I've been thinking about how your ADHD expresses itself might have an impact on what types of prayer or other spiritual practices work for you or that you find most satisfying/fulfilling.

There has been a trend in recent years where contemplative prayer/centering prayer has been rediscovered and has been becoming more well known and popular (a well known person in this area is Thomas Keating author of "Open Mind, Open Heart"). This is much like meditation. One sits still and focuses on their breathing and on emptying their mind and may have a kind of centering word or phrase especially to help get them back on track if their mind starts wandering.

Some people (not everyone) also kind of see this as the prayer form of prayer forms - kind of a sign of spiritual maturity if you're able to do this and to pray and connect to God without words, etc.

The thing is that while at times I have been able to pray like this, I often find it difficult, and when "asked/invited" to do it in whatever setting, I often find it more annoying than spiritual and relaxing. My mind jumps here and there and the minutes seem to drag on and I begin to feel restless. Part of that might be that it's being imposed on me, instead of me doing it on my own and being able to decide when to begin and when to stop.

Anyway, here's a difference.

I usually do find walking a labyrinth a very spiritual and relaxing exercise. The thing is that you walk the labyrinth (that is shaped like a circle with a winding path inside), so you're moving. I've read that often ADHDers think better when doing something else, like driving or taking a shower. So you walk the path in. Then you spend time in the center, then walk the path out. I find that walking the path in helps me to be able to become quiet and still once I get to the center. One typical way people walk the labyrinth is to "release" things on the way in, try to let go, this could be by praying or whatever. Once you get to the center you try to "receive" from God, and then on the way out you focus on taking that which was received back out to the world. I find that the process of moving, and of chattering away at God in my mind and just trying to relax and unwind a bit on the path in is what helps me to get still.

I thought that others who have a hard time just plopping down and meditating or being still might find this an interesting alternative. My spiritual director suggested that if I don't have the time to get over to a place in town that has one (or maybe if you live somewhere where you can't find one), that an alternative might be to do something similar... like go for a walk. Plan out a specific route or go to a specific place, so you can use the walk as a substitute for walking the labyrinth. You can walk somewhere, spend some quiet time, and then walk back. Or walk laps around a block or a park - walk a few, spend some quiet time, walk some more.

:) So anyway, I was just wondering what different kinds of prayer or spiritual practices you do that you found seem to work. Also, since we have a bad sense of time/poor organization/time management, how do you manage to keep up the routine of whatever spiritual practices you do? :confused: I once looked up my Myers Briggs in a book called Prayer and Temperament and it said that I would do well with some structure because without it my practices would disappear, but too much structure I would find confining and restrictive. Heh :D , also sounds like good advice for an ADHDer, but they really didn't suggest how to find the middle way of structure.

I also find that I'm very social and talkative so I find I often do conversational prayer in my head with God, or sometimes a journal entry addressed to God, as well as just journaling in general. Also doing a written Lectio Divina on occasion seems to connect with me. Also, I love to sing, so sometimes just singing along with spiritual music is good and feels like prayer, or attending a service that is mostly sung/chanted really makes my spirit soar and help me feel deeply connected to God as well as the others present.

So... what do you do in your spiritual/religious life, especially that might be different than from someone who is not ADD/ADHD?

Peace, ~~bythesea

For me I used to TRY to connect to God by ways that I had been taught in the past or had been brought up doing. One day I realized I was not at all feeling spiritually connected to God. Like you, I started doing more meditating and really just seeking out new things that brought deeper meaning to my life and made me feel more connected to God and to others. Certain songs will do this now. Mostly for me it's Yoga and meditation but the Yoga has to come first. Yes, there is something about getting that energy out first, and releasing some of that tension before I meditate and pray. I never do Yoga to a tape either. I just one time bought a magazine and learned some poses and I create my own workouts as I go. It keeps it more interesting. I hate following tapes or instructors. I have to go with the flow. I use new songs, sometimes just spanish guitar music and other times I'll flow to coldplay, it depends on my mood. The Yoga just does something that centers me and makes me feel okay about whatever is going on in my life. Then I can meditate. I love it!

I've been intrigued with the idea of finding a labryinth to walk for a while now, but of course I never get around to doing the research to see if there is one near me. When I was younger I was a dancer (ballet, modern) and it is the only time in my life that my mind has been completely quiet. I know I need to get back to some type of "moving meditation" but I just don't seem to be able to overcome my inertia.

Another meditation I do on occasion, especially when I'm going through a period of high anxiety and am stuck in a rumination mode, is a tibetan practice. I can't remember the name of it right now, but basically I breathe deeply and with every breath in I imagine taking in someone else's pain or suffering, changing it into a healing light inside my body and then on the breath out I imagine breathing this light into them. Sometimes I concentrate on one person and other times I may spend a few minutes with one individual and then move on to someone else. The deep breathing is calming, the visualization helps me block out most of the background chatter in my head and also makes me feel close to the person I am thinking about.

While I keep telling myself I'll start meditating again, I don't think you could count that as spiritual. It's an altered state of consciousness.

It probably won't surprise you (if you've read any of my posts :p) that I don't have a spiritual molecule in my body. I'm even an atheist.

Meditation bugs me and it's the one thing I tend to resist my psycholoigst's advice on. Not only is it boring, but it makes me feel more anxious. Regular prayer and Bible reading help me the most -- they make a significant difference in my affect, anxiety level, self control, ability to accomplish my tasks and pretty much everything else. I especially like reading the Psalms and praying while I'm reading. I also enjoy walking or driving (especially in nature) and talking to God. For some reason I also frequently pray in the shower -- I guess it's a relaxing, quiet, private place. I read the Prayer of Jabez and prayed the prayer myself daily for months and saw amazing things happen in my life. I just spotted the book again yesterday in a closet and am going to start with it again. My prayers are kind of conversational and I talk about my concerns, fears, hopes, people I care about, and what I'm grateful for in my life.

One day when I had pretty much hit rock bottom shortly before going in to be diagnosed with ADHD, I was praying for forgivness and help and suddenly my two year old daughter who was almost alseep sat up and said, "Sing me". Which meant she wanted me to sing with her and she started haltingly singing a song she'd heard on tape but never sung, "I can do all things through God who strengthens me." It was exactly what I needed, exactly when I needed it. It was the turning point for me with my addictive behaviors and ADHD symptoms -- I called a friend and told her where I was and asked her to start praying for me, begin doing the 12 steps at home with my friend, and started looking into appropriate diagnosis, therapy and medication. The change in my life has been 180 degrees. I'm not problem free, but life is good again and I have hope, so prayer has had a powerful impact on my life.

Hallowell also mentions in Delivered from Distraction that prayer is a good alternative to meditation and has found clients to respond in a positive way.
Scattered

I read the Prayer of Jabez and prayed the prayer myself daily for months and saw amazing things happen in my life.
I have that book. Been a while since I read it. Pretty powerful for a little book. Is that the one where he says he thinks God sets up "appointments" for you if you look for them you'll recognize them? (yeah, there might be more in a different book I have, but I found something about this on page 36 - pulled the book off the shelf and flipped through it for a minute).

Sounds like you and your daughter had an "appointment". How amazing that she was drawn to want to sing that song in that moment.

I had a bizarre encounter on a subway in New York when I was checking out a seminary. Started chatting with a guy on the subway. I was reluctant to just blurt out to a stranger that I was checking out seminaries, but somehow the conversation naturally flowed there and I decided to just say it (never know how people will react). It turned out that he'd been wrestling with a call to ministry. Our "random" encounter seemed to make a big impression on both of us. The way it happened it seemed like one of those one in a million things that you couldn't planned if you tried, but God could. I wonder what he's up to now?

For some reason I also frequently pray in the shower -- I guess it's a relaxing, quiet, private place.
Me too, me too! :D Same reasons.

Thanks for starting this thread. It's nice to hear about someone else who prays. It is such an important part of my life. You know the old bumper sticker, "Seven days without prayers makes one weak!" Well that's me for sure -- except it doesn't have to get all the way to seven days. The difference in my emotions, interactions, and everything is huge when I'm praying and scripture reading vs. when I'm not. I'd say it compares favorably with the difference my meds make.

Scattered

I've been thinking about how your ADHD expresses itself might have an impact on what types of prayer or other spiritual practices work for you or that you find most satisfying/fulfilling.
In general I notice the following practices in religions:
1. Meditation (ie, emptying mind). This is uncommonly practiced as a specific type of prayer sometimes, usually reflecting on a teaching rather than communicating.
2. Prayer (communication alone, without the physiological changes of #1)
3. "Living faith", or observing religious practices in terms of behavioral modification for physical/mental/socioeconomic benefits.

#1, acutely useful in some situations for me
#2, #3, can provide the largest benefit imo, but developing that degree of faith is difficult for many, and in my experience few people identifying themselves with a religion really follow out this aspect of it. For Christians, it's living God's law and the three virtues, for a Buddhist following the five noble truths, for a Taoist, integrating Laozi's philosophy on balance and nature. (although Taoism really isn't a religion at its core, but I digress)

It's also interesting to note the similarities between religions. A few of the gifts of the Holy Spirit correllate with "qi" of eastern religions and the practices of modern Episcopalians mirror all physiological aspects of the meditative state (which they state is the Holy Spirit, though I'm not sure that's really true from a Biblical standpoint). The Holy Spirit is also called the "breath" of God, and qi is the Chinese word for "breath" (or wind maybe I think). Of course, there are differences as well, many of the gifts of the Holy Spirit are knowledge-based, including the "speaking of tongues", which in the Bible was actual communication, but the type of "speaking of tongues" observed in meditation and modern Episcopalian practices is random syllable patterns from the person's primary language, rather than anything foreign, and does not happen outside the meditative state either. It's possible the temporal lobe seizures reported with meditation could be another factor causing the Episcoplains to believe that their meditative based techniques correllate to the Holy Spirit, as a temporal lobe seizure can convey a sense of understanding sometimes, though Blblically it was actual knowledge gained and applied to results (some of which are historically verifiable). Anyway, I'm kind of puzzled by the similarities here, but there are also unresolvable differences.

One really interesting thing in light of qi etc is healing. The acupuncture/meridian system is actually pretty effective, and sheds new light on the claims of "laying of hands" once dismissed entirely. I remember one person telling me an incident in the New Testament about palsy, a purportedly uncurable and untreatable disease according to the Wikipedia description, with touch alone. I queried PubMed for "acupressure palsy", and it actually had a 90%+ success rate in partial symptom resolution, and a 25% rate in full symptom resolution. Well go figure. Lay on hands, it's more than a paladin spell in World of Warcraft. Now in Christianity, there's no defined technique for applying these things, but the eastern religions developed them and have been using them non-stop, while Western medicine dismissed the claims without investigation or the scientific method, all the while claiming to be not superstitious. And if you want some really interesting reading, do a PubMed query for "external qigong". I'm not saying any of that violates the laws of physics, or anything.

Another similarity is in the teachings, which typically instruct that restraint in some activities and pursuing others is beneficial for overall happiness. In Buddhism this is the "right actions", in Taoism this is the yin/yang and Wu Wei principles, and in Christianity this is the sin and virtue principles. But most striking is how direct quotes from the Gospel from Jesus compare to Laozi's parables and some elements of Buddhism.

Properly applied, religion and faith do have a positive impact on many areas of a person's life. If you do not believe in religion, surely you must at least concede that faith can have a powerful impact on a person's life.


It probably won't surprise you (if you've read any of my posts :p) that I don't have a spiritual molecule in my body. I'm even an atheist.
I don't think any major religion teaches any spiritual component to our physical body in the manner you suggest. Though maybe qi comes close. Atheism is more of a faith than Taoism is, anyway :P At least Laozi pleads agnosticism, saying "The tao (path) that can be named is not the eternal Tao."

As Stephen Hawking writes, "It [deterministic laws of the universe] is a consistent picture, but it would imply that we were completely determined: we couldn't change our minds. So much for free will."

Sorry, I couldn't force myself to believe I had no free will. As the Far Side comic was captioned with two amoebas, "Stimulus, response... stimulus, response... don't you ever think?"

Whoops, realized I meant Pentecostal, not Episcopalian, my bad. Can't seem to edit the original.

While I keep telling myself I'll start meditating again, I don't think you could count that as spiritual. It's an altered state of consciousness.

It probably won't surprise you (if you've read any of my posts :p) that I don't have a spiritual molecule in my body. I'm even an atheist.
Barbya: I think some folks would say they find meditation to be spiritual, that by doing it they feel more connected to either a higher being, or more "one" with others and the world, or that when they do it they feel closer to what they feel they are meant to achieve here, and etc.

But clearly one doesn't have to experience it as spiritual. It seems like for you it'd probably be considered a practice that makes you feel more peaceful, centered, or relaxed (which those who experience it as spiritual may also feel as well).

If you keep telling yourself you'll pick it up again... why not take a shot at it now? New Year, fresh start, beginnings, and all? :)

~~bythesea

I've been intrigued with the idea of finding a labryinth to walk for a while now, but of course I never get around to doing the research to see if there is one near me.
Hi Sunshine D.
I just re-read your post about wanting to find a labyrinth near you to try out some time and decided to do a quick internet search. I see in your heading that you're in the Chicago area. Here are a couple links for you.

This one lists public labyrinths in Chicago and IL:
http://www.relax4life.com/labfinder.html

This one is an article about labyrinth walking and lists some in the Chicago area at the end.
http://www.consciouschoice.com/2000/cc1309/labyrinths1309.html

This one is a website with some various links about labyrinths, including how to go about making one.
http://home.earthlink.net/~haywoodm/LabyrinthLinks.html

I'm sure there's much more, but I'm going to be good and not let myself get sucked into that tangent and black-hole of interent research right now. These should get you started and you can find more by doing an internet search.
Peace, ~~bythesea

P.S. Labyrinths aren't tied to a particular religion, or any religion - just like meditation is something that is used across the board.

Here's a generic travel site with recommendation to check out a labyrinth wherever you've traveled to with links to some well-known labyrinths.

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art3977.asp

Yeah, yeah... I know I said I wasn't going to go there (get sucked into internet surfing/research) :o ;) :eyebrow: , but decided to do some searching for myself for some in town that I haven't been to, since I'm on break it would be a good spiritual exercise.

Okay and a couple more:

This one includes a worldwide labyrinth locator.
http://www.labyrinthsociety.org/

http://www.gracecathedral.org/labyrinth/
http://www.veriditas.net/

Now I'm really done... posting anyway ;) :D