ADHD Support and Skills Group
Mean Things My Brain SaysTM
Let's work together to retrain that annoying inner voice that likes to drop in every day just to remind you that you're falling short. Brains don't always tell the truth, but we do give their chatter a lot of attention. This tool I made for you will walk you through four steps to retrain your brain chatter into something more true, and much more compassionate.
- Name
- Notice
- Unidentify
- Distance
Or start with one that many ADHD adults know well
Name it
This is a thought. It is your inner critic speaking. It feels like a fact because you have heard it so many times, often from other people first.
Notice it
Pause for one slow breath. Notice where this thought lands in your body and what was happening just before it arrived. You are observing it. You do not have to argue with it.
It tends to show up when...
Unidentify from it
Read each line slowly, out loud if you can. Notice how the thought changes as you step back from it.
Fused
One step backI'm having the thought, ""
Two steps backI notice that is telling me, ""
You are the one noticing the thought. You are not the thought.
Create distance
Imagine someone you care about told you they believed this about themselves.
Your reframe
I notice that is telling me, "" It is a thought. It is not the truth about me.
Why these four steps help
Naming turns the thought into something you can look at.
Noticing brings you into the present and shows you the pattern.
Unidentifying reminds you that you are the person having the thought.
Distancing lets you respond with the same compassion you would give anyone else.
The thought may still visit. It just has less power when it does.