Routines are Empowering

in the morning to say goodbye. His father had heard that voice before, knew what it meant, and pleaded with his son to give him forty five minutes to get from his place over to Paul's apartment so he could talk him out of it. Paul has bipolar disorder, the mental disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood and energy and activity levels, extremes of severe depression where they can hardly get out of bed for days or weeks at a time. I first met Paul Daio back in two

thousand and five. It was at Yale University at Battel Chapel. Paul was an aspiring filmmaker and a huge David Lynch Fan and he had come to hear David talk about creativity, meditation, art film, and he hoped afterwards to meet with David and show him a film script he'd done and get David's guidance. As we were talking backstage, it was clear that Paul was quite agitated. Paul said that he had

learned to meditate, but wasn't doing it regularly. David very gently looked over to me and at Paul and said, Bob, maybe you and Paul could do a little meditation refresher and then we could talk afterwards. So Paul and I found a place to sit some quiet corner. We meditated for twenty minutes. Afterwards, Paul opened up. He had been bipolar for about five years. He had been in and out of hospitals, once on a six week suicide watch.

He has a very strong family support system and they tried everything, but still he wasn't getting traction with his treatment. Paul really enjoyed his meditation. It resonated with him, and he continued to meditate regularly over the coming weeks, months, and even years. As we became good friends and sometimes we would travel and he would talk about his experience with meditation and bipolar disorder. Along the way, I learned a lot. About three percent of the American people suffer

from bipolar are it's considered severe high suicide rates. The whole approach of treatment of bipolar disorder, whether it's medication or talk therapy or lifestyle changes, is to help maintain stability in a routine, to maintain what's called the circadian rhythm in the body. So a person with bipolar is encouraged to go to sleep one time, wake up, exercise, meditate, eat on time because if their system is thrown off, if for example, they don't sleep well for a couple

of nights, they could just fall through the cracks. So everything is designed around maintaining a strong circadian rhythm. Paul did well with that. The medication kept him more stable, but it frustrated him as well because it didn't make him healthy, more creative, it didn't make him happier. When he began meditating again, suddenly he found his creativity beginning to flourish. And he'd been depressed for so long, and

he thought that that was his life, his destiny. Then he met a fellow, Jeff Rice, who had been meditating for ten years and had bipolar disorder. And he asked Jeff if he was ever happy, and Jeff said, of the time. That was a stunner for Paul. There was a vision of a possibility of not a dark existence. With the support of his family, medication, therapy, exercise, good diet, and regular practice of meditation, Paul has really flourished. He's

now married with two young boys. He completed a critically acclaimed film which you should see. It's called Touched with Fire, semi autobiographical about his experience with bipolar disorder. He's now working with his wife on her film and developing a film for himself. And he said to me, life is better and better. I still have a tendency to slip, but I come back faster. The one take away I got from all of this is the absolute importance of routine.

It's the same for everybody. If we go to bed on time, sleep well, wake up on time, exercise eat well, meditate regularly, our body, our brain thrives. My tip is the value of routine is liberating, is empowering. All right, let's end this time together doing something that I think should be a feature of our everyday life and that's appreciation and gratitude. So let's take thirty seconds of quiet, thirty seconds to take a break, Just take a moment. It turns out when we do that, it's good for

our health as well. I'll be right back all right. Thank you for joining. This is Bob Roth. Keep calm, Thanks for listening today. I hope you heard something that inspires, that uplifts you and that you can incorporate into your own life. Until next time, remember, meditate, be kind, and be true to yourself. Pay all of you out there, I'd love to hear from you. You can send me your stories, your questions, or anything else on your mind. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram at

Meditation Bob. You can also send me an email at meditation Bob Roth at gmail dot com. Um I look forward to hearing from you.