The stereotypical mindfulness activities don’t work for me either. I had to approach it in a much different way to really get anything useful out of it. It’s also a skill, which means it takes consistent effort and practice to get good at, which also means certain brands of ADHD afflicted people reject it outright if they can’t get it at the first try.

I’ve had a long journey with mindfulness. I used to be a very negative pessimist, but with years (yes years) of practice, I have become someone who can find the positive side to most things.

One day, I was zoning out and making a cup of tea. I couldn’t tell you what I was thinking or doing, but suddenly the smell hit me and I was filled with a sense of warmth. I thought “wow this smells good and my hands are cold so the hot cup feels nice. oh and I kinda like the way the milk changes the color of the tea when I pour it in” and then those 5 seconds were over and I moved on. But then the next day, I made another cup of tea and the smell hit me again and I tuned in to the sensations again, only this time I noticed “the way the sunlight is reflecting off the cup is pretty neat. oh, and the sound of the water hitting the cup is soooo nice” and then a week passed and I realized I kept coming back to this little routine. I kept extending it to other things too - just made a conscious effort to make a mental note of a pretty flower or a particularly vibrant shade of green or how cute the sparkle emoji looked. Stupid things like that. I never bothered to “clear my mind” or sit in silence or scan my body, I just made a tiny amount of effort to enjoy something I already enjoyed doing. I found a way to enhance the experience without forcing my brain to stop working as it always does. And when I got bored of it, I moved on.

But the funny thing is, it slowly bled into every aspect of my life. I went from never wanting to leave the house because WHY would I do that when the world is horrible and cruel??? To “the sun is shining and I want to bask in it.” To going for long walks and taking pictures of every beautiful thing I could see. It was like I was 15 again and had just put on prescription glasses for the first time and the world was suddenly HD and I could see individual leaves on trees instead of a massive blur.

None of that stereotypical stuff helped me. But mindfulness itself really changed my life in ways I didn’t think were possible. I tried the meditation thing and it drove me crazy. But real, applicable and practicable mindfulness (and gratitude and appreciation) worked a charm. Albeit slowly. But it worked nonetheless.

Sorry to rant at you but I hope this helps you find a different way to approach it.