Emotions are the one thing that make us stand apart from other living beings.  Yet again and again I find so few people know how to identify their emotions, let alone express them.  I myself have a hard time really pinpointing what I am feeling at any given moment, but the sheet for emotions helps a lot.

Not learning how to acknowledge, accept, and express feelings in a healthy way leads to all kind of addictions and problems in society.  Emotions not expressed become toxic.  I think people with ADHD / ADD are especially at risk for this because our minds move so quickly that by the time we start to focus on one another has popped up.

I am considered a marketing ‘expert’, so I’ve spent a lot of time studying, (re)branding and marketing products and people.  When I first started the nonprofit iFred, my idea was to rebrand the disease state (depression) into something that focused on the positive, hopeful, joyous state that could be reached once you recognize and treat depression.

It seemed pretty obvious to me that if we portray depression or other mental issues as ‘hopeless, depressing, and disturbing,’ we are not going to get much positive attention or resources.

Connecting on phone?

I’m interested especially in people with ADHD.  Talking on the phone is an important way to keep connected to people and socially happy, especially as people are so mobile these days, and it seems harder than ever to stay in touch; not because of time but because I don’t like to call people.  I’ve been working hard trying to figure out why I don’t love talking on the phone like I used to when I was much younger, and I think I have it figured out.

When there was an actual phone, with a cord to the wall, it felt very grounding. I could sit on my bed, or on my couch, and give my complete focus to the conversation in an environment I had intentionally created for the purpose.  There was a place and time and purpose to the connection and when I was having it I felt really present and happy.

Today I saw an article on MSN that I really wanted to share — it’s about eating for your brain. It is amazing how much food affects mood, and I thought it was interesting that the study explained you can be up to 200% more productive with the right food. It makes sense – food is the fuel for your brain.

Dr. Amen and SPECT Imagery - visit www.amenclinics.com

If you are not familiar with Dr. Amen, he has done quite extensive work on ADHD / ADD and the brain. He has eight clinics, and an extensive collection of scans that can show how different brains look using SPECT imaging.  It is truly fascinating.

There are many critics of his work (as with anyone’s work) but I believe it is pioneering. The more we are able to capture images in the brain / determine the differences between a healthy brain and an unhealthy brain, the sooner people will understand that there should be no shame associated with different conditions affecting the brain.

photo credit: HollyWata

I am having a really tough time with texting. I find it so easy, and when I get emotional, even more so.  Right off that bat I want to apologize to anyone / everyone I text to as I know while you may love many of my bright, funny texts, it has also been an easy escape for me to not deal with some tougher issues.

You would never really think of texting as an addiction, but it is.  At least I think it is.  I just did a search online and can see it is a highly debated subject, and a lot of people have a lot of different opinions.  Some even say it’s a mental illness, which I find a little harder to understand.  So let’s backtrack and review standard definitions of both mental illness and addiction.

Photo from Flickr, Country_Boy_Shane

I am not sure if those three words can be put in the same sentence. If anything triggers my ADHD, it is social networking. And then it leads me to question my sanity. At which time I look hard and find my sense of humor and get back down to earth and back to it.

I’m going to tell you about an amazing tool for social networking. Well, it is kind of amazing. It is still in testing but could make our lives a whole lot easier!

ADHD or no ADHD, if you have anything to do with social networking, know anything about it, or ever use it (which obviously you do because you are reading this blog), you may be able to relate. I happen to have a company and a nonprofit — for which I am both responsible for all of the ‘social’ networking (we are changing the definition of networking — it used to mean actually meeting people live and talking!).

As I mentioned in previous posts, I am reading a book by John Ratey, M.D., about exercise and all of the benefits to the brain.  There is a part in the book about stress, with a specific header on ‘Focus’, and of course it particularly caught my eye as I am always looking for insights into how to improve focus. What he wrote surprised me.

Click the link, sign the petition!

I won’t do this often, but today I do have to write and wish everyone a happy Global Day of Hope and ask you to check out our depression branding work and think about signing our petition. I run a nonprofit for depression called iFred — the International Foundation for Research and Education on Depression, and today is marking the first ever day in the first ever month for the Global Month of Hope for depression.

Our rebranding objectives:

Global Color: yellow

Global symbol: sunflower

Global Month for Hope: April