we are not just the molecules that accidentally have come together to form our bodies, the thoughts that temporarily engage our minds, the feelings that agitate or soothe us from one moment to the next.

incomplete development of pathways in the cerebral cortex, and between the cortex and lower areas of the brain.

I have learned through my own process that a goal in life cannot be the avoidance of painful feelings.

In biochemical terms, any addictive substance or behavior is self-medication, self-administered emotional pain relief. But the ADD person is also treating herself for a condition she is not even aware of having.

It’s the self-rejection others react against, much more than the differentness.

Nothing is more difficult for the ADD mind than to meditate, or to contemplate anything with determined attention.

As we have already seen, no one can instill motivation in anyone else. No one can forcibly induce motivation in oneself either. The best attitude to adopt is one of compassionate patience, which has to include a tolerance for failure.

Any passion can become an addiction. It’s simply a question of who is in charge: the individual or the behavior.

The fear of being alone with the mind is, I believe, an implicit memory of finding oneself, in infancy, cut off from contact with the parent.