A Few Rules for Euphoria

Posted on May 5, 2006 in Mania

I’ve been experiencing golden manias lately. This has been scaring me because I am used to having some kind of iron billy club to beat me into a safer depression. After talking to a friend who went through her own euphoric episode today, I realized that there was a way for me to negotiate the euphorias just as I could pass through a depression without experiencing the bruisings of negative self talk.

In mania, one loses disperses control like a thousand petals. My friend reconstructed the rose when another friend reminded her of the rules she had to follow for her job. Together they reviewed those rules and she was able to control herself during the short-lived peak of her hyper-sanguine mood. I realized that I had an easier time when I was manic if I had my own set of rules to live by. So I wrote these and plan to stick them in my wallet:

• Be quiet, but charming if spoken to.
• Do not laugh around unhappy people.
• Listen to the distressed.
• Walk slowly.
• Talk slowly.
• If you get angry, excuse yourself.
• Ignore nasty people.
• Avoid talking about politics or religion.
• Watch gossip lest you share secrets.
• Avoid alcohol and recreational drugs (as you always have).
• Pull out this sheet whenever you feel elated.
• Do not feel that you have to beat your happiness down. It will pass and you do know how to handle a depression. Just exercise a little self control. You have the energy now. It is in your power to channel this ecstasy while not wasting the good feeling.