So, the first step in reducing or even eliminating your ADHD symptoms is to notice and let an emotion stay in your body.
The second step is to move that emotion out of your body. There are hundreds of ways to do this, but they generally fall into three main categories. As someone with ADHD, it’s important for you to understand all three categories.
Let me explain what they are and why each one matters!
The first category is bottom-up or physical-emotional regulation. This includes:
– Doing extra-long exhales to signal to your body that you’re safe.
– Passing an item back and forth across the midline of your body to stimulate both sides of your brain.
– Engaging in hard physical exercise, like 60 seconds of jumping jacks, to help release cortisol from your system.
– Other activities such as tapping, walking, or crocheting—basically, any physical actions that disrupt or soothe.
The second category is imagery. This could involve:
– Immersing yourself in the visualization of your happy place.
– Imagining the emotion in your body as an object, like a prickly cactus, and then using your mind to change it—cutting the cactus down, burying it, watering it, and turning it into a beautiful oak tree.
Don’t roll your eyes until you’ve tried it!
The third category is thoughts or the sentences you tell yourself. This can include:
– Mantras, if you find them calming and believable.
– Bible verses or affirmations that help you focus and soothe your mind.
The goal of all these techniques is to reach a state where, if I asked you what emotion you’re feeling or what you notice about your body, you would simply say, “Not much.”
Now, the reason you need to learn and practice multiple methods from each of these three categories is that your brilliance—perhaps a brilliance you’re not even aware of yet—lies in your ability to create new combinations that work uniquely for you.
The solutions for your life involve crafting something new for yourself. By knowing various ways to calm your nervous system, you can experiment and find the perfect combination that hits exactly the right level of stimulation you need.
For example, you might discover that crossing the midline of your body while imagining giant scissors cutting the ropes that make you feel trapped works wonders. Or maybe you’ll find that squeezing your arms, breathing out with long exhales, and repeating in your mind, “If I never change, I’m still enough,” brings you the calm you seek.
Experimentation is key to becoming someone who can always regulate themselves, regardless of the circumstances or the intensity of your emotions.
Xoxo,
Jessica
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