Creative Mind Audio

Diane Poole Heller Ph.D. is "an internationally recognized speaker, author, and expert in the field of child and adult attachment theory as well as trauma resolution."

The first part (about 2 min) of this audio is an intro for her online course Healing Your Attachment Wounds.

Publisher Sounds True summarizes her audio course:

"Why do we experience recurring struggles in our relationships? And why do traumatic events, such as a physical injury, emotional threat, loss of a loved one, or other life crisis, so often awaken or amplify our sense of fear, anger, isolation, or helplessness?

"From our earliest years, teaches Diane Poole Heller, we develop an attachment style that follows us through life, replaying in our intimate relationships, with our children, and at work. And traumatic events can deeply affect that core relational blueprint."

The second part of this podcast episode is from her talk titled "Discover your attachment style to calm your nervous system" at the 2022 Anxiety Super Conference.

See her new presentation "How trauma shapes our attachment style" at Trauma Super Conference 2023.

Also see multiple programs on the page Healing Trauma Resources – How To Understand And Recover.

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View selected episodes and articles with more resources: The Creative Mind Audio Podcast page on the main site.

Aurora Remember of Embracing Intensity introduces her guest in this excerpt from the original podcast episode.

From the Show Notes:

"This week, we talk with Arianna Bradford, an ADHD productivity coach, about the best ways for adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder to boost productivity in their daily lives.

We cover a range of topics, from common symptoms of ADHD and organizational strategies to productivity hacks and the Pomodoro technique.

Arianna shares her expertise on how to set specific goals and prioritize tasks, as well as how to use the right tools and resources to get the most out of your work mode.

We also discuss the importance of taking breaks and transitioning between tasks, as well as how to manage ADHD symptoms in the workplace or in your personal life.

Whether you’re a project manager, creative professional, or simply looking to be more productive, this episode has something for everyone.

Arianna Bradford, an ADHD productivity coach, shares her tips for building productivity processes that work for neurodivergent brains.

Productivity for people with ADHD is not an arbitrary number or percentage, and should be set by the individual in regards to upcoming external deadlines.

Keeping all tasks and deadlines in one central place is important for feeling in control, and regularly reevaluating task priorities is crucial.

The ICNU method (Interest, Challenge, Novelty, Urgency) can help hack an ADHD brain and increase productivity, as can adding challenge and urgency, trying new approaches, and allowing for downtime."

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Hear the full episode, and see transcript and Show Notes for episode 261 ADHD Productivity with Arianna Bradford in the Podcast section of Embracing Intensity.

[Photo of Bradford is from her site - find link in the Show Notes.]

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See more neurodivergence-related posts and podcasts.

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Transcript ['Rough Transcript' from the Embracing Intensity episode page]

Aurora Remember: Hello. This week, I get to share a talk with Ariana Bradford on ADHD productivity. The irony is not lost on me, that we recorded an episode on ADHD productivity during my least productive month in a long time. Between burnout, extra work and lots of life changes both personally and professionally. I had to take the time to rest.

The good news is my summer is almost here and I have a lot of positive changes ahead. Outside of rest and recovery. My goal this summer is to hyper-focus on planner club and course content. So I have it ready to go for the rest of the year. You can find my executive functioning planner, prioritization tools and other printable planner content in my monthly planner club. And I’m building up the resource library for the full course membership. You can find them on my website.

In addition to finding Arianna on Instagram and YouTube, she’s also hosting a chase, the chaos summit in September. You can find the details in the show notes. Enjoy.

Welcome

Aurora: So excited to have Arianna Bradford here with us today to talk about ADHD productivity. Arianna, why don’t you go ahead and introduce yourself.

Arianna Bradford: So, there’s a whole thing in my presentation here about who I am, so we’ll get into that a little bit more. But for right now, my name is Arianna Bradford. I am an ADHD coach and I myself have ADHD, so I’m amongst good company.

Aurora: Awesome. And a little background with Arianna. We actually met in real life in a networking group of moms, and she was doing photography and this project, the not your average mom project and a bunch of around that, which was great. And when I interviewed her and I made a bunch of shorts for stories, Of growing up basically neurodivergent.

And her story was one of the most relatable to me as a person with ADHD, but she didn’t actually have ADHD at the time. So, when she announced that she had gotten that diagnosis, I was not surprised. And I’ve loved seeing everything that you’ve done ever since. So,

Arianna: yeah, I don’t think anybody who knows me is surprised that I also have ADHD,

Aurora: But you do manage to do quite a lot. So, I’m excited to hear from you. So

Arianna: Thank you.

Aurora: Awesome. So, I’m gonna go ahead and mute everyone and let Arianna dive in.

​Introducing Arianna

Arianna: Cool. Before I get started, just a couple of things that I wanted to make sure that we all knew.

The first is a personal thing. I took a pretty rough hit to the head about a week ago, and I am still recovering from a minor concussion. So, if it sounds like I’m searching for words, if it sounds like I’m kind of to think. I promised you that I actually know this stuff. I’m telling you. It’s just, it’s taking me a minute.

The other thing is, just as a reminder for everybody here, for anybody who’s listening, nothing that I say is meant to apply to all ADHD people. One of my favorite things ever said to me was said by a therapist friend of mine. He said, if you meet one person with ADHD, you’ve met one person with ADHD.

Take what is useful

Arianna: So, if you hear something I’m saying and you’re like, that doesn’t apply to me, that doesn’t mean that doesn’t mean anything. It’s pretty, like, everything that I’m saying here is going to be very like basic. It’s kind of the foundation of how I think of productivity and how I teach other people with productivity.

But that does not mean that if it doesn’t work for you, that means that there’s something wrong with you or me. That just basically means that you need something a little bit different. So hopefully these are all gonna be concepts that you can kind of take and run with and make your own. But just as a reminder, because I’ve realized that.

A lot of us in the neuro divergent spaces tend to take things personally sometimes, and we’ll be like, this does not apply to me. How dare you. It. That’s okay. That’s okay. Okay. And with that, let me go ahead and pull up my thing here.

About Arianna

Arianna: All right, so, this is just like I said, what to know about ADHD and productivity. What I know about it, anything that might be able to help you guys out. So first we’re gonna start with who I am. That’s why I was very short because I was like, I already put this in there.

Just to let you know why you should be listening to me on this. I was diagnosed with ADHD in 2021 at the age of 35. And that came kind of as Aurora and I touched on it, came as a surprise to no one really. I had found out that I had ADHD thanks to looking up a diagnosis for my son. My son was five years old and he was starting to struggle at school and it just really felt like there was something going on there.

As we started looking into ADHD and I started looking into what ADHD looks like for adults. It really resonated with me. It made sense. That a lot of things I had struggled with as a kid made sense. So, I went and I got the diagnosis and it changed my life as you would imagine any diagnosis would, but it changed it in a way that I feel a lot of diagnoses don’t, in that it retroactively connected me to a lot of things that did not make sense, and suddenly they did, and suddenly they weren’t bad or wrong or shameful.

They were who I was, which was kind of mind blowing. And one of the things that occurred to me is that despite having ADHD, I didn’t really know what the

Exploring your ADHD brain

Arianna: The problem was with my brain, but I had figured out ways to do things that a lot of people with ADHD struggle with on the regular.

I wrote a book, I had started a couple of businesses by that point, I was growing communities, I was homeschooling my children, I was doing a number of things that supposedly people with ADHD weren’t supposed to be able to do. And I realized that a lot of that had to do with how I had built productivity processes and how I had come to think of productivity in connection with who I was with my brain.

And knowing ADHD made it so that I was even better equipped to figure out how to work with brains like mine. So, I decided to become specifically an ADHD prod…

This audio is an excerpt from a much longer episode of The HSP Podcast.

Gracie King, a Positive Psychology Wellness Coach, talks with Jenn Granneman, the founder of "Introvert, Dear," and co-author of 'Sensitive -The Hidden Power of the Highly Sensitive Person in a Loud, Fast, Too-Much World.'

From Show Notes on the original episode page:

Topics covered included:

* How Jenn, as an introverted HSP, balances demanding entrepreneurship with meeting her own sensitive needs

* Why Jenn feels passionate about educating the public about high sensitivity and advocating for HSPs and everyone to embrace the gifts of sensitivity

* What HSPs should carefully consider before deciding whether to have children

* How HSP parents can balance meeting their family's needs as well as their own

* How HSPs who want to change the world can do so without burning out

* Why the Sensitive Boost Effect gives hope to HSPs who struggle to appreciate their sensitive nature

* Ways to transition from Threat mode into Soothe mode

* What the world might look like after a Sensitive Revolution

Hear the full length episode "170-Interview with Jenn Granneman" at The HSP Podcast page on the site of therapist and author Julie Bjelland, LMFT, where you can find many more of her articles, books, courses, Sensitive Community and other resources.

Show Notes for the original podcast episode  with Julie Bjelland, the founder of Sensitive Empowerment, and Willow McIntosh, founder of Inluminance.

(This audio is a brief excerpt.)

HSPs [highly sensitive people] tend to be over-givers and toxic people tend to be over-takers.

This dynamic has been played out for many of us either in our families, friendships, romantic relationships, or even with work colleagues.

In healthy relationships, we should feel comfortable to be ourselves and feel good around them, you feel accepted for who you are, they can compromise and be understanding, and you can work through conflicts in healthy ways.

Recognizing Red Flags in Toxic Relationships

They might be very self-absorbed, not attentive, and have a sense of entitlement, and require excessive admiration

They put you down,  you don’t feel good about yourself when with them

Monopolize conversations or look down on people.

Ignore your needs

Take advantage of others to get what they want

Not willing to compromise or recognize the needs and feelings of others

Become impatient or angry when they don't get what they want or receive special treatment

Have significant problems in their relationships and easily feel slighted

React with rage or contempt and try to belittle the other person to make themselves appear superior

Have difficulty regulating emotions and behavior... (continued on page for the original episode)

If you are experiencing abuse in your relationship, please reach out for support and visit the national domestic violence hotline that offers free, confidential support and many resources to help too at https://www.thehotline.org/ or Call 1.800.799.SAFE (7233).

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Enjoy the full length original episode "Episode 104: How to Avoid and Heal From Toxic Relationships, with Julie and Willow" - see link on the The HSP Podcast page on Julie Bjelland's Sensitive Empowerment site, where you can find her many articles, books, courses, Sensitive Community and other resources.

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Also register for free webinar by Julie Bjelland, LMFT: How to Set Healthy Boundaries and Why it’s Essential for Wellness as an HSP.

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This episode is included in article How Can Highly Sensitive People enjoy healthier relationships and deal with toxic people?

Some excerpts of the content:

People with more sensitive personalities “need help with intimacy.” Elaine Aron, PhD

“Highly sensitive people tend to be over-givers and toxic people tend to be over-takers.” Julie Bjelland, LMFT

“You can actually transform your relationship with a narcissist and feel valued, honored and respected.” Rebecca Zung

“Energy vampires are people who suck our energy dry.” Judith Orloff M.D.

“Why do some of the nicest, kindest and most thoughtful of us find ourselves painfully connected to narcissists?” Dr. Debi Silber

The image is from the movie ‘Twilight‘ - an example of toxic relationships, according to writer Melissa Girimonte, who describes the romance between vampire Edward (Robert Pattinson) and Bella (Kristen Stewart).

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View selected episodes and articles with more resources: The Creative Mind Audio Podcast page on the main site.

Counselor Jacquelyn Strickland on highly sensitive people. Topics include:

* Self esteem and self worth "influenced by so many variables..."

* The "idea of acting versus reacting is so important..."

* "When we focus on our needs, we're much more able to set healthy boundaries."

* Overwhelm for HSPs versus Dabrowski overexcitabilities .

This is a short excerpt from a podcast episode with Julie Bjelland and Willow McIntosh on the topic of confidence. They are addressing highly sensitive people, but confidence is an issue for so many - even most - creative people.

From the Show Notes for the original episode:

I’ve noticed that so often something gets in the way of HSPs believing and accessing Confidence. Many of us have received messages our whole life that something is wrong with us for being so sensitive.

Or maybe we have been so overwhelmed by the challenges of our sensitive nervous system that we are in survival mode, instead of truly living our life with purpose.

Not having confidence can show up in the following ways:

not exploring your needs

not advocating for your needs

saying yes when you want to say no

not moving forward if something isn’t perfect or being stuck in fear of failure

not doing something you want because you are pleasing others instead

not believing you are worthy or good enough

not living a life that honors and aligns with your values ...

What is stopping you from what you want?

I’ve been hearing a lot of HSPs be held back from the worry of judgment from others or being different or listening to others' expectations of you, or even self-judgment and fear of failure. Why is that? What would it take for you to let go of that?

Worrying about what people think of us can zap our energy, taking away precious energy that could be used for creativity, growing, and embracing our life.

Can we instead live in a space that honors our needs in the world?

Can we stop thinking we need to fit in and be perfect and embrace our uniqueness?

Can we commit to a more conscious way of living?

Can we stay aware of which tools we need to use and develop to get out of survival mode and thrive?

Can we practice self-compassion when we don’t get it all right?

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Julie Bjelland is "the founder of Sensitive Empowerment. As a sensitivity expert and psychotherapist, her books, online courses, and Sensitive Empowerment Community have helped highly sensitive people (HSPs) worldwide reduce their challenges, access their gifts, and discover their significant value to thrive to their fullest potential.

Willow McIntosh is the founder of Inluminance and leader of the High Sensory Intelligence movement.

Hear the full Episode 117: Confidence: Let’s Explore Where it Comes From and How to Get it, with Julie & Willow at The HSP Podcast.

Also see article with videos and resources by other psychologists and coaches:

How We Can Develop Healthier Self Esteem, Self-Acceptance and Confidence.

Thumbnail image: actor Bill Nighy once commented: “You come to realize there is this huge disparity between what you think about yourself and your work and what other people think about you and your work, at first you either think they’re insane or that it’s a conspiracy to make you look stupid. Or maybe, just maybe, they’re right, and you’re sometimes quite good at what you do.”

From my article Nurture your healthy self-esteem to thrive as an actor and artist. 

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View selected episodes and articles with more resources: The Creative Mind Audio Podcast page on the main site.

Artist, mentor and business coach Nicola Newman notes:

"Whether you're an artist, writer, or entrepreneur, it's natural to encounter obstacles in your creative journey."

This audio is from her longer podcast episode, in which she explores "gentle techniques for moving through these barriers and reigniting your creative spark."

Hear her full podcast episode, see transcript, and learn more about her resources, in article How to Overcome Creative Blocks and Reignite Your Creative Spark with Nicola Newman.

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View selected episodes and articles with more resources: The Creative Mind Audio Podcast page on the main site.

“His take was like, you don’t have ADHD – that’s crazy of you to think that. You’re just gifted.” Chris Wells

This audio is a brief excerpt from “Overexcitability with Chris Wells” (founder of The Dąbrowski Center) - a guest interview available to members of the Embracing Intensity Community by Aurora Remember.

“The work of Kazimierz Dabrowski provides an excellent framework in which to understand the supersensitivity or overexcitability frequently found in the intellectually or creatively gifted.” Sharon Lind

See much more, including this audio, the transcript, and link to free resources from Embracing Intensity, in article:

How mental health symptoms can be reframed as positive - Chris Wells on  Overexcitability 

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View selected episodes and articles with more resources: The Creative Mind Audio Podcast page on the main site.

“Being a sensitive empath is a beautiful thing as an artist, and it fosters a deep burning curiosity about why we do the things we do.” - Musician Alanis Morissette

She is featured in the documentary “Sensitive – The Untold Story” - based on the work of Dr. Elaine Aron and her research on the innate trait of high sensitivity, or sensory processing sensitivity.

The first part of this episode is from the conversation between Morissette and Dr. Aron in the movie.

The second part is an excerpt from an interview by author Cheryl Richardson.

See videos about the documentary and the trait, plus resources, in article On Being a Highly Sensitive Person – a Trait With Strong Gifts and Challenges. 

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View selected episodes and articles with more resources: The Creative Mind Audio Podcast page on the main site.

In their podcast episode "The Importance of Understanding Our Value as HSPs," Willow McIntosh and Julie Bjelland talk about how we can value ourselves more as a highly sensitive person.

From their podcast Show Notes:

"The notion of value can mean different things. Yet in the context of personal value, it can mean the difference between a life of struggle and one of meaning and abundance. As HSPs, the value we bring to the world is often connected to our ability to process more deeply."

This audio is from the much longer podcast episode - see the video version, and find links to resources, in the article:

How Understanding Our Self-Value as a Highly Sensitive Person Helps Us Live More Fully.

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View selected episodes and articles with more resources: The Creative Mind Audio Podcast page on the main site.