfulness has taught me that. How to separate facts from opinions and be able to place distance between myself & the perceived criticism.
This comment demonstrated one of the most important things about mindfulness and I made a specific point to say this a few times in the session...
We’re all very different and our ADHD may present in different ways. Whilst it’d be lovely to have an experience where you’re a floating Buddhist monk, in eternal bliss, sometimes the practice might not work for you.
It’s a skill that develops only the more you practice
It might not work
I can’t remember how many times I’ve shared this quote in my newsletter. I may have to submit royalty claims or can perhaps claim some commision.
Eckhart Tolle says - “How will you know? Try it out. Become the evidence.”
This is a really great mindset to have that the only way you’ll know if something works for you is by simply trying it out.
And also baring in mind that while something hasn’t worked on this occasion, it may just be because you’re new at it and it can help to show a willingness for trying again.
Has mindfulness not worked for you before?
My Mindfulness with ADHD approach
The way I teach mindfulness is flexible in the sense that it’s to help people find the way that it works for them because it’s such a unique and personal experience.
A recent group programme participant said that it was a safe environment to explore and implement all the mindfulness tools provided.
A lot of people in my network shared that they didn’t really know where to start with learning tools like these and my advice would be to keep it as simple as possible.
I launched a starter kit earlier this year to give access to the tools in my programme at a lower price point and commitment however admittedly, it didn’t catch as many eyes as I imagined.
You can check it out here although I’d equally love your feedback as to why it might not seem interesting, perhaps I’m missing something.
If you genuinely try the practices in the starter kit and find none of them accessible or supportive, you may request a refund within 7 days of purchase.
If you want to get involved
The next donate-what-you-can session is on August 18th @ 19:00 UK time if you’d like to join and I’ve actually got a new group programme focused on accountability and self awareness starting after the summer.
If you’d like more details about either of those - reply to this email with ‘session’ or ‘group’ and I’ll share a bit more about what’s going to happen in them.
Jack