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The extremes of mania are usually the source of its danger; more is not always better.

Following the rules and respecting authority is difficult but essential when you’re manic.

Hard as it is, exercising caution and moderation can save you from serious consequences.

I’ve lived with bipolar disorder all my life, so I feel I can speak with some authority on mania. Mania is a great teacher, because its lessons are often very dramatic. You’d think they’d therefore stick in your head, and never need repeating. Unfortunately, that’s rarely the case—when the next manic episode hits, you forget all the hard-won wisdom of the past because you’re so much smarter, more insightful, more incandescent now.

Here are five lessons I’ve learned the hard way from my journeys into and out of mania:

1. Sometimes it’s best just to go with the stupid flow

I'm all for thinking outside the box—and mental illness, especially mania, enables you to do that. When I’m manic, I can envision all sorts of amazing possibilities for the future, and see all sorts of flaws in the status quo; and I’m not the least bit shy about proposing big changes or just making them without asking first.

I remember when I was an entertainment attorney working on a major studio lawsuit, not getting near enough sleep to stay stable. I had a manic epiphany one night that the voluminous case files (we’re talking thousands of........

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