Hi, Reader!
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Today is not Tuesday, in case you were wondering. 😝 I am late (to myself) in reaching out to you - AND - here I am! Riding a couple of life's lifey moments at once.

Grateful that my daughter is back early from her FND inpatient program. She did well and learned some great new coping tools.

And, I come to you not so 'shiny' in feeling (but I made it to ya!), as we've decided as a family to put our 16-year-old chiweenie, Bella, to sleep late last week. Bella had been with us since the first few months after Les and I started dating. She's been with us through living in two states, four homes, a handful of dog siblings, and two human kids... We are profoundly grateful for her role in our family, including her services as couch-security and blanket warmer.

As we transition Bella over the 🌈 Rainbow Bridge 🐾 today (see the actual dog poem here), I wanted to bring this back into a 🌈 practice we can try on ourselves, especially in moments like this where our mind might keep us in the grief of the past or venture out too much into the worry of the future. Similar to exercises I shared from the Vagus Nerve Deck card deck, you can use this 🌈 exercise to recenter yourself in your day and return to the present as you need to.

This can be especially helpful for us ADHDers or AuDHDers.

We'll use all the colors of the 🌈 in this color-based attention practice. Search your environment for one color at a time to anchor you in the present moment, interrupt rumination, and calm the nervous system through focused, sensory noticing.

There are many ways to do it- I like to keep it simple yet gamified.
Let's try it on.

STEP 1: Take a deep belly breath in, then out.
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​STEP 2: Start scanning your environment for 2 things in the color RED ❤️

STEP 3: 🧡 Then 2 things in ORANGE.

STEP 4: 💛 Then 2 things in YELLOW.

STEP 5: 💚 Then 2 things in GREEN.

STEP 6: 💙 Then 2 things in INDIGO.

STEP 7: 🩵 Then 2 things in BLUE.

STEP 8: 💜 Then 2 things in VIOLET.

Hope you decided to try it on, Reader. Otherwise, know it's here whenever you need it.
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Big hugs,

It's ADHD Awareness Month!

I wanted to share a couple of cool resources with you as we continue through October:

🧠 CHADD is a great organization to check out

🧠 ADD.org is putting on some free virtual events this month

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