How do I get this mood thing under control?

I suffer from bipolar 1, the most severe form of bipolar. Unlike many people in my situation, I remain calm and cool, but I can't change my mood to save my life. I like to walk on the tredmill because it decreases my stress level (another part of my bipolar), but I can't seem to sway my mood into being happy enough to stay up there and endure the workout. Can anyone help me to change my mood?How do I get this mood thing under control?
I hope you are in the regular care of a cognitive therapist or an Adlerian therapist, to help you manage your moods and thoughts. I often suggest the ';4-S Metrhod'; of thought and feeling control to my patients:



1. Stop sign -- When you sense a thought you don't want in your head, in your imagination hold up a huge red stop sign, perhaps being held by a stern-faced crossing guard!



2. Shout it out -- Shout at the thought, scream at it, curse at it, yell at it (all in your mind, of course!) until you can sense that it is leaving your mind. (The nice thing about the mind is that it cannot contain more than a single conscious thought at a time.) Treat it like an intruder in your mind, someone you DO NOT want in there! Get angry at it!



3. Substitute -- Have handy a sentence or thought to put in the place of the unwanted thought. Make it something strong, something positive, something you really want to believe! (Some people carry such positive or self-encouraging thoughts with them, on 3 x 5 cards.)



4. Sustain -- Keep at it. YOU CREATED THE UNWANTED THOUGHT FOR A REASON! (';Psychology of Use'; says you think all your thoughts in order to get something from them!) As you kick the unwanted thought out the front door, it will turn around and try to sneak in a window or down the chimney! DON'T LET IT!



Keep repeating the four S's until you find yourself to be in charge of the thought you don't want. As you become more comfortable with this, you'll find you are more in control of your whole mind, and also of your feelings.



If you really WANT to control your thoughts, this is highly effective. I'm pretty sure that, if you use it regularly, you'll find that you are in charge of your thoughts by this time next week. If you mention this approach to your therapist, he/she should recognize it as Basicallly Adlerian but primarily the result of behavior therapists Joseph Wolpe and Arnold Lazarus.



You may also want to get the book ';Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy'; by David Burn, about $8 at Amazon, as well as the workbook that goes with it. Burn is one of the main students of Aaron Beck, specializing in cognitive therapy. -- Dr. Bob (Adlerian psychologist)