Over these past three weeks, I’ve managed to get out of the city for three interrupted vacations. Why they were interrupted is kind of a long story, but the experience of popping out of and back into the city really gave me the chance to see the contrast between my life in the city and the way that I could live if I really put my mind to it. Since my vacations have kept me away from the site for a while, I thought I’d at least take the opportunity to share what I’d learned in the last few weeks. Continue reading →

In this blog I would like to talk about the Native symbol known as the Medicine Wheel, the concept of the Seven Directions and how I use them to make daily adjustments.

Do you see things? I do. Seemingly incoherent and random shapes become images. I can sit outside for an hour and watch the clouds drift by seeing dozens of animals…but only animals. When I look for rocks on the Arctic Ocean shoreline, I keep the ones that have faces…and again, I only find faces. Driftwood can also be fascinating, the curving forms molding themselves into strange beasts, some pleasant and some scary. Nobody else sees them, until I point them out. Continue reading →

It is very easy to become disappointed with ourselves when we have bipolar disorder. After all, we often won’t accomplish as much as other people. Moreover, we often develop grand plans while hypomanic, only to find that we cannot carry them out. This level of disappointment can really affect our overall happiness, as it makes us feel like we are not what we should be.

However, I want to suggest a different way of looking at it. If we look at our accomplishments not relative to a standard that society or we have set up for ourselves, but relative to our actual challenges, people with bipolar disorder actually accomplish quite a bit. In fact, just the process of going through everyday life can be a heroic endeavor. Continue reading →

Given that I have so many opinions about bipolar disorder (hey, I started a blog about it), I have surprisingly few opinions about what sort of treatments are best. Often, I’ve encountered the belief that everyone on bipolar disorder should be on a certain type of medication, or that everyone should be in a certain type of therapy. These debates can often become quite heated. However, in all of these debates, I realized I don’t really have any strong views. Continue reading →

Bipolar people have one advantage compared to their family and friends. At the end of the day, we have the option of seeking treatment or not seeking treatment, and what kind or kinds of treatment to seek. Family members and friends of bipolar people can be in a much more difficult and often frustrating situation. Unless the bipolar person is legally incompetent, bipolar people have the right to refuse treatment. As a result, the loved ones of bipolar people are often only able to watch and are unable to act when they see that the people they love need real help. Continue reading →