Comments on: When you need to focus but your brain won’t cooperate

By: jennifer

jennifer — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:46:12 +0000

@Johnett – Wow. I’m just grinning. Thank you so much for sharing this.

@Lizzy – Yup! Celebrate you! You are creatively amazing!

By: Lizzy

Lizzy — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:46:58 +0000

This is excellent! Thank you. I don’t have ADD, or ADHD, but am creative and get easily side tracked at times… I’ve now been for a walk, sorted paperwork into project files, tidied my desk, and my brain has started to work again!

By: Johnett

Johnett — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 17:35:30 +0000

Jen – I want to thank you for this entry. I am in the process of moving my office from one end of our school’s campus to another, changing my job title (which I fear means keeping some unwanted “other duties as assigned” that don’t go with the new position), and trying to de-clutter/re-love my house at home. A lot to handle, for sure! But this entry helps me to ease up on the gas a bit when my brain goes into overload and I can’t even figure out whether to start with this box of books or reorganize my pen/pencil drawer (which got mixed up in the move.

I have just completed your Compassionate Course on Clutter, and I made sure I kept the letters (in their cute little box) in a place where I KNEW I could find them and re-read them…and re-read them..and RE-reread them!

No perfection yet. Still struggling with how to get the answering machine hooked up to the phone (when it was so EASY in the old office!), but I can look at your blog, reread a letter, or just sit back and look at the little plant on my desk and have a deep-breathing moment. Thanks for all of that.

Now, when you want to help me tackle the garage, let me know.

By: jennifer

jennifer — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 16:24:45 +0000

@Michelle – (cracking up) Yes – even *I* the great and mighty OZ. You do know that I have ADD, right? I went to pay my bills this morning online. Easy enough, right? The bank’s homepage had an “upcoming classes” link, so I clicked it (forgetting about the bills). I ended up on a completely different site. After I closed the browser window I was like, “Okay. What was I doing?” I started to laugh and thought of this article. “Paying my bills. Riiiight.”

Distraction is natural. Play with it.

@Maggie – (hug) I hear you.

@Trish – You are magnificent. I bow in honor of your wild river spirit.

@Magda – Ah! The Multiple Deadline Debacle! Ain’t it the worst?! Gentleness is so key.

The way I like to think about this is that our creative self is a lot like a child. We’d never dream of dumping 16 complex tasks on a 7-year-old… and yet that’s a choice we often make with ourselves.

If a 7-year-old really *did* have competing deadlines, how might you treat her, Magda?

By: jennifer

jennifer — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:51:45 +0000

Isn’t it amazing how much pain we can inflict on ourselves? I know the intention behind it is positive (to prompt action), but (whew!) what a toll it takes.

By: Magda

Magda — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:06:31 +0000

Jen~
The need to focus always seems to be my biggest challenge when facing so many deadlines at one time. Just the mere thought of the upcoming deadlines is an overwhelming feeling in itself and causes me to not want to think about them, so I gladly get distracted. Sometimes I wonder why the older I get, the more the focus issue is a problem. Thank you so much for the enlightenment…it helps me to not be so harsh on myself, as I am my worst critic!

By: Trish Bruxvoort Colligan

Trish Bruxvoort Colligan — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 14:17:06 +0000

Ah, Jen… Thank you for this.

I’ve been quietly hanging around here for a few months, and your Voice always brings me home a bit more to myself. Ned and Robert have honored places on my bookshelf, right next to a stack of “organize this”, “take care of that”, “meditate here”, “harness the power of your ADHD there” titles. And try, try, try as I might, the clutter bug is ever on the loose, and the Organizational Goddess in me is as elusive as ever.

Even so, your words invite me home to compassion and love for this wild, woolly, creative, river spirit in me that has so much to sing about. With joy. With gratitude. And so, my supreme thanks to you are in order.

Thank you.

With a bow of lovingkindness….

By: Maggie

Maggie — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 06:00:16 +0000

Oh, and I still have problems cleaning my room, and that drives me batty, too.

By: Maggie

Maggie — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 05:58:47 +0000

Wow…this really hit home with me. Sadly, having an employer doesn’t seem to be helping me with this lately (which brings me a lot of shame), but I think the fact that it is indeed a “symptom” is spot on. I need to be moving in another direction, and this is just one more scattered voice telling me that. Thank you for this lovely piece.

By: Michelle Marlahan

Michelle Marlahan — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 22:15:50 +0000

Jen – I remember reading this when you sent it out via email… and it was such a relief! The fact that *you* get distracted was reassuring =) as well as your comparison to “not that long ago” when we actually moved around and worked with our bodies. This gave me the permission to get up when I need a break! Thanks for starting the bog. Now I don’t have to wait for your emails for inspiration!! xo