Melody Moezzi: A Genius

Keeping Track

For about a year now, I’ve been using a bound paper planner. I still do most of my scheduling online, but my paper “planner” is special. I don’t actually use it to plan anything. Rather, I use it to keep track of things that significantly affect my life.

It all started with a neurologist who suggested I keep a migraine diary to keep track of events (eating cheese or smelling coffee, for example) that preceded a migraine. The diary helped and got me thinking that if such documentation could identify migraine triggers, maybe it could do the same for mood. Keeping track of my sleep and excercise–as well as positive experiences, blessings and accomplishments has helped me enormously with mood regulation. So today I thought I’d share some of the things I track every day in my “planner” in the hopes that some of you might find this practice as useful as I have.



Sleep: When did you fall asleep last night? When did you wake up this morning? Any naps?
Mood: How would you rank your mood today? [Create your own scale.]
Exercise: Did you exercise today? If so, what did you do and for how long?
Pain: Were you in pain today? What kind and for how long?
Medication: What medications (including dosages) did you take today, especially new or as-needed (PRN) medications?
Spiritual Practice: Did you pray or meditate or engage in any other centering activity today?
Gratitude: What are at least five things for which you are grateful today?
Accomplishments: What did you accomplish today? Nothing is too small.

It’s entirely possible to keep track of all of this in a regular weekly planner. It takes only a few minutes a day and can truly improve your life. And if that’s not enough incentive to at least try it, most 2014 planners ought to be on sale by now.
Tagged with: Bipolar Disorder, mania, manic depression, mental health, mental illness, psychiatry, psychology
About the author: Melody Moezzi
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Melody Moezzi
Melody Moezzi is a writer, attorney, speaker, activist, a United Nations Global Expert and award-winning author. Her latest book, Haldol and Hyacinths: A Bipolar Life, was released in August 2013 by Avery. Her first book, War on Error: Real Stories of American Muslims, earned her a Georgia Author of the Year Award. Moezzi writes and speaks on a variety of issues, particularly those relating to Islam, Iran and mental health. She is a blogger for bp Magazine, the Huffington Post and Ms. Magazine, as well as a regular columnist for bp Magazine. Her writing has appeared in many outlets, including The New York Times, theWashington Post, The Guardian, and The Christian Science Monitor. She has also appeared on many radio and television programs, including NPR, CNN and BBC. Moezzi is a graduate of Wesleyan University and the Emory University School of Law, as well as the Emory University Rollins School of Public Health. She lives in Raleigh, NC. For more information and links to more of her work, please visit melodymoezzi.com. You can also follow her on Twitter: @MelodyMoezzi

Article on DEPRESSION
http://www.bphope.com/flight-of-ideas-steering-clear-of-depression/


Melody Moezzi is an writer, attorney, activist and award-winning author. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian and many other publications. Her latest book is Haldol and Hyacinths: A Bipolar Life. [Photo credit: Mario Mathis]

(Q1) In "Haldol and Hyacinths: A Bipolar Life," you decide to make your illness public. What were your concerns about doing so, and what made you decide to go forward?
I was mildly terrified that I would lose every ounce of credibility I ever had. I also feared that, given my first book was about young Muslim Americans and that I'd worked so hard to fight Islamophobia as an activist before publishing this book, that certain people might draw some horrible conclusions -- namely, that I was crazy because I was Muslim or vice versa. So yeah, I had tons of different fears when it came to going public about having bipolar disorder. But over the years I've learned that if I'm afraid of something, that's often where I need to go -- as a writer, as an activist and just as a human being. That's where the gold is.

Couch
A Persian in Therapy
By
Melody Moezzi NYT


My people don’t do psychotherapy. We have friends. We have families. We have pharmacies. Paying strangers to listen to our problems isn’t our style.

Fresh News
Melody Moezzi Hoops Strong at Democratic National Convention
by Philo Hagen • August 25, 2008 • 0 Comments

Rocky Mountain News reports, “Protesters at the Democratic National Convention were no match for Melody Moezzi, the Iranian-American activist with a preternatural proficiency with the hula hoop. She had been gyrating and keeping the hoop in play for over an hour when the anti-war throng moved past her. But she never missed a beat, keeping in play both the hoop and her one-woman hyping of her ‘Hooping for Peace’ events at the University of Denver this week. ‘If you don’t have a hoop, come anyway. I have about 100,’ said Moezzi, not even breathing hard, unfazed by heat or marchers. And proving that, in The Park at least, she was a peace proponent who was totally hip.” Rocky Mountain News