NickVenturella.com 11-1-17-Mindful Road to Happiness

The Mindful Road to Happiness

November 01, 2017

I just finished reading the book, NeuroTribes – The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity by Steve Silberman.This book was extremely informative in its the breadth and depth of the history of autism and its evolution over time to its modern day state.The end of the book focuses more on what the future might look like from those autistic adults and their allies pioneering what will come in terms of more inclusion (in work/life) and understanding for the benefit of all.You see, it’s only been more recently, and still on a relatively small scale, that autistic adults -- who possess real skills, knowledge and often the ability to hyper-focus on areas of interest -- have been seen as an advantage in the workplace.Still, for as far as neurodiversity has come in a fairly short amount of time, 90% of autistic adults remain unemployed and/or underemployed nationwide (according to stats cited in an article by Joseph Erbentraut on HuffingtonPost.com).This idea frustrates me given the fact that I have a son on the autism spectrum, but as Silberman’s book points out, autistic adults are celebrating their differences and recognizing them as a marketplace advantage. Organizations too, are beginning to view autistic adults’ unique abilities as an advantage.That embrace of neurodiversity is generating some powerful win-wins for those autistic adults seeking meaningful, career-oriented employment or entrepreneurial pursuits, as well as employers and local economies benefiting from their abilities.That makes me hopeful for my son’s future and grateful for all those who have come before him to begin paving a real path forward.As a parent your instincts are to protect your children from harm and emotional struggle. For my wife and I, those instinctual alarms are constantly going off causing anxiety and real health issues, which is why I’m interested in making a better effort to be more positive and grateful for small victories.There is something called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which is essentially a fancy way of saying the best medicine for frustration and feeling down or sad or bad is to change your mindset to more positive thinking.Easier said then done, right?In concept, it’s simple, non-invasive, no drugs needed, however, in practice it can feel difficult to consistently sustain.I’ve been thinking about this and my own catharsis of journal writing, songwriting, blogging and the like to help my mental state, and…I’ve come up with an idea for a journaling system to track progress toward goals as well as track improvement towards more happiness in your life.Here’s some more details about it…The journaling system would provide an easy-to-use, low-tech, high result way to document your thoughts, identify and track progress on goals, as well as incorporate some bits of cognitive behavioral therapy by helping you identify daily actions, victories, personal acts of kindness and gratitude in your life while tracking your daily mood so you can easily see over time how your daily journal activities are promoting more happiness in your life.At this point, I wanted to just share this with you and ask for your initial feedback on the idea. Hit reply and let me know.Does this sound like something you might have interest in using, or do you know someone who might benefit from something like this?As always, I’m grateful for your attention. Have a wonderful rest of your week!Sincerely,Nick Venturella NickVenturella.comNickVmusic.net also MadVinyl.com (cover band)GrowLoop.comAutismHR.com