because when we understand each other better, we can love each other better.
and that, I believe, is what we are here on earth to do.
Welcome to my website! Whatever brings you here, I am so happy you are visiting. Clearly, you are looking for answers, seeking insight and understanding. You have concerns, but you also have hope. That is already a beginning, a wonderful place from which to move forward.
Your ThinkPrint, like your fingerprint, is unique to you. It is how your mind works – where your thoughts go, how you perceive things, and how you behave. It is how your brain is wired up, and it reflects both what you were born with and what you have experienced. Understanding your mind – your strengths, preferences, tendencies and vulnerabilities – enables you to find your best path in life. It’s like having the manual to your particular brain.
Neuropsychology is the field of science focused on “brain-behavior relationships,” that is, understanding how the structure and chemistry of the brain impacts our feelings, perceptions, and thoughts. As a clinical neuropsychologist, I am trained to identify and address problems with these higher level brain processes. But while we tend to focus on our difficulties, in order to heal and to grow we must also identify our strengths, our ThinkPrint, our true nature, and direct our energy and attention toward nurturing it.
We all do best when we direct our energy toward what comes naturally to us, what we’re interested in and enjoy. We improve our learning by knowing how and what our brain was designed to learn. We improve our motivation and our concentration by doing what we find interesting and enjoyable to do. And we increase our chances for success by imagining it and believing in it. Hopefully we also become aware of, accept, and learn how to navigate our challenges –what does not come easily to us, what we are less aware of, and what we are more vulnerable to.
Executive Dysfunction & Anxiety
One reason I believe it is important to redefine ADHD is that what it really describes is executive function – attention and impulse control are processes in the Executive system – the control of input on the one hand and output on the other. And, as I’ve discussed elsewhere (ThinkPrint), the Executive system depends on…
Emotion and Executive Function
The most important thing to understand about your brain, when working toward wellbeing, is that the brain prioritizes emotion. There are five processing systems in the brain. Sensory (input), Motor (output or response), Affective (motivation), Executive (control), and Cognitive (understanding). The Affective system is the boss system. It runs the show. The Affective system puts…
ADHD: Mindfulness as Medicine
How do we use mindfulness to treat ADHD (attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder)? First, we understand that the ability to pay attention and control our impulses depends on our emotional state. Another way of saying this is that the Emotional (motivation) system drives the Executive (control) system. As we see in the ThinkPrint slider, there are 5…