A Splintered Mind

My wife, Robyn, is giving an organ concert tonight with special vocal numbers, including one with my daughter singing "The Prayer". She has been preparing for this for weeks and I am kicking myself for not thinking of promoting the concert on my blog before. I designed the poster then blissfully thought I had done all I could do. Today I've been trying to correct that shortsightedness in a flurry of tweets and by setting up a Facebook event . The concert is free, but donations are being collected for charity ( Family Promise ) to benefit the homeless in Salt Lake City. Please donate what you can. If you are unable to make it (because my stylin' AD/HD-esque advance notice of three and a half hours isn't enough time for you to shift around your Sunday night schedule), please spread the word to others you think might be interested. It really is going to be a wonderful concert and it is for a great cause. Obviously, my readers from outside the Salt Lake Valley will ...

Another busy day reclaiming my mind one mess at a time. Sometimes life can get in the way of our goals. Take yesterday, for instance. I had what I call a "slow tick" day where I neurologically move and talk as if I'm conducting a water ballet in deep sea gear. I even had a loved one lose patience with me because I couldn't respond fast enough to their questions. I could get angry and bitter about that. I could get down. Certainly I have felt that way in the past. Last night, however, I made a conscious effort to avoid that mental trap . It was a slow and ponderous effort, like glaciers racing across a continent, but it was an effort that was ultimately successful. I simply chose to not take their impatience personally. When I finally came out of the tick hours later, my day was long over. I had missed my daily deadline to clean and blog about it. I hadn't worked on my latest manuscript. I hadn't drawn. The last thing I wanted to do was clean. I felt foggy hea...

Do you find some of my cleaning projects intimidating? If so, you might like today's project. It's a busy day, you haven't the time to take a slow breath, nevermind prune through your junk piles, but you're committed to cleaning one small mess a day. What do you do? Start small. My closet project proved larger than I intended. I needed to take it easier today. How could I do that and stick to the plan? Choose a smaller project. Today's project? The top of the small fridge. Easy to clean, I just gathered everything into piles according to person in the home, happily threw out random screws, elastics, and other fuzz, then boxed up the broken plates and prepared it for shipping. Lastly, I wiped things down with a cloth. Even though this project only took me 20 minutes I felt just as pleased when it was finished as I did when I organized my closet shelf. Look at that top. How could I not feel pleased? The important part of this project is to build self-esteem throug...

I am a firm believer that a cluttered room creates a cluttered mind, but life is clutter. Sometimes we need to put in a little extra effort to reestablish order and restore our clarity of mind. Continuing my blitz across my home, I return to the closet mess today. This is a task that tests my resolve. It's messy, complicated, and I'd rather have my nose surgically rotated without anesthesia. Yet, it's important and somebody's got to do it. Yay, me. What drives me is my firm belief that my life will be better when I'm finished. Certainly, there are hidden and vital treasures hiding in this last box, too. It's up to me to quickly burn through the pile and finish before distraction settles in. A difficult task to be sure when one's six and eight year olds leap upon every unearthed goodie as something they have never seen before in their life because sadly, they truly haven't. I usually like to discuss esoteric matters like how Depression is depressing a...

Do you often have a hard time finding anything? Even your youthful optimism? I may not be able to help you with that, but I can point out a few ways to organize the trash heaps in your life. I'm an expert at it because I'm surrounded by them. :( I used to visit a home in Sugarhouse, Utah that was immaculate, orderly, and stylish. I was so jealous of their home because I wanted the same thing for my self. Of course, they didn't live in a small apartment with three kids (now four). I probably would have been jealous of their dog house if they had one. In fact, they may have had a dog house and I mistook it for an addition to their home. At any rate, I discovered three things that helped me feel less threatened by their beautiful home. First, their kitchen wasn't nearly as immaculate as their living room - making it just like mine. Second, I once got a peek into their bedroom and it was as far from immaculate as I am from the moon. There were piles of paper and laundry cov...

Ever feel like you're being buried alive in junk? I get that feeling often because I live with four kids and a pack rat, but sometimes taking control of my environment helps me take control of my mind. Most people traditionally roll up their sleeves and clear out their excess junk once a year when Winter wanes and Spring blooms. I do it whenever I feel like that critter in Labyrinth - the one that lived in the junkyard and carried all her possessions around on her back. Remember her? Watching her walk around on screen was a revelation for me at the time. I have never forgotten her character as a metaphor for my life, usually with projects draped all over me. Whenever I feel bogged down, my life is usually buried with clutter so I get busy removing that clutter. This time, however, I'm busy with homeschool and writing and everything else under the sun I want to accomplish before I turn 41 this December. That's why I decided to attack just one mess at a time per day for a wee...

Following a tradition I began last week, Fridays will now feature links to outside content. That either makes me a sharing boy, as my mother would say, or incredibly lazy. You decide. Today I'd like to point you to a few links that tickled my funny bone. The first was shared with me by Dr. Bonkers from the Bonkers Institute for Nearly Genuine Research . What an honor it was to receive email from such a prestigious individual. Although some might say he is certifiably insane, I can only vouch that he is certifiably funny. Be sure you have not taken a drink of anything when you peruse over such gems as Schizophrenia Treatment in Seven Easy Steps . Unless it's a drink of Windex, you'll be scrubbing at your monitor. (For this plug I hope to receive a free certificate, helping me beat my brother to be the first Dr. Cootey) If you believe that medications are a gift from God and that the only hope you have lies within the cryptic scrawlings of your shrink's signature on you...

If you are the type of person that finds anti-depressants or other psychotropics lose their potency over time, maybe they were never effective in the first place. The closest most people come to placebos is their television set. You've seen the plot where the rotating character of the week has a child/spouse/pet with a tragic and untreatable malady in desperate need of an experimental drug. The trouble is nobody knows whether the loving test subject is receiving the wonderful new miracle pill or the sugar pill. Lots of things happen that have nothing to do with the test subject, usually involving a homicidal nurse jealous of being passed up for a promotion from the morgue who exacts her revenge by mysteriously killing vending machine servicemen who are secretly part of a cabal of old high school chums. Somehow our intrepid main characters foil her nefarious plans and in the last five minutes we learn that the test subject, who has shown astounding improvements, has been on the plac...

I came across this today and had to share it with you folks. It's occupied enough of my time today. Maybe it can occupy some of yours. I think it is a promotional gimick for a clothing company. There are day and night animations. Catch it at the top of the hour and you'll be treated to an "omake" - which is a bonus video. I haven't posted a fun distraction in a long while so I hope this makes up for it. A meatier article will be up later today. Update: I know, you're so excited about this you need an update.. This is a promo for Uniqlo - a Japanese clothing retail store. It is mostly based in Asia, but there's a New York location . Odd looking building. Somehow, this ad campaign fits them. And now for something even weirder: There's an alarm message at 5pm MST tags technorati : Japanese Clock clothing Distraction Like reading The Splintered Mind ? Share articles with your friends, link from your blog, or subscribe !

I could write a 900 word article at this moment, or I could watch a movie with my 12 year old daughter. There's not really much of a contest between the two. Obviously, my daughter wins. However, I did read something today that touched me. I'd like to share it with you then go join my daughter. Today I learned of Randy Pausch , a Carnegie Mellon University computer-science professor. He has recently been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and has only a few months to live. This made his turn at his University's "Last Lecture" series more poignant than academic. He is 46 years old and compared to me light years ahead as far as life's accomplishments. That's what focus, determination, and passion does for one. Instead of feeling inferior, however, I was moved by what I read. Even inspired. I immediately got up and got busy. The money quote for me was during his comments on facing rejection. He described them as brick walls. " Brick walls are there for a r...

Guess I'll have to keep on searching . tags technorati : ADD ADHD AD/HD boredom distraction unicorn Like reading The Splintered Mind ? Share articles with your friends, link from your blog, or subscribe !