About Robinanne.

I grew up with ADHD long before anyone called it that. The hyperactive kid in the class who could not focus, who was always daydreaming or getting into trouble, who left school at fourteen because school and I had agreed to part ways - that was me.

I have come out the other side to clear thinking, focus, calmness, good health, success, joy and a life of purpose - and so if I can, so can any of you.

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How I got here

I went to business college for a year to learn secretarial skills and spent the next three years putting them to work. At eighteen I returned to school to finish upper school. Homework took me three times as long as everyone else and I struggled, but I had decided my goal was far too important to give up.

That stubbornness carried me into a degree in economics and politics, then a bachelor’s and then two master’s degrees - one in educational management, one in business management. Along the way I gathered a wealth of knowledge in organisation. Teaching management to upper school and university students fine-tuned my ability to help others goal-set, plan and execute, using the techniques I had learned the hard way.

I have worked as a director of upper school. I have lectured at university. I have designed my own boutique child education centre. I have authored seven textbooks, a poetry book and now this book.

So how did I, the hyperactive kid who could not focus, manage to live a successful, joyous adult life?

The answer, in one word, is practice.

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How I came to meditation

I was first introduced to meditation at university, through yoga classes. That led me to delve more deeply into mindfulness through Buddhist meditation classes run by Theravada monk Ajahn Jagaro and later Ajahn Brahm at Nollamara in Perth, Western Australia. I attended classes every week for ten years and went on regular retreats.

I read dozens of books on meditation, mindfulness, personal development and self-help. I continued my yoga. I listened to dozens of audio Buddhist lectures. I travelled to Thailand and visited the Ubon Ratchani jungle monastery, where the monks who taught me had trained.

What I learned over those years is the spine of this book: a quiet mind is not the result of a quiet life. A quiet mind is a skill. You can build it the way you build any other skill, a little each day, in the place where you already are.

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How I came to teach

I have since worked with many people to help them reach their potential. When teaching high school, I was selected to work with students diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. At one time I had six in my class of thirty. I found ways to help them when colleagues could not, because I understood where they were coming from.

During this time I also ran courses after hours for adults wanting to be more organised, mindful and focused, often self-employed people running small businesses.

By my mid-thirties I was running my own mindfulness and meditation programmes at a tertiary college, working with students from sixteen to sixty years of age. Some had phobias, others were stressed, some had depression, while others were overwhelmed with their responsibilities. Teaching them, I became inspired to write my first book and audio session, using it as a tool in the course.

A psychologist once told me that by the time people with ADHD turn twenty-five, they have usually been fired from three jobs, are quite depressed and their life is in chaos. It was he who encouraged me to write this book, to explain how I managed to avoid the common sad plight of those with ADHD. The problems faced by people with ADHD are not exclusive to them - we just have, to the nth degree, the problems others may also experience.

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Why I’m still teaching

I still regard myself as a student of meditation. The more I use it and the more I teach others, the more I refine the art and deepen the experience. I have had many fine teachers and I love passing on what they gave me.

If you have read this far, you might be one of the people I am writing for. I am so glad you came.