Dear fans and readers, let me take a moment to enlighten you as to what as been goi on wih Love Is The Cure/Spliit. It’s been a bit inactive for the last few weeks due to some severe depression and intense soul-searching on my part.
I realized that much of what I have been doing has been due to conditioning and I have really been working hard on developing increased self-awareness and self-knowledge to combat the unfathomable emptiness and boredom that often accompany borderline personality disorder. I have realized that marketing is not my path. I had a 8 year long competitive swimming career which ended when I was 15 years old due to the onset of mental illness symptoms. I have rediscovered my passion for athletics and am currently embarking on a career as a swim coach. I would also like to become a life coach.
As far as LITC, we are going in a new direction. It is both broader and more focused. We will be expanding our audience beyond the borders of mental illness and are relaunching as a self-love and personal empowerment movement rooted in the ideology of the 1960s human potential movement.
We will have new leadership, websites and branding. Get ready to join us on this exciting new project! Comment with your questions, feedback and suggestions. Thanks for your continued support and involvement!
Love Is The Cure is at it again launching a new BPD awareness campaign, Phoenix: The Rebirthing. The campaign was named after a mythological bird, the Phoenix, which is known for crashing to the ground in flames just to emerge from the ashes, flying back into the sky from which it fell. This symbol represents how people with borderline personality disorder must often put the pieces of their lives back together after they fall apart. It also embodies a message of hope, the idea that we can put our lives back together and it’s never too late to do so.
Journaling is a great tool for personal transformation and deliberately focusing your mind. But, with so many topics to write about and so many prompts to answer, which journalism technique is most effective?
I have a personal growth and recovery binder which contains over 25 journaling prompts and entry topics. Lately, I have been getting back into reading self-help books and have developed a technique which I find most effective and simple. It should be practiced daily, preferably early in the morning. It can help you develop a focused, positive energy which you can carry into the rest of your day.
I know it’s a bit late for this but it’s still the first week of January. I want to begin this year with an inspirational post for all my wonderful readers.
Did you make a New Year’s resolution? Or maybe even goals? Share them in the comments space below so I can encourage you!
There are several things I learned last year which I would like to share with all of you.
First, focus on quality over quantity. In today’s fast-paced, multitasking world we can easily get caught up in staying busy and forget to scale down our daily activities in order to give more time to each task. Minimalism is chic so par down your to-do list, clean your house and toss out what you don’t need. Less is more.
Second, take risks. Take a leap out of your comfort zone to start experiencing new things. We are often more regretful of what we didn’t do than what we did do. This doesn’t mean being reckless, it means giving yourself opportunities to leverage your talent and potential even if the odds seem uncertain.
Third, speak up for yourself and do what’s right for you. Learn to say no when you need to. Honor your values and priorities in everything you do.
Fourth, keep the big picture in mind. Think big, don’t let trivial things distract you from your dreams and ideals.
Fifth, celebrate your successes, no matter what size they are. This will help keep you motivated and positive.
What did you learn in 2009? Share it in your comment so you can contribute to the growth of fellow readers.
Hi…I’ve recently been diagnosed with BPD. It explains so much of my previous behaviour, and doesn’t frighten me like I thought such a diagnosis might.
I am in a very committed relationship, and whilst it is reasonably new (3 months) he is aware of my diagnosis. It doesn’t bother him, beyond him not knowing how to help.
Truth be told I’m not sure how he can help.
I also have Bulimia, which he has been wonderfully helpful and supportive with (haven’t purged for 6 weeks now!). But he seems lost on BPD.
I have tried to explain what it is, asked him to read some things (which he has) but I don’t think he understands. (which I suppose is usual for someone who is/always has been mentally healthy…how can he relate?)
Basically, I was hoping for some advice on how to explain how it affects me…a more pragmatic explanation than just rattling off the symptoms.
This Emotional Life is a new series coming January 2010 to PBS. The three part series is hosted by Harvard psychologist and best-selling author of Stumbling on Happiness, Professor Daniel Gilbert. It examines how we can improve our social relationships, become positive, resilient people and it even covers mental health issues such as borderline personality disorder. It premiers January 4th 2010. Other interesting topics to be explored include addiction, intimate relationships, bipolar disorder, depression, eating disorders, stress and anxiety, anger, and PTSD. If you watch it, be sure to come back and leave a comment about what you thought and any interesting information you learned.
“Life is just a mirror of self. To change what you see in the mirror, begin by changing yourself.”
-Stephanie Price
Today I’m going to give you guys some of the good stuff, some of that positive, personal insight you know me for.
There are countless self-help books out there. You can even purchase software and multimedia and spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on this information. That’s all it is, just information. It’s great to indulge in this, I definitely do, but it’s how you use the information not really how much you have that makes the difference.
I have read tons of self-help books, watched videos, made notes, done dozens of exercises and listened to more CDs than I can count. All of the concepts sort of overwhelmed me. One guy would tell me to work on three habits per month and another would say just work on one until I had it done. But where do I start?
These ratings are based perceived effectiveness of message and production quality of the advertisements.
1#: A refreshing call to action.
This video is professional and clever. It has an artistic touch and the whole commercial is wrapped up with a message of hope and a strong call to action. Too many mental health PSAs either fail to leave a positive feeling with the viewer or don’t tell them what to do next. This video does a great job on all fronts and definitely deserves the blue medal.
New York City always crosses my mind when I think of a fast-paced, grandiose metropolis where go-getters can really shine. For the most part, I think this is true. My social enterprise, Love Is The Cure, has a chapter (aka regional affiliate) in NYC and they are even planning to coordinate a rally for BPD awareness in Spring of 2010. There are several NYC support groups for people with borderline personality disorder, in addition to a new movement I discovered several months ago.
Rethink BPD is is an independent documentary, website and social movement bringing the most in-depth portrait of the Borderline Personality Disorder experience to a national audience. The objective of the movement is to change how we see and treat mental illness.
I have corresponded with Amanda Wang, the Producer and Founder. She is pretty cool and is passionate about what she does. She also leads a support group in NY and has spoken at the National Education Alliance for Borderline Personality Disorder & Yale University School of Medicine Conference, Borderline Personality Disorder, Trauma, and Resiliency in 2008 and has recently spoken at the BPD Resource Center / New York Presbyterian: The University Hospital of Columbia & Cornell Conference, Adolescent Pathology: Personality Disorders and Comorbidity.
You can actually participate in the making of this film by sharing your story and possibly being a character in the documentary. Boy, I wish I lived there. Check out details here.
If a picture can paint a thousand words, a song can paint a million. Music is a dynamic and fascinating form of expression which can also be a great mental health awareness tool. Love Is The Cure is focusing on leveraging media as activism channels- video, images, ect. Kayla Kavanagh, a versatile solo music artist, is also taking a stand in the mental health awareness movement.
She successfully recovered from borderline personality disorder and has progressed to earn a Masters Degree and become a successful music artist and designer. She is an Irish multi-instrumentalist who works across a variety of genres, as an electronica performer, guitar-based Singer/Songwriter, pianist, Pop/Rock artist and classical/contemporary composer. She has performed at a national tour as well as at the Edinburgh Fringe Festivals and other festivals across the country. She will be one of the featured poster-children in the mental health awareness campaign which Love Is The Cure will be launching next year.
On 19th November, Kayla Kavanagh launched her special release single “On the Borderline” at the inaugural PD Congress in Birmingham. The 1st National Personality Disorder Congress was a two day event celebrating success – innovation, knowledge & understanding.
As an invited Keynote Speaker, Kayla was privileged to be a part of such an important event raising awareness of Personality Disorder. Her single sold out at the event, and is now available for download on her website.
I can particularly identify with the following line from her song. It describes the identity disturbance so many of us face everyday- the constant confusion and dissociation that plagues many of those with borderline personality disorder.
“as I look into the mirror now, I see strangers staring back at me..”
In a provocative article I recently read on BPD family DOT com, I discovered some disturbing views on borderline relationships as well as a few nuggets of suprising insight. The article takes us on a tour of the three stated phases of a borderline relationship. Not only are the names of these phases disparaging to individuals with borderline personality disorder but makes the reader feel as though all people with the disorder are evil. Aren’t we are here to promote hope and the value of the individual?
Every person with BPD is unique, Millon has stated that there are four variations of the borderline personality type. Yes, some can fit the description of this article. However, many people with the disorder are just as good and loving as everyone else, they just have great difficulty making these qualities visible. My romantic relationships have followed some of the patterns presented in the article, but not all. I also did not try to consciously hurt the person I was with. The article makes us seem like monsters.
Here is my least favorite paragraph in the article:
But, if like King Priam, you do fall prey to this Trojan Horse and let her inside your city gates, the first Berserker to leave the horse will be the devious Clinger. A master at strengthening her control through empathy, she is brilliant at eliciting sympathy and identifying those most likely to provide it-like the steady-tempered and tenderhearted.
My PC has been having some problems, it may be a virus for an actual problem with the laptop itself. We are working on fixing it and hopefully I will get some posts up soon and be back shortly.
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