[OutlawedSpirit]

If you haven't read my first post I Am A Cold, please at least glance at it. I am trying to see if there is a general feeling on the I am bp vs I have bp thing. Thanks!

[Anika.]

I was just thinking about this in a different thread where I wrote....

Maybe bipolar is just a an opps in our brain, that is not illness at all. Maybe sometimes our bipolar brains just go out of this middle world that we were built for, like an opps weren't supposed to go there, weren't supposed to see that, close the curtain.

Maybe it's just us sometimes walking in a landscape we are not intended to walk in. Our brains are not equipped to translate or navigate. A blip letting you pass through an accidental doorway into another level of this universe. The brain doesn't have the capacity to understand parts of this world it was not meant to walk in. Like a little quantum leap a little showing of a different quantum universe, or molecular world. Like a rock is not as solid as it seems.. atoms can pass in and out of it, but not in the middle world we live in, so we can't see it or do it, doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

I could explain it better and further, I have a hard time thinking it is just disease, or illness.. doesn't add up to me. Our world and minds seem much to complex to me to understand. But I think there is always more to it. Then again I tend to just over think everything and not always in the right direction. AND maybe I am just a little crazy.

I voted I don't know.. cause I don't, but I am or I have... only really matter I guess to the individual. Can't really tell what their perception is based on those words. It might lend us to assuming how they perceive it, but it doesn't mean we are correct. Someone could easily say I am bipolar and not perceive themselves to actually be bipolar.

[Clinte89]

I thought your first post was good and a good description of why you are bipolar. check mine out as to why Im not bipolar but i rather have it. itll be interesting to see how this poll plays out.

[Warrioress]

I have long since decided that bipolar is much more than an illness and I definitely AM bipolar. It's not something I can always be proud of or happy about, but that's how I usually think of it.

[BlueInanna]

I am spirit in a human body, and I have bipolar.

I know the feeling Anika is saying, "oops close the curtain", "wasn't supposed to see that".

My 16 yr old son has bp worse than I do, makes me question if I even really have it. But anyway, he said he thinks bp is human evolution gone way wrong. I think he might be right. I think also that maybe it's evolution, period. Sometimes it presents as illness, and we feel horrible and ill. Sometimes we're seeing past that curtain that we don't want to see, weren't meant to see, weren't ready to see. If we were raised in communities with a Shaman it would probably be a different story.

I'm not saying I think bp is anything "new". Actually there is a book I'm reading called Women of the Way, it's a historical account about the women who followed Buddha/Siddhartha when he was alive, and many of them became bodhisattvas (I feel similar women followed and were close to Jesus). But in this book, many of these women, choosing to leave their homes and families sound like possible bipolar symptoms to me. They are the ones considered willful, difficult, won't conform, depressed, hyper and run off to follow Buddha. But they become respected, reaching spiritual enlightenment.

Just some ideas, I hope I don't upset anyone of different beliefs. I'm baptized Catholic, but always so fascinated with religions and spirituality. My parents were very encouraging of me finding my own path, which I'm grateful for. I have some Native American blood running through my dna that is undeniable, so much of that rings true with me. I find things to learn from every religion I have looked at.

But for me, "I am", is a very sacred spiritual meaning. I'm sure at times I will use the terms interchangeably, I'm bipolar and I have bipolar, and it honestly doesn't bother me how each person wants to say it, or how I say it. But when I really spend some time thinking about it, I go with I have bipolar, because the full essence of me is so much bigger than the bp.

[BlueInanna]

This thread might get more attention if renamed, " I am a Hot Pole "
hehe

[moremi]

I have been asked this before and wasnt really sure. Now though that I have had bipolar for awhile. I feel that I am bipolar. Whether I like to believe it or not, bipolar does effect every aspect of my life. One day this may change but since I have been diagnosed 3 years ago I have been on a rollercoaster that hasnt stopped. Every thought, feeling and everything is pushed and pulled by bipolar. I can spend weeks on the couch in a severe depression contemplating my life and spring one day from the couch and run around like a chicken with its head cut off happier then a cat covering up poo, spending money like a fool.

[Anneinside]

Originally Posted by moremi

I have been asked this before and wasnt really sure. Now though that I have had bipolar for awhile. I feel that I am bipolar. Whether I like to believe it or not, bipolar does effect every aspect of my life. One day this may change but since I have been diagnosed 3 years ago I have been on a rollercoaster that hasnt stopped. Every thought, feeling and everything is pushed and pulled by bipolar. I can spend weeks on the couch in a severe depression contemplating my life and spring one day from the couch and run around like a chicken with its head cut off happier then a cat covering up poo, spending money like a fool.

I noticed you have other disorders listed... are you or do you have OCD, are you or do you have anxiety ... and so forth. If you have these things, what is the difference between them and bipolar?