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If You Have ADD and Maintaining Relationships Is Hard, It Can Be Easier

ByMarla Cummins ADHD Communication, Blog

  (If you have not already, I suggest you read my previous post, ADD – ADHD: Have You Forgotten How Much You Need This?, where I covered the importance of maintaining connections, before reading this one) One of the challenges in nurturing relationships is making the time and space to connect with others. Unless we are intentional in our choices, and attend to our relationships, we can actually forget to do this. Even when it is important to us. Recently, I was talking to a friend, explaining how I often do not want to go out. This surprised her because, as she noted, I appear to do so well and be so at ease in social situations. When she said this, the phrase, fake it…

ADD and Stress: How Do You Manage?
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ADD and Stress: How Do You Manage?

ByMarla Cummins ADHD Communication, ADHD Organization, Blog

  This past week I was faced with a complex situation involving my daughter where I needed to think clearly, dispassionately and swiftly. I wanted to share a bit of this with you because I know how challenging it can be for someone with ADD to process this way in the best of circumstances. Lessons Learned In my efforts to respond to this, I learned or confirmed some important lessons.

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Do You Need To Take A Breath Before Making Your Next Decision?

ByMarla Cummins ADHD Communication, Blog

Making decisions in the moment can be challenging for many with ADD. For some types of decisions you may only need a few moments to assess a situation, and determine what would work best for you. How often do you make decisions too quickly? What if you took extra breath?

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Do You Know How To Use Your Anger?

ByMarla Cummins ADHD Communication, Blog

Like a fire that grows beyond what you need to give you warmth and light, anger can grow beyond its ability to serve you. You can choose to use it or extinguish it. For some with ADD, anger can get in your way. Don’t let anger get in your way!   Anger Is Useful Use it first!  To be human means to feel anger at injustices and wrongdoing. Anger, the feeling, is not bad or good. It  just is… an emotion. An emotion that can give you information, if you choose to listen.

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Entrepreneurs and ADD: Are Your Business Relationships Working?

ByMarla Cummins ADHD Communication, Blog

When you are a small business owner / entrepreneur with ADD the way in which your ADD symptoms manifest themselves can absolutely have a positive effect on your relationships with others. You may be outgoing and able to talk to many different people, for example. This ability allows you to easily integrate into a variety of social and business situations which may serve you well in building and sustaining your business. However, many of you recognize that, depending on the context, your ADD symptoms may also prove to be a challenge in creating the types of quality relationships upon which the success of your business rest. While the degree to which you can choose with whom you want to create business relationships varies depending on…

ADD – ADHD: Do You Want To Hook Up?
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ADD – ADHD: Do You Want To Hook Up?

ByMarla Cummins ADHD Communication, Blog

No, I am not referring to dating. Though, if that is what you are looking for, by all means, go for it! Rather, I am asking you, if you want to make positive connections with people who through their actions or just their presence in your life provide you with support. It is all too easy in the hurriedness of our daily life to forget the value of nurturing our important relationships with family and friends. Though we may say that these people are important to us, the “task” of maintaining these relationships is often the first that goes by the wayside. Hmm… The last few weeks I have mentioned the tendency of those with AD/HD to get caught up in “the here and now”…

If You Have AD/HD, Do You Follow These Seven Steps?
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If You Have AD/HD, Do You Follow These Seven Steps?

ByMarla Cummins ADHD Communication, Blog

Can you remember a situation where you believe that you have been clear in your communication, and listened carefully to the other person? Yet, you still left the encounter feeling frustrated, angry, sad or demoralized? In typical AD/HD fashion, you may start ruminating about the incident to the extent that it takes up so much of your “head space” that you have little time to think of anything else. It may even end up affecting how you operate in your day to day life. You may find that you: are unable to concentrate on other tasks. have problems sleeping and eating. become “edgy” with friends, family members colleagues and, even strangers you encounter during your day. and, perhaps, stop doing your self-care routines, like exercising….

ADHD – ADD: The Communication Conundrum
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ADHD – ADD: The Communication Conundrum

ByMarla Cummins ADHD Communication, Blog

Many of us with AD/HD have bouts of miscommunication, which may be attributed to how our AD/HD symptoms, like impulsiveness, inattention and being sensitive, may manifest themselves.While we may work hard to ensure that we are understood, we can end up feeling misunderstood at times. It can be quite a quandary, and may take some time to unravel. In fact, it may seem almost like a chicken and egg scenario. In this post I am focusing on an area where we have the most control, ourselves. While it can be quite challenging to work on ourselves, it can also be easier than trying to change those things that are external to us. We may have adopted counterproductive patterns of communication that have persisted, though they…

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ADD – ADHD: You Never Win When You Fight Reality.

ByMarla Cummins ADHD Communication, ADHD Treatment Options, Blog

Do you ever fight reality? "ADDers" are notorious for fighting against reality, and are also probably familiar with some of the following habits: ruminating excessively about something that happened in the past that you have no control over becoming angry or sad over someone else's action(s) and not being able to gain control over your emotions in reasonable amount of time spending an extraordinary amount of time thinking about how you want things to be different. doing any or all of the above and not exerting control over those matters that are within your power to change. Sometimes, we do the best we can and "stuff" happens; we have no control in these cases, but still have to deal with the end results. Other times…

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Managing the Holidays – Thoughts About Thanksgiving

ByMarla Cummins ADHD Communication, Blog

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the U.S. If you are celebrating, you may be looking forward to it as an opportunity to give thanks for all that you are grateful for in your life. At the same time, you may be feeling some trepidation because you are anticipating the potential for discord that can happen when families gather. Notice how you feel about spending the holiday with family and/or friends when you hold either thought, grateful or potential for discord. Just as it is your choice to hold either thought, it is your choice to set your own boundaries and take care of yourself. How does it feel to be grateful for what you have and be able to take care of yourself? Really, it is…