After ADDA

July 14,2008
Hello just returned from national ADDA conference. Going to send you this email as well as post this as a blog and an audio blog today instead of Monday q and a. Had a wonderful time. Was in a protective bubble for 4 days- full of love and acceptance. If any of you were there, I know you know what I mean. I encourage any of you who weren’t able to go to try and go next year. It s truly a healing experience. The amazing thing was I would guess about 75 percent of the attendees were first timers.

We always talk about the importance of connection, but I felt it even more than ever this year. I think the ADD field has grown up, maybe I have as well, but I think because the field has developed so much that the collective wisdom seems to be generating such growth in people who read the books and connect to each other on the websites and teleclasses and at local groups- that the positive message is really starting to overtake the negative pathological one and I am just amazed, inspired absolutely by the people who I meet at the conference each year. I get to watch them (some of them for years now at the conferences) grow and develop and use their gifts. Others who I just met have known me through my books for many years and they told me how they took what they read and made changes in their lives that are now bearing incredible fruits-changes based on their strengths, their acceptance, their getting support, and then making wonderful choices.

Such a generous group of people,helping each other, supporting each other, rejoicing in each other’s success. Look at my photo album and go to add.org later in the week. I am sure they will have more photos and more about the conference.

I had the pleasure and privilege of giving the opening keynote. I spoke about wholeness and filling in the complete picture of yourself, not just your strengths, not just your challenges but finding that core of who you are that doesn’t change -figuring out what you value and begin to move in that desired direction- not waiting for some picture of perfection or fantasy of what non ADD lives are like before you begin to develop your gifts.

I will post the video of it on the website soon as I figure out how! I did a Q and A panel with Ned Hallowell and John Ratey after Ned’s keynote which was a privilege. Someone in the crowd asked me a question that I absolutely drew a blank about and so I hoped I modeled that its ok to not have a perfect performance that we all have all blank moments. I couldn’t come up with a metaphor on the spot like Ned had for hyperactive boys who have Ferrari minds with Chevy brakes. So if any of you have suggestions for a metaphor for the inattentive ADD brain that would be fun to see- write back and start a thread about it.

I gave a breakout for maybe 100 women based on the themes of learning to tell yourself a new story about yourself, making up a different narrative seeing your self from a new enlarged perspective. I encourage you at home to do that if you always tell the same story about yourself. Try to fill in the picture. Instead of “I’m hopeless” etc how about things like “I’m brave.I never give up” etc. What valuable information about yourself do you leave out about yourself when you think about who you are?

So here I am, Monday AM, back to reality and I am of course in that difficult transition period faced with thousands it seems like of new ideas, pieces of papers, cards, information I want to follow up on. Once again, I need to re-group, increase the support, focus on what’s important, what I value and start to move in the desired direction just as I encouraged everyone at the conference to do.

Just writing this blog to all of you got me feeling connected again and reconnected to my purpose and passion. It reminded me why I wanted to start this online community in the first place,to keep the feeling and the connection all year long. With your help we will be able to do that.

Looking forward to staying connected.
Sari