I love my wife. Even at 4 in the morning, when she wakes me up after getting in from a long night at work. She is a musician in the military and had to perform for a mess dinner, which often lets out after midnight. And this particular night she got home quite late, fell asleep on the couch for a little while and eventually made her way up to bed. Hence, 4 am.
While were lying there, her still wired and me still comatose, we talked. Well, actually she talked and I sort of mumbled incoherently, which, admittedly, is not much different from our usual sort of conversation, but it was more pronounced at that early hour.
At one point I seem to recall that she was wondering if she was becoming more bi-polar. She said that she had noticed a more pronounced cycle of ups and downs, energy and lethargy, joy and despair. I pointed out that this is a natural part of life, part of that cycle of crisis and victory that we see in all other areas.
She then asked what she could do about it, how to temper it. Now she knows all about how I deal with it (as do you, dear Reader, from that article long ago called Bi-Polar Bears), but was hoping for some more thoughts.
And I guess at 4 in the morning, when my brain just isn't working all that well, or at least less well than usual, I have a better chance of being moved by that wily Concourse, or at the very least noticing that touch from that poor soul in the Concourse who is tasked with helping me.
Anyways, as she was asking, a single verse came to mind: "Be generous in prosperity and thankful in adversity...:
It occurred to me, and I shared with her, that we can be so generous with our time and energy when we are in a manic high. This is the time when we have the most to give.
When we are in the low, that is when we have to be most thankful. By looking at those things that we have to be most thankful for, those things that make our life so dear, we will be able to curtail that depression.
That was all.
It doesn't seem like much to me, but it was a nice little insight that Marielle found useful.
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Hi Mead,
ReplyDeleteI just found your blog, and it's lovely and full of new thoughts. Thank you!
If you guys haven't looked into this, there's a lot of new thinking and questioning going into the issue of women's hormones and how they affect mood. Far beyond the pat PMS get-outta-the-way stereotype, there are ramifications for long-term depression, rages, energy changes, all sorts of things. My GP left her practice a couple of years ago to go run a pilot women's health program at a local hospital focussing on overlooked hormonal issues.
It's near to my heart, because I was misdiagnosed as bipolar for about six years before discovering my own issues were /strictly/ hormonal. Well- hormones, stress, and caffeine. ;) But hormone therapy was the key. Now, I'm not suggesting that is the case here, but it's entirely possible that as your wife ages hormones could intensify her cycle. Different women react differently to estrogen and progesterone, and as we age and those levels shift it can have profound effects on our moods and quality of life.
So, there's the mundane to balance your spiritual imsights. ;)
~ Star
that is a very helpful thought! thank you much for sharing it! i discovered your blog last summer and have been reading it "backwards" so to say, i really like it!
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