Cathy's Explorer Pages

I think of an Explorer as someone who tends to be spontaneous, energetic, restless and intensely interested in things. Not too different actually from Attention Deficit Disorder, which is a negative label for pretty much those same traits. [ADD Lib is a support group in Ottawa for adults with ADD.]

Creative work requires a special type of thinking. Organized work requires organized thinking, but for creative work you have to forget things, let things go, step over boundaries and mix ideas together in new, fantastic ways.

You can't do both at once. You can't be remembering to pay the phone bill at the same time that you're suddenly realizing how you can solve a problem you've been mulling over.

Some people naturally tend to spend most of their time doing creative thinking; others naturally do lots of organized thinking. The world needs both kinds of people. We don't want Air Traffic Controllers who tend to forget everything and stare out the window thinking up the plot for a novel; we do want inspired novelists. (For a story about someone with ADHD who seems to fit into the job of Air Traffic Controller like a hand in a glove, see this site.)

• Introduction
• Liquid Memory A memory which acts like a liquid, mixing everything up, is a source of new, interesting ideas. Frustrating if you're trying to remember to get everything done, but perfect if you want to invent new perspectives on problems.
• The Creativity Dial It's as if each of us has a dial, set to "high" or "low" creativity, or anywhere in between. At "low" creativity, we're good at organizing; at "high" creativity, we're not good at organizing but we think up lots of new ideas.
• Optimism and Creativity Already good at creative thinking? The techniques here can help you get even better. Focus on your strengths and be optimistic. Optimists accomplish more.

• "Time Management" Getting organized is a matter of sending yourself messages through time: reminders and priorities to be acted on when the appropriate time comes.
• "Positive Aspects of ADD" Compiled at a meeting of ADD Lib ("Wingnuts R Us")
• Book Review: Getting Things Done by David Allen; also Martin Ternouth's paper-based project management system.
• Book Review: The Short Bus, A Journey Beyond Normal by Jonathan Mooney

to Cathy Woodgold's home page

This page is a member of the Explorer Webstar. (Here's a definition of "webstar".)

• Explorer Webstar home pageBesides an introduction to the Explorer Webstar and complete list of members, Teresa conveys the excitement of finding others like oneself and of celebrating the strengths of one's temperament type.
• Born To Explore! The coincidence of ADD and creativity; different temperament types as opposed to disorders. Teresa's extensive site includes information on alternative treatments for ADD; discipline methods; books and much more, presented with positive exhiliaration.
• Cathy's Explorer Pages (My own pages, here) Speculating about how the creative mind functions differently.
• Positively ADD Jan Upton's page about homeschooling an ADD child; homeschooling works well for these children.
• Bill Allsopp's Project Lab: read about the fantastic work Bill, Mary and their volunteers are doing working with scientically creative children, and what they've learned about learning styles in the process
• Redstar's World of Weirdness and Assorted Oddities: The Personal AD/HD Page , or Redstar's Home "What it is actually like to be an ADD-led family who have h-ADD-it with the contemporaty thoughts and medical opinions associated with the AD/HD misnomers."
• Bouncing Brains! Includes a story about solving a major problem by using a variety of points of view, and many other bouncingly intriguing articles.
• A Drum Heard Differently Different is not a disorder! Different is not a disorder!
• Leviathan Grook To grook is to ... no, you'll have to have a grook at this site yourself to really grook it.
• Nurturing Our Spirited Children Two families have banded together to provide support, newsletters etc. for parents of spirited children.
• Save One Starfish An extensive site by a group of school nurses who encourage people to see children as people, not as disorders. Informative and child friendly. If only one child's life is saved from misery through the information provided here...