A Splintered Mind

Do you feel dim witted and mentally sluggish? Do you have a hard time remembering things because of your age? If you are like most of us with AD/HD you struggle remembering things from moment to moment like grocery lists and the name of that guy you met just last week who your boss introduced to you. But have you noticed the problem seems to get worse as you age? Like problems with heat I pointed out in my last column, people with neurological disorders seem to encounter these problems sooner than the average. I know that I have excellent kinesthetic memory, especially when writing or typing information. I have fairly excellent visual memory. And I have the worst auditory memory on this side of the planet. But over time I've felt all my mental skills diminish and grow dull and dingy. That's why I'm always on the look out for activities that perk up my mind and sharpen my senses. I'll take a break from geocamming today to share just such and activity with you: Sudoku . ...

Call it brain fog, absentmindedness, or a senior moment, but sometimes when your ADHD brain goes on the fritz, you’ve just got to laugh. I am here today to tell you that playing Sudoku daily will not improve brain fog . I know. I’ve tried multiple Sudoku books & apps, Sudoku with words, and there’s a Sudoku game out there for the Nintendo Switch that would let me play with fluffy blobs of cats, but I’m not entirely convinced that will work either. Adults with ADHD deal with brain fog on a general basis, so over the years I figured doing mental activities to improve my concentration and presence of mind couldn’t hurt. Who says that Sudoku improves concentration? The same people who used to swear by crossword puzzles, usually. Certainly, not me. No, I kid. I love playing Sudoku and feel more focused after solving a few puzzles, but after the week I’ve just had, I can tell you that it’s clearly not working as a prevention. There was t...

As summer draws to a close I offer my final distraction for you: A cage filled with four fat groundhog-gopher things . It features fully interactive camera motion, including auto panning, and one groundhog that is constantly trying to tunnel under the wheel. Worth a laugh or two, then get back to work. Of course, the webcam is in Japan so you'll have to take time differentials into consideration. I've tried to keep three things in mind when choosing distractions. As I've stated before, you're going to get distracted anyway, so you might as well make them good ones. That is why I felt comfortable sharing them with you, especially my AD/HD proned readers. 1) Is it constructive and mentally stimulating? Face it. There are plenty of things to do that don't require an ounce of thought. Years ago when I was Lord of the Pants I couldn't stand eating in the break room. The TV was always on and I could guarantee that it was always tuned in to something inane and ...

The Story So Far: Intrepid writer, Douglas Cootey, was sweet talked into promising his shiny, new MacBook to his high school sophomore. Two years later, his MacBook no longer shiny and his bank account even less so, the hour came to keep his promise. What was he to do? Fortunately, the noble and righteous Apple company bestowed upon its minions a new "magical" device that could do almost everything a laptop could do, do it with multi-touch style, and even cure cancer. Douglas was saved! Then he actually had to use the thing… If you've been following my blog for the past few months, you know I was getting an iPad . I had planned on writing about the experience weekly, but adapting from a MacBook to an iPad has been full of fascinating obstacles which have taken up my time. Adapting my computer life to the iPad while also balancing full-time Dad duties with a blogging gig over at HealthyPlace.com and disabilities has left me with little time for extracurricular writin...

Did you think I had blogfaded because I had stopped posting? Well, here's my second post in one day. Ha! That'll teach ya! Well, I'm not sure what lesson you can learn from that other than I'm suffering from chronic absentmindedism, and that I didn't post last Monday's ADHD Distraction because I was distracted, but let's change the subject. Having AD/HD means getting bored really quickly. Faster than a speeding bullet quick. Speed of light quick. In fact, I get bored so fast that I'm already bored with tomorrow's distractions before I even discover them. So webcams are passé, Sudoku causes yawns, and I'm desperate to find another constructive distraction that won't suck up my time like a cool raspberry Slurpee on a hot summer day. That's why I'm pleased to introduce today's distraction to you: Mahjong . Mahjong is a great brain teaser. I fell in love with a version of the game called Shanhai on my Sega Master System back in 1990....

Update 2016: This article was featured in my book "Saying NO to Suicide" Part 1 | Part 2 Last week I covered the first steps I found necessary to fight off depression. A good night's sleep, a balanced meal, and lots of exercise you ask? Well, I might try those someday, but mostly my steps involved developing self-awareness and a proactive attitude, or in other words, know when you are depressed and decide to do something about it. I found once I put myself in the proper frame of mind I could pull myself out of the funk. Sometimes, willpower alone was enough, but often I needed a bag of tricks to rely on. Continuing my list of ten ways to fight off the black beastie, here are the six steps I use to distract myself away from depression, and who better to guide you than a Master of Distraction? After all, getting distracted was what got me in trouble in last week's example. I'm a natural. 5) Ignore it Believe it or not, once you develop the ability to see your...