Are You Afraid of ADHD?

Don’t Let Fear of ADHD Keep You From Happiness with ADHD

First Comes the Fear (with ADHD)

My family of origin lived fear-based and many decisions were based on fear of something happening. I raised my own children that way. Don’t do that, you might get hurt, lost, hurt, never come home again, attacked by bears, fall down, burned…and on and on. I didn’t go to college in a new city because of fear. I didn’t finish my masters in architecture because of fear of the lifestyle. I didn’t marry Kevin because of fear of change. I didn’t travel when my children were small for fear of death by airplane crash.

Living with Undiagnosed ADHD May be Like Voodoo

Voodoo in Benin, Africa

This altar has a fearsome look to it

Taken from an article about the country of Benin (link above):

COTONOU, Benin (AP) — With pounding drums and pulsating rhythms, Benin…celebrated the rebirth of voodoo as an officially recognized religion…Voodoo has its origins in West Africa, and followers worship spirits, or fetishes, to guide them in their lives. The religion started about 400 years ago and was brought to the Caribbean, particularly Haiti, during the slave trade.

Whoa! What does this have to do with Fear or Happiness? Read on.

I often travel on the travel channel and this week I went to Benin. A modern day explorer went there to experience voodoo in its rawest form after a lifelong interest in it. To say the least he’s in another world. After proving himself to a tribal king (through humiliation, physical prowess tests and fear-based initiation scenes) he’s experienced enough darkness of a fear-based religion and is happy to get out of town alive and accepted by the tribe (in that order).

…Then Comes Happiness with ADHD (keeping reading)

Happiness

Life After Diagnosis is More Buddhist

My life made sense when I was diagnosed with ADHD and I rejoiced at the happiness I felt to understand my brain. Since that time my happiness quotient has been steadily growing and growing and growing. I became a better mother, friend, daughter. I make decisions based more on my joy and personal happiness index than on fear of…anything.

Gross National Happiness in Bhutan

Taken from an article about the country of Bhutan (link above):

“Bhutan’s story today is, in one word, survival,” Mr. Dorji said. “Gross national happiness (GNH) is survival…Specifically, the government has determined that the four pillars of a happy society involve:

• the economy
• culture
• the environment and
• good governance.

It breaks these into nine domains:

• psychological well-being
• ecology, health
• education
• culture
• living standards
• time use
• community vitality and
• good governance, each with its own weighted and unweighted G.N.H. index…

The goal is not happiness itself, the prime minister explained, (but) a concept that each person must define for himself. Rather, the government aims to create the conditions for what he called, in an updated version of the American Declaration of Independence, “the pursuit of gross national happiness.”

Buddhism vs. Voodoo

These two governments, widely separated by geography and motivated by divergent faith systems, embrace two radically different survival techniques. Voodoo is a fear-based religion credited with saving the Benin people from capture during the heyday of slave trading. Primal instinct is stoked in voodoo to ultimately end in convulsive altered states of consciousness through frenzied drumming, circular dancing, alcohol enhancement and blood sacrifice. Slave traders were afraid of curses and rituals that might endanger their lives and therefore stayed away from enslaving most voodoo-practicing tribes even though they were easily accessible by land.

On the other hand there is Bhutan, land-locked between mountain ranges, isolated and culturally safe for centuries from conquest and war. Their Buddhist religion is a peaceful religion based on the quest for happiness of a wealthy man from Nepal who realised that wealth and luxury did not guarantee happiness. The name comes from ‘bhudi’ or awaken. Buddhism is a practice of choosing the middle road to happiness through the study of the human mind and the practices of meditation in order to awaken happiness.

Which Gets Your Attention? Fear or Happiness?

Well, voodoo gets my attention but not for long. I want to run away from that culture’s use of fear tactics to control the people as well as to protect them. They are culturally intact because of voodoo and TV and Hollywood have not infiltrated their consciousness.  Whereas Bhutan gets my attention and my respect and admiration. Their culture is presently intact while they keep TV and Hollywood at bay and they use a happiness index to make governmental decisions. That feels sane to me.

ADHD Coaching is Happiness Based

Survival becomes Thrival with ADHD Diagnosis and ADHD Coaching to re-teach clients how to find their happines quotient.

What are you waiting for? Get diagnosed and call Maureen Nolan, ACC for ADHD Coaching at 404-713-0488.