Reframing ADHD, Anxiety, and Sensory Gifts through Indigenous Wisdom

Originally published by By Darcy and Jenny Fisher, Keepers of the Seasons

Shared with love from late-night conversations and too much coffee, seasoned with the wisdom our ancestors are finally ready to let us remember.

A Word Before We Begin

This isn't medical advice. We're not doctors. We're relatives sharing what helped our family remember something important about the gifts that live in our differences.

This is a medicine bundle - meant to be carried, unwrapped slowly, and revealed over time. Not all teachings are meant to be received at once. Trust your knowing about which sections call to you now, and let the rest wait until you're ready.

This is our family's story of remembering. Take what serves you. Leave what doesn't. Trust your own knowing above all.

The Great Remembering: A Family Story of Reclaiming Gifts

My father was an alcohol and drug counselor for many years. When we were kids, he told us our ability to see and hear spirits was "bullshit" - not because he didn't believe, but because he was scared. He didn't know how to help us navigate gifts he'd been taught to fear.

Before he died, he shared the deeper story: when he was young, he and his siblings would play and talk with spirits in the attic space of their home. Their grandmother heard them and yelled out, "Leave them alone - they don't know how to do that anymore!"

Four generations of spiritual severing.

My father's grandmother witnessed the gifts but knew the knowledge of how to properly hold and develop them had been lost. My father grew up fearing what he couldn't understand. We grew up being told our perceptions weren't real.

But something shifted before he passed. He made sure to be present for family dinners and our daughter's birthdays. Fourth or fifth birthday was the last one he and Jenny's grandmother made it to - two elders who had walked the journey from denial to acceptance, from fear to presence.

Now our daughter Ayla grows up knowing her sensitivity is sacred. She receives what we couldn't. She knew gramma Genevieve (tupiya - great-grandmother in our language) who always had time to run and dance and play with her, even when she couldn't breathe, had no strength, and was dying. Ayla carries that living memory of unconditional love.

Ayla told us once, with tears in her eyes: "I miss and love tupiya and grampa. But that's alright because they are always around. They are butterflies, they are in the mountains, and they can hear me say I love you!" She knows close to huckleberry season comes grasshopper season. She reads the land like the ancestors did.

The gifts that were pathologized in us are celebrated in her.

Through our work reconnecting families to land-based wisdom and plant teachings, we've witnessed this same pattern:

“once people remember their relationship with the living world, they begin to remember who they truly are”.

What we've learned isn't theoretical. We've watched it unfold in ceremony, in quiet moments with plant teachers, and in the eyes of children whose spirits were never actually broken.

What If Everything You've Been Told Is Wrong?

For over a century, settler colonial systems have worked to sever human beings from their spiritual perception capacities. Boarding schools, residential schools, and educational systems designed to create "compliance" have systematically targeted the very gifts that Indigenous peoples recognized as medicine.

What if the children they're medicating carry the spiritual technologies we need for survival?

What if "ADHD" is ancestral nervousness intelligence trying to track multiple realities simultaneously - the way our grandmothers could sense weather changes, community needs, and spiritual guidance all at once?

What if "sensory processing differences" are the spirit's refusal to be numbed to the subtle communications flowing through all living things?

What if "learning disabilities" are actually learning in the ways humans learned for thousands of years - through relationship, observation, seasonal timing, and direct spiritual guidance?

What if everything labeled as "disorder" is actually ancient medicine trying to function in hostile environments?

From Labels to Language: Our Family's Reframes

Through our journey of remembering, we've learned to translate the clinical language back into the medicine it actually describes:

What They Named	What We've Experienced
ADHD - Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder	Attention Abundance Hypersensitive to Divine - Minds that notice everything because they're meant to track patterns for the collective, like plants monitoring soil, weather, and community health simultaneously
Anxiety Disorder	Ancestral Nervousness Intelligence - Nervous system responding to things that need attention - sometimes personal, sometimes collective, sometimes calling us to ancestral healing work
Sensory Processing Disorder	Sacred Perception Difference - Enhanced sensitivity for receiving information that others miss, spiritual perception capacities seeking proper development
Learning Disability	Living Differently, Authentically Brilliant Intelligence - Learning through relationship and natural timing, the way humans learned before systems tried to standardize consciousness
Oppositional Defiant Disorder	Spiritual Resistance to Harmful Systems - Soul refusing to comply with environments that damage natural development

The reframe changes everything. Instead of asking "What's wrong with them?" we ask "What gifts are trying to emerge and what do they need to develop properly?"

Our medicine begins by listening differently.

Plant Teachers: Medicine for Sensitive Systems

One of the most powerful teachings we've received came through a dream about Whitebark Pine - an ancient tree that survives in harsh mountain conditions where others can't thrive.

Whitebark Pine: The Teacher of Sacred Timing

The teaching: Just like Whitebark Pine grows at high elevations in challenging conditions, some minds thrive in situations that challenge conventional systems.

When you feel "too much":
Remember - the Whitebark Pine isn't "too much tree" for the mountain. It's exactly what that ecosystem needs. Your intensity might be essential medicine, not excessive energy.

When you feel "out of place":
Remember - Whitebark Pines grow where most trees can't survive. You might not be meant for low-altitude thinking. You might be designed for the edge spaces where breakthrough happens.

When you feel "slow to develop":
Remember - Whitebark Pines take decades to mature but live for centuries. Your timeline might not be behind. It might be built for longevity and deep impact.

Other Plant Allies for Neurodivergent Medicine

Cottonwood (for the highly sensitive): "Your ability to feel everything is your strength. I bend without breaking in the strongest winds. Let your sensitivity flow like water, finding the path of least resistance while staying true to your course."

Bitterroot (for the deeply feeling): "Go deep when the surface gets harsh. Your roots are your medicine. Some of the most powerful healing happens underground, in the dark, during the seasons when nothing seems to be growing."

Wild Rose (for those with strong boundaries): "Your protective instincts are beautiful. Guard your tender heart while offering your gifts. Thorns and flowers grow on the same stem for a reason."

First Steps for Plant Relationship

If you're new to learning from plant teachers:

Start with permission - Ask the plant if it's willing to teach you before approaching
Spend time without agenda - Sit with them first, just being present
Learn proper names - Common, scientific, and if shared respectfully, Indigenous names
Understand reciprocity - What does this plant need from you before asking what you need from them?
Follow seasonal timing - Different plants offer different medicines at different times
Practice gratitude - Always acknowledge the gift of teaching

Daily and Weekly Practices: Living the Medicine

Here's how we live what we've reclaimed.

Morning Intention Shifts

Instead of: "I hope I can focus today"
Try: "I trust my awareness to notice what needs attention today"

Instead of: "I'm so scattered"
Try: "I'm tracking multiple patterns - maybe that's a gift"

Instead of: "I can't sit still"
Try: "My body knows it needs movement to think clearly"

The Ceremony of Deep Feeling

Through our work, we've learned that intense empathy isn't emotional overwhelm - it's profound capacity for understanding. What the world calls "too empathetic" might actually be medicine-keeper consciousness - the same awareness traditional healers used to sense what kind of support someone needed.

Note: We use the word "empathy" deliberately. I was trained in a time before people started saying "empathetic" - a watered-down word that combines empathy with sympathy for people who couldn't grasp the difference between truly feeling with someone and feeling sorry for them from a distance.

A simple daily ceremony for sensitive minds:

Place your hands on your heart
Take three deep breaths
Ask: "What is mine to feel and what belongs to others?"
Return what isn't yours to the earth
Keep what is yours with gratitude for your capacity to feel deeply

Evening Integration Questions

Gentle invitations for reflection, not requirements:

What did my different way of seeing notice today that others might have missed?
How did my sensitivity serve someone or something today?
What patterns did I recognize that could be helpful?
How was my different way of processing actually medicine for a situation?

Weekly Affirmations That Have Served Our Family

Monday: "My mind is designed for pattern recognition and deep awareness"
Tuesday: "My sensitivity serves healing in ways I'm still discovering"
Wednesday: "My need for movement is wisdom, not weakness"
Thursday: "My attention flows naturally to what truly matters"
Friday: "My differences are features of my design, not flaws to fix"
Saturday: "I carry medicine the world needs, exactly as I am"
Sunday: "I honor the ancestors who carried these gifts before me"

Creating Environments That Honor Our Nature

Through our family's journey, we've learned that forcing adaptation to hostile environments often creates more problems than it solves. Indigenous peoples have always known that different people have different medicine - and require different conditions to thrive.

For High Sensitivity:

Natural lighting when possible (fluorescents can overwhelm sensitive nervous systems)
Living plants and natural materials nearby (they help regulate the nervous system)
Sound environments that soothe rather than overwhelm
Honoring natural energy rhythms instead of forcing artificial schedules

For Movement Needs:

Permission to stand, walk, or move while thinking
Natural objects to hold or fidget with (stones, shells, wood)
Regular time outdoors connecting with the earth
Physical activity that feels good, not punishing

For Different Attention Patterns:

Working with natural energy cycles instead of fighting them
Creating systems that work with your mind's patterns
Honoring the need for processing time between activities
Following interests and curiosity when possible

For Spiritual Sensitivity:

Sacred space in your home for ceremony and quiet time
Time in nature without agenda or productivity goals
Connection with plant allies and seasonal rhythms
Community that understands and honors spiritual gifts

The Soul Work Beneath the Mind Work

What They Called Disorder Was Sometimes a Soul Refusing to Be Diminished

The reframing work above is often just the beginning. Many people find that once they start seeing their differences as gifts, something deeper stirs - in places where words don't quite reach.

If you've been working with these ideas and feeling something underneath asking for attention, trust that. The mind work prepares us for soul work, but it doesn't replace it.

What We've Learned About the Deeper Layers

When differences get labeled as disorders, it's not just mislabeling the mind. It often severs people from their spiritual gifts and ancestral medicine.

The systematic targeting of spiritual perception through "compliance training" - whether in schools, institutions, or through medication that numbs sensitivity - is a form of spiritual genocide that has been happening for generations.

What gets called "ADHD" might be spiritual perception trying to track multiple realities simultaneously - the way our ancestors could sense weather patterns, community needs, and spiritual guidance all at once.

What gets called "anxiety" might be a soul responding to collective imbalance - not personal pathology, but prophetic sensitivity to what needs healing in the world.

What gets called "sensory processing issues" might be a spirit's refusal to be numbed to the subtle communications flowing through all living things.

The Medicine That Lives Beside the Wound

We've noticed that our greatest gifts often live right beside our deepest wounds. The same sensitivity that creates overwhelm also creates profound capacity for healing. The same intensity that feels like "too much" can also fuel transformation. The same differences that caused childhood pain often become the exact medicine someone else needs.

Challenges and gifts aren't separate - they're often woven together in the tapestry of who we came here to be.

This is why traditional Indigenous education included specific training for people with spiritual sensitivities - ceremony, plant allies, community support, and proper protocols for developing gifts safely.

Supporting Parents Who Are Also Neurodivergent

Many parents discover their own neurodivergence while advocating for their children. This can bring up grief about their own lost opportunities, but also profound healing.

What we've learned about family healing:

The parent's healing journey serves the child's development
Modeling self-acceptance is more powerful than any technique
Children often heal ancestral patterns through their gifts being honored
Family ceremony creates safety for everyone's sensitivity

Navigating the Tension: Needing Diagnosis While Knowing Truth

Many families need clinical diagnoses to access support while spiritually understanding these differences as gifts. This requires learning to speak multiple languages:

Clinical language for schools and healthcare systems
Strengths-based language for building self-concept
Spiritual language for understanding purpose and medicine
Cultural language that honors ancestral wisdom

You can hold a diagnosis as a temporary tool for accessing resources while knowing the deeper truth about spiritual gifts.

A Personal Closing: From Our Family to Yours

This medicine bundle comes from our lived experience - the late-night conversations, the plant teachings, the family healing, the children we've watched thrive when their gifts were honored instead of pathologized.

My father's journey from fear to acceptance. His grandmother's recognition of spiritual gifts in the attic. Our daughter growing up knowing her sensitivity is sacred. The families we've worked with who found their way back to wholeness.

The ceremony continues in our home every day: Morning gratitude with the plants in our yard. Evening integration after challenging days. Weekly family time learning about the season we're in and the plant allies that are available. Monthly reflection on how we're growing and what we need.

This is our offering. Not medical advice, not professional treatment, but family medicine passed from one generation to the next, from one household to another.

We've learned that when children grow up knowing their differences are divine design, they don't spend decades recovering from being told they're broken. When families understand neurodivergence as ancestral gift, the whole family healing accelerates.

Take what serves. Leave what doesn't. Trust your own knowing.

And remember - you might not be broken. You might be exactly what the world needs you to be.

With love and recognition of the medicine you carry,
Darcy, Jenny, and our little ones who reminds us daily that gifts are meant to be celebrated

Resources & Gentle Reminders

Important Disclaimers

If you're in crisis: Please reach out to mental health professionals, crisis lines, or trusted community members. This guide is meant to complement professional support, not replace it.

If you're making medication decisions: Work with healthcare providers who understand both the challenges and gifts of neurodivergent experiences. Many people find healing through various approaches - medication, therapy, lifestyle changes, spiritual practices, or combinations thereof.

If you're a parent or educator: Consider connecting with others who understand neurodivergence as difference rather than deficit. Look for support groups, educational advocates, and healthcare providers who take a strengths-based approach.

For Deeper Learning

If you want to learn more about plant teachings: Start with the plant relatives in your own area. Spend time. Listen. Learn proper protocols for your region. Always approach with respect and reciprocity.

If you're interested in Indigenous perspectives: Seek out Indigenous educators and knowledge holders in your area. Support Indigenous-led organizations. Always ask permission and offer reciprocity when learning from traditional knowledge.

If you're exploring land-based healing: Begin where you are. What watershed do you live in? What plants are your neighbors? What season is it where you are? Connection to place is the foundation of this work.

Contemporary Research Supporting This Approach

Recent studies confirm what Indigenous peoples have always known - neurodivergent minds contribute essential gifts to community wellbeing:

Groups with neurodivergent members produce more creative and innovative solutions
The strengths-based approach improves outcomes for neurodivergent individuals
Social and environmental factors significantly impact neurodivergent experiences
Cultural understanding and acceptance reduce mental health challenges

This guide is part of our larger work connecting people to land-based wisdom and seasonal living. More teachings are available through our other offerings, always shared in the spirit of relationship and reciprocity.

Sacred Permission Protocol: Before You Share This Medicine

You're not just asking "Can I share this?" You're asking something deeper—"Am I ready to carry this with integrity, humility, and care?" This bundle is ancestral, not informational. Sacred, not symbolic. And sacred things ask us to move slowly, with heart and with permission.

🔥 Permission to Receive (for you, the reader):

Do I understand this is sacred family medicine, not clinical advice?
Am I approaching this with respect for Indigenous knowledge and protocols?
Am I ready to sit with what this might stir in me without bypassing the grief work?
Will I honor the source and not extract teachings without acknowledgment?
Am I prepared to let this change how I walk—not just what I know?

🌊 Permission to Share (for passing it forward):

Am I sharing this because it genuinely served my healing?
Do I understand I'm passing forward sacred medicine, not just information?
Am I prepared to support someone if this medicine stirs deep responses?
Will I share the whole bundle, not just parts taken out of context?

🌱 Setting Sacred Intention:

Before sharing, place your hands on your heart and speak:

"May this medicine reach the souls ready to remember their ancestral gifts. May it serve healing and recognition. May it honor the family that carried this forward through four generations of reclamation."

🔁 A Living Exchange: What Will You Offer Back?

If this medicine serves you, consider these living acts of reciprocity:

Tend your own healing journey with the same reverence you'd give a sacred plant
Support Indigenous-led organizations that preserve traditional knowledge
Pass this medicine intact to someone else when the time feels right
Practice daily gratitude for your sensitivity as sacred capacity

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What's Next: Living the Medicine

Some readers will feel this medicine in their bones and wonder what to do next. This awakening is just the beginning.

If this resonates deeply:

Start building relationship with one plant ally in your area
Begin tracking your natural rhythms and seasonal awareness
Connect with others who understand neurodivergence as ancestral gift
Share this medicine with proper ceremony and intention

Remember: You are not alone in this remembering. The ancestors are butterflies, they are in the mountains, and they can hear you say "I love you."

For deeper teachings on plant wisdom and seasonal living, explore our other work at www.sixtwenty.net - always shared in the spirit of relationship and reciprocity.

For updates on our work or to connect for more information: Follow our blog or send us an email: info@kotstek.com

Let us know if you want to be part of:

Speaker series and events
Talking circles and community gatherings
Updates when new teachings are ready to be shared
Our email list for seasonal wisdom and plant medicine offerings
Or just to share what’s on your heart

Share this medicine bundle:

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We welcome you to this continuing ceremony of remembering.

May this medicine bundle serve your remembering.
May your gifts find their proper place.
May you know yourself as the medicine you came here to be.

Neurodivergence as Ancestral Gift: A Medicine Bundle for Sensitive Minds