The characteristics of autism are, unfortunately, staples of the disorder. However, what are these characteristics? The most obvious characteristic I’ve found can be a necessity for motion like rocking or shaking.
I’ve found in my later years that bass filled music really affects me positively on a mental level. Another characteristic that some autistic people tend to have is an obsessive nature with a variety of things depending on the individual such as science, math, pop culture, writing and more.
Another characteristic that really affects me personally is an aversion to silences. I feel that this aversion comes from a weird adrenal sense that I have where traumatic incidents for me seem to slow down time and mute all noise.This seems the opposite of how most neurotypicals respond in that sense.
Noise tends to help me be more attuned to the potential of that circumstance to better avoid it. The Autistic stereotype/staple of avoiding eye contact, I’ve largely found to be true.
Not to toot my own horn too much, but I’ve gotten better at the eye contact issue. I suppose that my solution for the eye contact issue would be familiarity with or the positive vs negative energy that I get from the person that I’m interacting with.
I also don’t know if this is particularly a tick, but I’ve noticed that I have a certain sense of disorganization. I…don’t have an exact answer for this issue at this time.
The closest answer that I would bring up in regards to organizational help/solutions would be using apps like Trello, Google calendar and anything super mobile. Having a regular list of things that I’m working on WHERE/WHENEVER I am greatly helps me to stay coordinated.
I hope that these tips and tricks help you to understand just SOME of the issues that you’re presented with as someone on the spectrum.
Autism and Meditation
Meditation can be very difficult to settle into. This can especially be so for those on the spectrum. However, what can help calm an overstimulated and overly analytical autistic brain? Personally I’ve found that as ADD as I am I need to satisfy all five of my senses.
What do I mean by that? Firstly I use essential oils and a mini oil mist machine with lavender and/or eucalyptus oil. It helps you to unwind your mind without having to focus on it which could cancel itself out given how over analytical a mind on the spectrum may be. I for one am also a sucker for a bean bag pillow.
For whatever reason I’ve just always felt blissfully relaxed when laying against a bean bag pillow. I presume it’s due to sensory reasons. So that takes care of two major senses that need to be dressed. Another recommendation I’d make would be to drink Sleepytime herbal tea as it definitely helps my mind to relax and unwind.
It should be noted though it can definitely be difficult to tell if Sleepytime will relax you enough to meditate or make you sleep in general. As for sound I’ve found that listening to Tibetan Bells on YouTube really helps. That’s because the video I’ve found at least has two sounds. The importance of the two sounds for me is that the second can keep me from getting too drawn/analytical towards the other and vice versa.
This keeps me relaxed while not bored which is vital for me. Finally, for whatever reason covering my eyes with a shirt is really comforting for me. I don’t know if anyone else has this, but I’m uncomfortable with eye masks when I sleep. I find them too small and spend too much time overthinking them coming off.
Just using a shirt covering my face with the top of the shirt covering my eyes and bottom up too gives me the best amount of cover that my eyes need. I hope that this article has been helpful to you and understanding a potentially more immersive meditative session on the spectrum.