My 2016 Birthday Prayer

Today is my birthday
but, awakening from a nightmare,
I’m not feeling very happy right now

© Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC

First, my birthday prayer:

The personal story behind both the prayer and my recurring nightmares follows below.

PLEASE God, we seriously need to upgrade the health-care system in this country. We need a clean sweep of the Mammon-worshipping insurance industry, God, clearing out everyone who is getting rich off the health challenges of the citizens of this country.

Please make everyone aware that, most importantly, we desperately need to FIX America’s woefully inadequate mental health care system, as we vastly improve mental health awareness in the entire country – including empathy for the poor, the homeless and every single one of our veterans.

Lay it on the heart of every single American with breath enough to speak, God. Let them know it like *I* know it, feel it like *I* feel it

Make them realize that action can no longer be procrastinated, regardless of whether America’s new administration is willing to understand or is otherwise uninspired to take effective steps toward solutions that are more than sound-bites and cronyism.

Let the world finally understand that jails and prisons are no place for those who are mentally ill, God, and that Law Enforcement without in-depth mental health training has NO place dealing with the mentally ill.

Amen

So Who’s Ready for ACO 2014?

ACO Conference 2014 — May 2-4
Pre-Conference Sessions May 1

The Phoenix Airport Marriott

It’s almost here –
will I see YOU there?

Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC

Planning, Laundry, Packing, Rushing!

It’s almost time to leave for the 2014 ACO Conference, this year in Phoenix!
Ill be flying out of Cincinnati early Wednesday evening – April 30, 2014.

Yiikes!  There are only a few weeks left! Are you ready? 
(Have you even registered yet?)

• The pre-conference is Thursday – hey, that’s May Day! – with the opening reception that night.
• The Conference proper begins bright and e-a-r-l-y on Friday, May 2nd
• The final sessions conclude around lunch-time on Sunday, May 4th

So much to do, so little time!

After packing and repacking all night for last year’s ACO Conference, unable to streamline my travel wardrobe enough to get it into one single suitcase, I finally had to give up and go to BED.

Colleague and business partner Peggy Ramundo and I were scheduled to leave Cincinnati in mere hours!

Atlanta seemed close enough for a girls-on-a-road-trip, so we decided to go for it. Since there was room in the car, I allowed myself to take w-a-y too much stuff. BAD idea.

It turned out to be significant hassle at the other end.

• The conference hotel staff forced us to switch rooms mid-conference “due to technical difficulties” (don’t even ask – and I hope I never have to stay there another time!) 
• So I had to pack it all up and take it on the road again — knowing that I would have to do it one more time at the end of the conference.  (So how late IS late check-out?)

What IS it about going away that makes it so difficult to
decide what to wear?

So many possibilities, so little room in the suitcase
(I’m convinced that it’s gotta’ be figuring out the shoes.)

Isn’t that JUST the ADD way?

Mind, Body, Heart and Spirit

“Extreme” Self-Care Coaching Lab:

Tending the Mind, Body, Heart and Spirit

by Peggy Ramundo, BS, A.C.T., SCAC
Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC
Speaker’s Content ACO 2013: Part 1

Extreme Self-Care is simple, but not easy
What Is It? Putting your Self at the TOP of your To-Do List!

What follows is a synthesis of Conference Binder materials and Speaker’s Notes from the Coaching Lab presented during the  ACO Conference in Atlanta: April 2013

Extreme Self-Care

Extreme self-care is the foundation of a fulfilling life. To experience a high quality life, you need a “high quality you.” The only way to BE at your very best is to DO the very best for you — by making the quality of your life your #1 priority.

Extreme self-care means making intentional decisions about what you want — what brings you peace, joy, and happiness — getting into the zone, where you are in energetic alignment with your Highest Good.

• It is about turning a deaf ear to the Should‘s espoused by others and by your own Inner Critic.
• It is about giving yourself permission to “just say no” to those people and things that drain your resources of time and energy and ramp up your feelings of overwhelm.

Why It’s Essential

Remember the instructions flight attendants give passengers traveling with children regarding what to do in the event of a decrease in cabin air pressure?
Put the mask over your nose and mouth first and then over your children’s.

The reason, of course, is that you can’t help anyone else
if you are gasping for air yourself.

“Life is similar: while suffering, suffocating, starved, sapped, or scared,
we are in no condition to assist [a client or] a friend in need,
much less be able to take pleasure in the moment.

Simply put, healthy “selfishness” is necessary for bringing joy
to others as well as to ourselves.”  ~ Marcia Reynolds

Reflections on my return: ACO Conference 2013

I’m B-a-a-a-ck!

by Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC

It was WONDERFUL!

Peggy Ramundo and I just returned from co-facilitating the coaching lab at the SIXTH Annual ADHD Coaches Organization [ACO] conference, again in Atlanta. ANOTHER great experience to reflect upon, now that I am home and almost unpacked.

Start saving NOW to BE there next year, in Phoenix, Arizona —
May 2, 3, and 4, 2014 (pre-conference sessions May 1st)
Mark your calendars, and add a line-item to your budget.
[CLICK HERE for the 2014 Conference Page on the ACO website]

I am so grateful to have had another wonderful chance to swap expertise with my colleagues as I got to connect with many whom I’ve known for years, had the opportunity to meet many of my virtual colleagues “live and in person” for the first time, and to be introduced to many more I hadn’t had a chance to meet in any venue. What a feast!

And we had a BALL!

Again, I must second Dr. Charles Parker’s comment in last year’s post-conference article on his Corepsychblog, “If you are an ADHD coach and haven’t yet connected with the ACO  . . .  now is the time to get on it and get cracking.”

CONGRATULATIONS to the 2013 Conference Chair, incoming president Joyce Kubic (mentored by last year’s chair, Judith Champion), current president Sarah Wright, each of the presenters, the entire conference team and all of the on-site volunteers tasked with keeping the balls in the air in Atlanta.

Leaving for Atlanta: ACO 2013

It’s almost here –
will I see you there?

by Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC

I’m leaving Cincinnati on Wednesday morning – yeah, THIS Wednesday morning, April 10, 2013.  Yiikes!

At almost dawn this morning, after packing and repacking all night, I finally had to give up and go to BED, even though I still haven’t streamlined my travel wardrobe enough to get it into one single suitcase.

Isn’t that the ADD way? 

What IS it about going away that makes it so hard to decide what to wear?  So many possibilities, so little time . . . (It must be figuring out the shoes, right?)

To make sure I arrive with my head on straight, this will be my last trip to ADDandSoMuchMore.com until my return a week from this Wednesday. Take advantage of my blogging hiatus to catch up on some of the articles you may have missed.  There’s LOTS here I’ll bet most of you have never seen.  Click around — it will be brand new to you!

Back on the Speaker’s Circuit!

ADDer’s Got TALENT!

 Remember – links on this site are dark grey to reduce distraction potential while you’re reading.
They turn red on mouseover (hover before clicking for a bit of info)

Getting OUT of our Boxes: Reframing “talent”

by Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC

Getting ready for the 2013 ACO Conference in April

This year’s conference, again in Atlanta, will be the largest group of ADD/ADHD Coaches ever gathered. Come meet your colleagues and bask in the glow of ADD-literate transformation.

Over 100 ADD Coaches have already registered.  

We can make room for MANY more *IF* we have sufficient time to change the numbers with the hotel so that they can arrange the logistics BEFORE they sell the meeting and sleeping rooms to some other group.

CLICK over to ACO and register soonest!

A VERY different ADDed Attraction

Judith Champion (2012 ACO Conference Chair), Peggy Ramundo and I are organizing the first ACO Talent Show — this year in honor of the late Kate Kelly (Peggy’s You Mean I’m NOT Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?! and ADDed Dimension co-author).

Dean Solden (husband of Journeys through ADDulthood and Women with Attention Deficit Disorder author Sari) will be working his magic on the piano and acting as MC once more — as in the ADDA years, for those who remember those amazing (and hilarious) Talent Shows.

There will be a special video put together by comedian Rick Green (of ADD and Loving It fame), with edited out-takes from some of the footage from the original video that gained national prominence when it was featured on Public Television.

And YOU – let’s not forget to mention the STARS of this show!  

Come to the Cabaret!  Those of us who have been around practically forever are beyond eager to embrace our newer colleagues, and to reconnect with those we seem to meet only at conferences of this type.

Endings and New Beginnings

 Remember – links on this site are dark grey to reduce distraction potential
while you’re reading. They turn red on mouseover.

Graduation for Another Class of
ADD Coaches

by Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC

From 8:30 P.M. until a bit after 10:00 Wednesday night, January 9, 2013, Peggy Ramundo and I had another opportunity to witness Life Purpose in Action, as we attended the final class session of the 2012 Class of the ADD in the Spirit Coach Training.

The small class of individuals about to graduate delivered the content for us.

As always, we came away renewed, inspired, and grateful for the opportunity to be in a position to touch the lives of so many amazing human beings — and to step with them through the journey of training themselves to be of service in a field that didn’t even exist thirty years ago.

It is always fascinating to me to see how many different experiences result from the same training, additional examples of my firm assertion that “There ain’t no IS about ADD!”

Climbing up the Mountain, taking time to look DOWN

In addition to a group exam, one of the final assignments is a Personal Reflection Paper, where each student looks back along their training journey to see how far they’ve come, to attempt to determine what had been of particular value to them.

Wednesday night, they shared their papers with each other and with us.

Each has grown during the year they spent with us, each in his or her own individual fashion, and some in ways they were surprised to discover.

• An individual whose pre-ASCT life had been focused more on pragmatics (who enrolled here in spite of  the spiritual focus of this particular ADD Coach Training) became fascinated by meditation and Tapping [EFT], now a regular part of life;
• Another individual, with a background of spiritual training who came because of it, will be using skills learned here in the corporate arena in a traditionally non-spiritual field!

HEADS UP ADD Coaches: ACO Conference 2013

ACO 2013 is ramping up – sign up soon to save

by Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC

You Mean I’m NOT Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?! author Peggy Ramundo and I will again be “presenting” together at the 6th Annual ADHD Coaches Organization [ACO] conference, at the beautiful Crowne Plaza Hotel in Atlanta one more time — facilitating, actually, a live-and-in-person Coaching Lab with practice, practice, practice (and no-make-wrong group feedback). 

And that’s only ONE good reason to be there!  

I want to repeat Dr. Charles Parker’s comment in his 2012 post-conference article on his Corepsychblog, “If you are an ADHD coach and haven’t yet connected with the ACO  . . .  now is the time to get on it and get cracking.”

Joyce Kubric, the 2013 conference chair (mentored by last year’s chair Judith Champion), has put together a conference team of amazingly generous individuals who are working like beavers to make this an experience like no other.

This year’s presenters have been chosen, and you can click over to the ACO website  to see what’s coming together in that regard.  (Along with, oh yeah, signing up to BE there).

Time OFF for ADD Awareness Week

Remember – links on this site are dark grey to reduce distraction potential
while you’re reading. They turn red on mouseover.

by Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CMC, SCAC, MCC

Catch Up Time

Some of you may already be aware that in the past month I have lost three people who are very dear to me:

• Kate Kelly  — You Mean I’m NOT Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?! co-author, beloved by thousands
•  Patti Bryant — a friend since college, with whom I did theatre, as did a great many of the close-knit theatre group who’ stay connected on FaceBook and with periodic reunions, and
• my father, Col. Millard Earl “Brandy” Griffith, Ph.D.

I’m reeling, and more than overwhelmed.

Running around like headless chickens this past two weeks, flying point on Kate’s Memorial Service details, Kate’s co-author Peggy Ramundo & I have gotten so little sleep that we’re sincerely hoping we don’t drop off as soon as we sit down for the service this Saturday.

Soooo —- I’m taking Edie’s advice (TBI advocate and author of  the BrainInjurySelfRehabilitation blog).

I will be taking next week to grieve (after I catch my breath and a few solid nights’ sleep!)

I’ll be back here on Oct 22 at the earliest.

Jump over to Edie’s blog while I’m gone  – it’s fascinating – check out what her readers are up to, and join in on the conversation.

Kate Kelly – A New Star in the Sky

Dancing with the Angels

This will probably be the shortest post I will ever write.

The Spirit of my dear friend and colleague
Kate Kelly left her body last night.

Since, along with more spiritually-based reasons, I have always assured students and clients that, “In heaven, everyone gets to have ADD,” we can be comforted that she is most certainly among those who understand her perfectly and appreciate her fully.

Among MANY other things, Kate is the co-author, with Peggy Ramundo, of the early ADD classic, since updated: You Mean I’m NOT Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?! 

It will take a bit more time for me to assimilate all that has happened since January, when we suddenly became aware, quite dramatically, that Kate was battling Stage-4 bladder cancer. 

CaringBridge / Kate Kelly / Journal

CHECK OUT THE PHOTO!

by Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CMC, SCAC, MCC

A “Reblog” of sorts: for those of you who know Kate Kelly (or know of her as co-author, with Peggy Ramundo, of You Mean I’m NOT Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?!), who are not hooked in with her CaringBridge site.

I don’t want to leave anyone who loves her unaware of where things stand with her health.

I also want those of you who read this blog, even if you are not part of Kate’s vast circle of ADD buds, to get the benefit of some of my insights during this time of transition.

Contemplations of this type are as ephemeral as life itself — in our faces whenever they float across our cognitive view-finders, fading quickly as soon as all returns to “normal,” only to return suddenly, startling us as if we’d never had the thoughts before.

We must all learn, somehow, to take advantage of any opportunity to be hit in the solar plexis with what we know in our gut: it’s all over far too quickly.

(Skip the early “logistics” paragraphs if you are unfamiliar with Kate — scroll down to “Little Details” to begin reading)

A Notebook as a System to Fulfill

Creating “A System to Fulfill”

by Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC
In support of The ADD in the Spirit Coach Training Program Series

Setting it up so that you get to WIN!

The priciples of setting up a tracking system for a brand new coaching practice generalize — so don’t skip this article, simply because you won’t be setting up a notebook for coach training.

Beginning with the END in mind

There’s a lot to track when you’re setting up a brand new system for a brand new business!

If you are like most of us with ADD, that tracking part doesn’t land anywhere close to your centers of competency, so don’t make it harder than it needs to be.

Start out organized!

Don’t play games with this – do it right away!

• You know what will happen to the notes taken in all those tattered legal pads and spiral notebooks – or on the little scraps of paper – or on anything else you grab to write on “for now,” don’t you?
• Somewhere deep inside you KNOW that the “tomorrow” where you will finally get everything together and filed for easy retrieval-on-demand will NEVER turn into today — don’t you?
• Yep! The task will loom larger and more daunting with every scratch of the pen and tick of the clock.

Class notes, handouts, contact sheets, practice management tips, tricks and brain-children, medication references, bridge numbers and access codes (and who knows what else?!) – OH MY!

Your best defense against overwhelm and Boggle

. . . is to make it “easy by default.”

ADDing in the Spirit

^{ADDing in the Spirit to Allow Success to Emerge}

by Madelyn Griffith-Haynie and Peggy Ramundo,
content of the ACO conference binder, from
joint presentation at the 5th Annual ACO convention

The ADD Coach’s Dilemma . . .

“How do I manage strengths-based coaching when I’m dealing with deficits?”

With the necessity of time spent on “functional pragmatics” and ADD/ADHD information in our niche, ADD coaches often struggle to find a way to implement what is often referred to as “whole person coaching.”

Whole Person Coaching:

Partnering with clients to facilitate the process of designing a life of power, beauty and fulfillment: aligned with client standards and values, meeting client needs, and maintaining client-appropriate boundaries;

Championing growth and development as clients move from goal to goal to fashion an experience of living that is an increasingly greater expression of the client’s life purpose.
—————-
from OFI’s ADD Coach Training Program reference materials, written by founder
Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CMC, MCC, SCAC; ^©1994, 2006, 2011, all rights reserved.

 And the Solution  .  .  .   

ADD in the Spirit Resource List

Peggy Ramundo and I promised we would post The ADD in the Spirit Coach Training Resource List so that it would be available to prospective students online.  We decided to make it available for anyone interested.
(Feel free to pass it on in any format — source credit appreciated) You can also find a slightly more abbreviated version in the ACO 2012 Conference Binder with our speaker materials. 

The ADD in the Spirit Resource List:
Books, Blogs, and Web Sites

from Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC
and Peggy Ramundo, BS, A.C.T., STCL, DT, SCAC
In support of The ADD in the Spirit Coach Training Program Series

ADD in the Spirit Coach Training
Required Reading List

• Coaching with Spirit, Teri-E Belf
• Financial Spirituality, Bill Rowland
• How Can I Help? Ram Dass and Paul Gorman
• Organizing for the Spirit, Sunny Schlenger
• Making Peace with the Things in Your Life, Cindy Glovinsky
• The ADHD Effect on Marriage, Melissa Orlov
• You Mean I’m Not Lazy, Stupid, or Crazy?! 2nd Edition,
  Kate Kelly and Peggy Ramundo

ACO Conference 2012: reflections on my return

Amazing! Start saving NOW to BE there next year!

by Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, CTP, CMC, ACT, MCC, SCAC

I just returned from speaking at the 5th Annual ADHD Coaches Organization [ACO] conference at the at the beautiful Crowne Plaza Hotel in Atlanta.  WHAT an experience!  

Congratulations to 2012 conference chair, Judith Champion, and her conference team, along with my gratitude for a simply stellar experience.  What a banquet!

I have to second Dr. Charles Parker’s comment in the post-conference article on his Corepsychblog, “If you are an ADHD coach and haven’t yet connected with the ACO  . . .  now is the time to get on it and get cracking.”

Silver and Gold

As always, I made new friends as I connected with long-time friends and colleagues. I also had the pleasure of seeing former students “all grown up,” giving those of us who are “old-timers” brand new inspiration.  I am still grinning ear-to-ear now that I am home and unpacked.

As usual, ADD Coaches came from across the United States and, as expected, many of our Canadian colleagues made the trip.

The surprise was attendance from as far away as Stockholm, Germany and Shanghai, eager to add their voices to the mix and to ask for our help bringing ADD Coaching to their countries.

As the founder of the world’s first ADD-specific coaching curriculum and co-founder of the ADD Coaching field itself, I was and am overwhelmed with gratitude for the beautiful garden that is growing now from seeds I planted decades ago.  I stand amazed at all the “new varieties” being developed all over the world — without my having to lift a single shovel!