🪞 Reflect
Recognise. Explore. Acknowledge. Learn.
Steady growth. Gentle strength. True resilience.
The REAL process invites you to build habits, routines, and identity from a place of deep self-awareness and steady hope.
It's a bridge between seeing yourself clearly, shaping your days intentionally, and preparing to rise calmly into the life you are ready to create.
REAL draws inspiration from eight timeless Japanese philosophies —
guiding you to honour your story, embrace imperfection, find meaning, grow steadily, and rise with quiet courage.
Each step of REAL builds on what you began in FLOURISH:
the self-discovery of Discover, the attention and presence of Focus, and the gentle noticing of Mindfulness, and optimising your life’s flow through Habits and Routines.
Now, in REAL, you begin to shape action from all that you’ve seen.
🧭 R — Recognise
Honour Your Whole Story
You are not beginning from nothing.
You are beginning with everything you have lived — every triumph, every scar, every quiet strength.
In Recognise, we invite you to see yourself fully:
to honour the cracks and golden repairs that make you who you are, just as in Kintsugi, where broken pottery is mended with gold, becoming more beautiful for having been broken.
And like the clear surface of a Mizukagami — a still water mirror — we invite you to keep your mind calm, reflective, responsive.
Not reacting wildly to each ripple of emotion or circumstance, but noticing, adjusting, and returning to balance.
The spirit of the Samurai runs quietly here too:
true strength begins with clear seeing and quiet honour for your own journey.
🌄 E — Explore
Discover Possibility
From this grounded beginning, Explore invites you to ask:
What energises me? Where might I go next?
What new shape could my days take?
Guided by Ikigai, we explore the intersection of what you love, what you are good at, what the world needs, and what you might be rewarded for. No rush. No pressure. Just gentle noticing of what pulls you forward.
At the same time, Kaizen reminds us: big changes are built from tiny improvements. You don’t have to redesign your life overnight.
A five-minute morning routine. A pause before reaching for your phone. A single moment of mindfulness before starting a task.
Each tiny change gathers into a larger flow over time.
Your habits and routines begin here — born from curiosity, meaning, and steady growth.
🍂 A — Acknowledge
Trust Your Season
In Acknowledge, we pause to notice:
What’s working well? What could be even better? Here, we embrace the spirit of Wabi Sabi — the beauty of imperfection, transience, and unfinished growth. And we honour Oubaitori — the truth that each person blooms in their own time, just as the cherry, plum, peach, and apricot blossom in their own seasons. There is no race. No competition. Only your unfolding — perfect in its own rhythm. There is no single right timeline for forming new habits, or for healing old patterns. Growth may happen quickly or slowly, in fits and starts, and that is part of the beauty of living.
Through the lens of Appreciative Inquiry, we ask:
- What strengths have I built?
- What small wins can I celebrate?
- What small adjustments could make life even lighter, even richer?
Here, your routines are not judged — they are tended, nurtured, and refined with kindness.
📖 L — Learn
Rise Stronger Each Time
Learning is not an endpoint.
It is a way of being.
In Learn, we practice Hansei — the art of humble reflection.
Noticing what worked, what didn’t, and what new possibilities now appear.
Learning becomes a rhythm, not a judgment.
And we embrace the spirit of Nana korobi ya oki:
"Fall seven times, rise eight."
True strength is not in never stumbling — it is in the courage to get up, adjust, and move forward again.
The Samurai spirit lingers here too:
courage is quiet, persistence is noble, and every step forward — however small — is a triumph of the soul.
Your habits and routines are now alive —
imperfect, evolving, real — and you are ready to carry them onward.
🌸 Timeless Wisdom for a Modern Journey
Before you rise calmly into the next part of your journey, we invite you to pause here.
REAL is not just a set of steps — it is grounded in centuries-old philosophies that honour resilience, growth, imperfection, and courage.
In this section, you’ll find brief explanations of the eight Japanese concepts that inspire REAL, along with the quiet strength of the Samurai spirit that flows through them.
Each philosophy has been gently reimagined for life with ADHD —
showing how these ancient ideas can bring hope, purpose, and steady transformation into the small daily moments that shape who you are becoming.
These aren't just ideas to admire.
They are living invitations:
to see yourself more kindly,
to grow more patiently,
and to rise more courageously —
one small, golden step at a time.
🏺 Kintsugi
Kintsugi is the Japanese art of mending broken pottery with gold, making the cracks part of the beauty, not something to hide.
How it applies to ADHD:
Your struggles, setbacks, and scars are not signs of failure — they are golden threads in your story. Recognising your full journey, imperfections and all, is the first step toward healing and wholeness.
💧 Mizukagami
Mizukagami describes a mind like a calm, clear water surface — reflecting reality just as it is, without overreaction or distortion.
How it applies to ADHD:
Learning to notice thoughts, feelings, and distractions with calm clarity — without spiraling into overwhelm — helps you respond wisely to life's ripples, returning to focus gently and steadily.
🎯 Ikigai
Ikigai is the meeting point of what you love, what you are good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for — your personal source of meaning.
How it applies to ADHD:
Exploring what gives your life energy and purpose helps you build habits and routines that align with your strengths, not just your struggles. You create a life that feels meaningful, not just manageable.
📈 Kaizen
Kaizen is the philosophy of making tiny, consistent improvements every day — trusting that great change comes through steady, humble effort.
How it applies to ADHD:
Massive, sudden changes often backfire. But small, doable shifts — a 2-minute tidy-up, a 5-minute breathing practice — create momentum that transforms your routines naturally over time.
🍂 Wabi Sabi
Wabi Sabi teaches that everything is imperfect, incomplete, and transient — and that there is deep beauty in that natural imperfection.
How it applies to ADHD:
Your routines won't always be perfect. Your focus won't always be flawless. Accepting imperfection with grace — instead of fighting it — frees you to keep moving forward, softer and stronger.
🌸 Oubaitori
Oubaitori is the idea that the cherry, plum, peach, and apricot each bloom in their own season — and no flower rushes or compares itself to another.
How it applies to ADHD:
Your growth doesn't have to follow anyone else’s timeline. Whether it takes days, months, or years to build a habit or heal a pattern, your journey is unfolding exactly as it needs to.
📖 Hansei
Hansei is the practice of honestly and humbly reviewing your actions — not to punish yourself, but to learn and improve with compassion.
How it applies to ADHD:
Reflecting on what worked and what didn’t — without shame — helps you refine your strategies over time. Every moment of reflection plants a seed for wiser habits tomorrow.
🎋 Nana korobi ya oki
The Samurai spirit reflects quiet courage, honour in persistence, and strength drawn from within — not from outward perfection.
How it applies to ADHD:
You don't need to fight your way through life. True strength lies in facing your days with steady dignity, quiet persistence, and the willingness to keep learning, even after setbacks. Your journey is noble because it is yours.
🛡️ The Samurai Spirit
The Samurai spirit reflects quiet courage, honour in persistence, and strength drawn from within — not from outward perfection.
How it applies to ADHD:
You don't need to fight your way through life. True strength lies in facing your days with steady dignity, quiet persistence, and the willingness to keep learning, even after setbacks. Your journey is noble because it is yours.
🌱 Rising Calmly
REAL is not the final destination.
It is the fertile ground from which you prepare to Rise Calmly into the next phase of FLOURISH:
Instill — the quiet embedding of habits into identity, the steady weaving of growth into daily life.
You do not have to force this.
You rise as rivers rise after rain — naturally, steadily, inevitably.
Tiny actions.
Golden cracks.
Small blooms.
Courageous returns.
This is your REAL life. And you are ready to rise calmly into what comes next.
Mon - Fri: 8AM - 6PM
Sat - Sun: Variable
Brisbane North Medical Specialists,
15 Dallas Parade, Keperra, QLD 4054
(07) 5221 3489
reception@bnms.com.au