Interest based mind [508]

Greetings from the shed...

I’m Christian Payne, autotelic, photographer and writer. That’s me above. Reflected in the window. In this weekly dispatch I seek out novelty, explore the relations between things, how and why we share and consume, plus where we might be going.

Thanks for joining in.

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#TheAction

I had a mind-blowing dog walk this week when I bumped into a lady I’ve chatted with on and off for a number of years. Mid conversation she commented matter-or-factly on my ‘ADHD’.

It was like a bolt of lighting. Mainly because it’s only recently, as I started writing towards a book, that i’ve seriously contemplated my working mindset and how my brain works.

Helen, the lady I was chatting to, is not the first person to suggest this. Five years ago an old internet friend Ivan Pope invited me for coffee and told me I had all the traits. Ivan is a Doctor of Philosophy (creative writing) but his on going research has him writing a lot about ADHD.

Although he planted the seed and I drew a lot of parallels, I didn’t want to be pigeon holed and let a lot of what he said wash over me.

Then this week, during a time when I’ve been analysing my creative practice, getting increasingly frustrated at my lack of forward momentum, Helen said what she said. Not only that. In the hour we walked and talked, she explained some of the benefits of the fluid thinking, non linear thought processes of a butterfly mind. About how diversity in thought and behaviour is a natural result of genetic variation. In fact this diversity was most likely advantageous for early humans in their ever changing and somewhat dangerous environment. (Sources: one, two, three, four.)

I asked Helen how she knew so much about the topic and it turned out she has a PhD in the field while being a senior neurodiversity advisor and diagnostic assessor at Cambridge University. Well there’s that.

This might not have been an official diagnosis, (although i’d quite like a certificate or at least a badge) but listening to Helen talk and joining the dots was a wonderful ah-ha moment. Almost euphoric.

My curiosity around people who think differently spans decades. The Documentally podcast tagline at one point was either ‘Mentally documenting the mind’ or in this 20 year old clip, just ‘Documenting the mind’.

So this dog walk more than resonated. Especially when Helen then went on to explain ADHD in a way I’d never really considered.

Perhaps it was the explorers, divergent thinkers and problem solvers who found new sources of food or developed new tools. Or the other ADHD traits like risk taking or social cohesion, that brought forward the hunters and storytellers.

Today’s world of desk bound, sedentary and repetitive tasks conflicts with ADHD, so we see this mindset as problematic and upsetting the balance of things.

The conversation had me realising that by developing my own patterns of flexible learning and non-linear workflows, these traits feel more of an asset than a liability. Especially when I find moments of hyper focus or flow state.

The term ‘neurodiversity’ means so much more to me now but I’ll also apologise for my framing of this if it appears to make light of a condition that some people struggle with.

I do hope that over time this cognitive element in human diversity can be regarded in a much more positive light. Thanks to things like gamified or nature based learning, Montessori schools and inclusive flexible classrooms — more kids are able to find their own way, inspired to flourish and grow.

These human traits we label ADHD might once have been essential to humanity's evolution and survival. And who knows, with the way things are going, they might need to be called on once again.

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#ThePictures

Found myself in a secret cinema showing this week. The film turned out to be ‘Presence’.

More of a thriller than a horror. Although there was a particularly uncomfortable scene and someone in the row in front of me promptly left. I might never have got to see this if it wasn’t a part of a secret cinema and I’m glad I did. Cinematically it’s well worth a watch. 3.5/5

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If Ian McKellen Performed Songs from the 90s

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The Deutsche Telekom's #ShareWithCare campaign is powerful stuff. The video is in this LinkedIN post.

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#TheWords

Look up ADHD and you will read definitions along the lines of…

“Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by persistent patterns of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity that can interfere with functioning or development.”

Words like ‘deficit’ and ‘disorder’ do a great job of emphasising what might be lacking or ‘wrong’ in an individual while failing to highlight any potential strengths or alternative ways of being.

If the societal norm is to prepare people purely for structured, industrial settings then I can see why these kinds of alternative thinkers might be a problem.

As is the way, talking about this is fascinating to me at the moment. Who knows what will grab my attention next week.

But if like Richard Branson, Simone Biles, Nikola Tesla, Emma Watson, Justin Timberlake, Agatha Christie, Ryan Gosling, Michelle Rodriguez, Will.i.am, Cher, Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Salma Hayek and Leonardo da Vinci you are suspected of, or have been diagnosed with ADHD, I’d love to know how you work with it.

With 20% of the UK population having Autism, ADHD or Dyslexia, I imagine there’s quite a few of you somewhere other than neurotypical. But as there isn't a formal ‘test’ to determine if someone is neurotypical, I imagine you might all be suspected of some deviation from the norm.

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#TheSound

Recent vinyl acquisitions have been Leonard Cohen - I’m your man, A rare album by unsigned band Schema, Trevor Burton’s - Long Play, Van Morrison - His band and the street choir, Donovan - What’s bin did and what’s bin hid and The best of Melanie.

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And as far as podcasts go, I’m listening to The Coming Storm Inauguration Bonus Episode.

…and this one from Ezra Klein ‘So that’s what ‘Make America Great Again’ means’.

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#TheConsumed

It’s hard to find it fresh but dried Cascatelli pasta is much easier to find now and one of my favourite short pastas. Try it with an Italian American tomato sauce if you can take the time to make it.

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#TheBody

Yesterday I was in a pretty elated state of mind as I was joining the dots and called Ivan Pope who I mentioned above. We had a crazy excited phone chat and I wanted to list his publication in this dispatch. When I popped over to grab a link I spotted his thoughts from our conversation. Check out his work here.

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#TheThings

I found myself at the Microlino showroom in London earlier this week. I’d had an email asking if I wanted to test-drive the Microlino and if you have seen it then you will probably know why I could not resist. I hadn’t planned to record a video (as I don’t monetise my YT channel and can’t really be bothered to edit.) But it’s such a lovely looking thing and had to shoot a bit. That said, I have very little of the exterior. Just me gassing on excitedly while driving.

If money was no object I’d have one.

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Make of this what you will.

There’s also a humanoid bot but I find this robo-beast way more sinister.

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Having failed to see a 2 year subscription disappear from my bank before it was too late, I cancelled Nord VPN in anger. Then I chatted with them and they apologised for not realising my emails from them were not being seen (old address and not their fault). But they were so nice and their service has been second to none I immediately took out another two years. If you are looking for a decent VPN service I can recommend them. And if you use this link I also get a free month. Not sure what you will get other than the same great service I do.

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#TheThanks

Massive thanks to the paying subscribers who continue to support this dispatch and the adventures/experiments that make it. You know who you are. ♥️ It took me about 12 hours of procrastinating around the net and about 5 hours piecing it together.

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or Monzo …Either way… Thank you for reading, sharing, liking and supporting a human doing manual work with their brain.

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#TheWeb

• Journalism’s fight for survival in a post literate democracy

• Greetings my old audio loving friend Parker and the mysterious ‘Point 1’ who is yet to add their name to the Documentally community map.

• What it’s like living a 28h day.

• Inside the mind of Musk

• Are we losing the ability to write by hand?

• Some of my places include Letterboxd, Discogs, GoodReads, Flickr, Foto, Strava, Untappd, Swarm, Vivino, LinkedIn, YouTube, Mastodon, or search ‘Documentally’ on Wire, Signal, Bluesky or Zello. Oh, I’m also on or Monzo which is another way of supporting me here ;-)

• How the whisky industry is changing.

• This is how hard to spot phishing attempts have got.

• Developer creates infinite maze to trap ai crawlers

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#TheEnd

Thanks for reading.

I’m told that my VW van might be ready over the weekend but i’ll not hold my breath.

This Sunday I’ll be assisting Air Cadets with their exams and next week perhaps heading to Betws-y-Coed.

Have a great weekend/week. Do something wild.

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“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” —Albert Einstein

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Stay curious.

See you out there.

Over…

A ❤️ is a high-five, a comment is a hug. A supporting subscription earns my undying love.