Neurodiverse

mindfulness in a chaotic modern world

“How do you manage to do all these and still practice intentionality?” This was the question someone asked me recently after I mentioned summoning my courage to share my writings publicly via Substack. It was not the first time I was asked that question. My answer remains the same through the years: “Being intentional does not mean I do not feel the chaos inside of me. I have just learned to manage the chaos in the way that works for me. Self-awareness is the key.”

For this post, I will give a brief definition of the word Neurodiversity and tell you a short story of how I use that perspective to navigate the messiness of my daily life.

“Neurodiversity” is a popular term that’s used to describe differences in the way people’s brains work. The idea is that there’s no “correct” way for the brain to work. Instead, there is a wide range of ways that people perceive and respond to the world, and these differences are to be embraced and encouraged.

Source: Child Mind Institute

By sharing this definition with you, it is my hope that it helps bring self-awareness and acceptance that our brains work differently. As the definition states, our perception and response to the experiences that the world gives us are not, and should not be, identical with others. We have similarities, yes, but being different does not make us better or worse than others - just different.

Whenever I get asked the question that I used in my opening statement, I end up sharing with the person one of the tools (sometimes more) that I use to stay mindful and deliberate. In those instances, almost all of them stated that they will try to copy what I do. I realized that the things I do to get by might be known by some people but are still unknown to others. It also means that if I know these techniques, then other people might know things that I could benefit from as well.

I will attempt to write a series on the topic and I will call it Neurodiverse. It will be a space for me to tell you a story of things I do to stay mindful and intentional in my day to day. Some stories could be experiences of when I failed to do so, because failures are stories that we should also celebrate since they are opportunities for growth.

my traditional (non-digital) task-list borrowing in format from the modern kanban board of the tech world

How I manage my tasks for the week

Since I work in the technology industry and majority of my time is already spent in front of a computer, I make it a point to convert some of my tasks back on paper or anything that would get me away from my monitors. One such task is preparing my to-do list for the week but optimizing the traditional to-do list by using the kanban board format that we use in the world of software development.

In the photos you see in this post, you will notice that I use simple objects that bring my brain joy during busy days: colorful pens and post-its, dotted notebook, and my favorite pens for writing. In fact, if my close circles bother to ask me what I want as presents, they would find out that these are the only things in my wish-list.

just a sample list of my tasks, the rest are hidden for privacy reasons.

Rituals are important too. On Sundays, I make myself a cup of coffee or tea. Then, I lay all of these things on top of my writing desk. I light my favorite candle and take a long deep breath before writing down the tasks that I have for the week.

The size of the page matters. If my task list exceeds the length of the page then it means I am putting too much on my list. So, I prioritize and make sure that I only put the number of post-its that would fit the length of the page.

Build parameters to help stay focused. The left and right columns are equal in length for a reason too (well, aside from they are both inside the same page 😊). Once the week starts, I move the post-its that I am actively working on under the “in-progress” box and they stay there until they are completely done. As you can see, the “in-progress” box is not large because it helps me focus my attention to only a few and not tackle my tasks in a disorganized way. I only add more post-its under “in-progress” once a space frees up and that is when some post-its have already moved under “done”.

Deliberately incorporate intentional celebrations for each completed task. Whenever I move a post-it under “done”, I give myself a mini-celebration. I do one of the things I tag as my miniature sources of joy such as visiting a coffee shop, taking walks, listening to classical music, or visiting the library to borrow books. Doing these celebrations is a form of a healthy reward for ourselves and it is important to insert those in our day-to-day so we have the strength to ride the waves of all of the changes, big or small, that we have to face as part of our existence.

Learn the skill of finding joys in simple things from some of my favorite writers:

• Miranda Van Den Heuvel
  for Tiny Magic

• Siana B
  for Glimmers of Hope

• Julie Wise
  for Glimmers from the Edge

The most important thing to remember is to give yourself grace. This is exactly why I wanted to introduce the term and normalize the idea of neurodiversity in our vocabulary because we need to start with that level of self-awareness and eventually, acceptance.

And, remember that the things that bring us the most profound joys are not always the grandest and brightest, sometimes the simplest glimmers make the biggest difference in our days.

❓What mindfulness techniques have you tried recently?

🔄 Restack and tag me to share your answers.
💬 Comment on this post so we can start a conversation.

---

💝 Special Thanks to my friend/proxy-sister Rokaya for the endless supply of post-its.