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How to Be Manic-Depressive

By Jan B. Roosa, Ph.D.

Kathy was continuously applying adjectives like "wonderful", "terrible", "good", and "bad" to anything that happened. When she applied these to any part of her relationships, she would get stuck and forget that life is all about learning and doing something to correct and improve. Thus, she was always disappointed, rejecting a relationship, or feeling inadequate. As she realized how the Adjectives were poisoning her enjoyment and closeness, she could restrain these and shift into the Language of Do.

Remember back --- maybe just a moment ago --- to times you were putting yourself down, or jumping bleakly into the future, or seeing the world through rose-colored glasses? Your mood went up or down depending on what adjectives you were using.

"That was really dumb." "I'm the smartest person I know." "Boy, am I stupid!" "That job is hard." "He's just mean." "She's a real witch." "That'll be easy, no problem." "Life's a bitch." "Isn't life just perfect?" "She's such a doll, a real wonderful person." "What's wrong with me?" "He's evil." "She's such a good person." Say these to yourself and note the negative feelings.

What do we do to our morale, energy, decisiveness, and considerateness by evaluating ourselves, others, and experiences rather than describing situations, deciding, and acting on them? We screw them up.

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FOR THE COMPLETE TEXT AND A WALKTHROUGH OF HOW TO UNDERSTAND AND USE THIS SKILL, CLICK BELOW TO ORDER AND DOWNLOAD THE LIVE BY THE ADJECTIVE MODULE! (8 PAGES)

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