Author: Maureen

Life is funny. To everything, there is a season. I wanted to be a counselor when I went to college but I couldn't manage the high math required at that time and earned a degree in English and Education. Then, 10 years later I went back to college, took high math/science/calculus/physics and entered a graduate program in Architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology. After a year there I realized that as an architect, I would never sleep again and I became a magazine editor for a magazine for architects and engineers. It was fabulous work. When my children were born, I stayed home for a dozen years and then returned to the work world as a church secretary. I failed miserably and was fired! It turns out I had ADHD and LD and wasn't suited to that type of work. 18 years later, I am a therapist and ADHD Coach working with clients just like me. What did I learn along the way? Keep your dream alive. Name and claim your strengths! Do what you love! Find positive support and encouragement. Keep good friends close by. Be emotionally resilient. Keep a Positive Attitude!

An Attention Hangover

Frankly I’ve been in attention overload for a couple of weeks. Wendy invited me to her 40th birthday celebration, given by her friend Maria Maria Sangria. Need I say more – with an inventive name like that I should have been forewarned. We had found our way to a magical ten-acre untouched forest in way SW […]

Alice Walker’s Garden of Attention

I love driving on Friday nights in Atlanta’s springtime. Aside from the warm, flowery scents and breezes to enjoy, there are literary and arts events galore to attend. Emory University recently held an evening celebration to honor the poet/activist Alice Walker having shown the wisdom, sense of heritage and mission to preserve ‘unique materials of permanent […]

Eating Disorders and Attention

Weight carries symbolic language; wait; tight; loose; overweight; heavy and flat: it is almost a dialect full of symbols of distraction and of personal and social interpretation. If you pay attention to the weight, what are you not paying attention to? What is weighing you down? Why, your feelings. “Metaphors transform unconscious patterns that hold […]

Training for Distraction

‘Take that pile upstairs while you’re on your way up.‘  ‘Don’t leave the room empty-handed.’ These two admonishments were companions in my childhood home. ‘Take this while you’re going that way.’ I guess I can keep remembering the many ways I was trained in distraction. My favorite is ‘Don’t think about yourself – think about […]

Thriving with Attention

  Twenty minutes of sunshine and fresh air (with a little pollen) and three dogs are walked. They aren’t winded even though it’s been weeks since I’ve walked them. My boys thrive with attention. They don’t ask for much more than a daily routine of caring attention. The more attention they receive the more content […]