I have ADHD. TBH I did not believe ADHD was real for most of my life. I had to be dragged into accepting it. I have been trained in magic since I was a child, and I see the struggle that neurodivergence can cause in the work.
All of the following is from my perspective about my traditional practices.
Firstly I will say in magic, discipline, focus, and willpower are keys that will open all the doors. Very little real work can be done without them. For people who have difficulty focusing their minds that means you have a lot of work to do to catch up to a good starting base line.
Like I said I did not think ADHD was real. I wrestled my mind into obedience, but it took a very long time. I have learned new ways of doing things over time, and while I still see the benefit of the way I trained originally, I find my brain works better with different styles of the work.
you MUST learn to do the following things:
- Observe thoughts passively - this is like watching tv but not being invested in what you are watching. You have to watch the show (thoughts) but not participate in them, or get carried away in them
- Be able to focus on one thought to the exclusion of others - there are multiple ways to do this but it become extremely important during things like enchanting. You don't want to be building a healing enchantment into something then have a stray fear of the person getting worse/dying into your enchantment.
- Silence your thoughts / Go into Deep levels of Trance - this has more reasons than can be listed here, but it's here where the big stuff can be done.
Although the above seem like a progression, and is, they each have their own purposes as well and each skill should be honed for life.
You have to learn to work within your body's current confines, and that means working within the limits of your neurodivergences. I came to the practice of Shikantaza much later. Although I do my own variation. where I sit or lay comfortable with eyes fully closed instead of sitting in the soto zen style with a wall. be comfortable and relax fully. do not move, this includes to itching. Ignore all of that just stay still.
Set a timer, start small. Think of it like working out. you want to set the timer for what is doable for you and try to push a little more each time, build the willpower muscle.
For your books, save your spot and go back each time. do the same as with the meditation timer, when you feel like you are at the end of your focus, push just a tiny bit more. and just keep doing that.
just as a side, not a big fan of Laurie Cabot / the Salem side of things. doesn't have authentic vibes
