Melody Moezzi was a high-powered lawyer with a published book and long history of political activism already in her resumé. Then, she got her diagnosis of Type I Bipolar Disorder. After a long hospitalization to stabilize her moods, Moezzi shared her story in her first memoir.
Now, she has released a second memoir. Her newest book focuses on the ancient wisdom of Persian poet Rumi. It chronicles how he helps her navigate a chaotic life with Bipolar Disorder. This memoir, The Rumi Prescription, explains this journey of mental and spiritual health.
Melody Moezzi, the Renaissance Woman
Moezzi is a woman of many trades. “You need to lower your expectations for your life,” a counselor told her after her final, and finally correct, diagnosis of Type I Bipolar Disorder.
At 29 years of age, she had already accomplished more than many people even dream of. She had finished law school, earned a Master’s degree in public health and published her first book.
So she responded: “Girl, raise yours!”
In addition to her educational achievements, Moezzi is also a prolific writer, political activist, a United Nations Global Expert. She has worked towards religious freedom and health and human rights initiatives.
Currently, she boasts the role of visiting professor of creative nonfiction at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. She writes extensively about American politics through the lens of a Muslim Persian–American woman. She focuses much of her writing on living in an atmosphere in which her identities are often persecuted. Moezzi has written about combing her American patriotism with her Persian identity for NBC, protesting and the value of being emotional for the Huffington Post, and blogs for the New York Times and the Guardian.
A Series of Diagnoses
The disorder had impacted Moezzi’s life significantly, oscillating between periods of depression and mania since she was only 19, when she had her first hallucination. Her diagnosis came after a psychotic break following a manic period during which she hula-hooped for six hours straight at the 2008 Democratic National Convention to raise awareness about the conflict between the US and Iran. She then experienced a long depressive period, which resulted in hallucinations and the belief that she was a prophet.
Although the disorder carries significant stigma, Moezzi says, “there is something valuable about the way my mind works. I would never want to ‘cure’ that.” Moezzi credits her “acute aptitude for adaptation” for dealing with this stigma, and uses her experience as a Muslim Iranian-American woman to inform how she deals with prejudice.
“I know from experience [stigma and prejudice] are often the misplaced and unfounded results of others’ deep-seated insecurities,” Moezzi reflects. “So I refuse to let them dictate how I live my life.”
Melody Moezzi and Rumi’s Poetry
Rumi is a long-standing fixture in Moezzi’s life. She writes, “for as long as I can remember, my father has been scribbling …poems on his old prescription pads, signing them as though they were for any ordinary pharmaceutical and leaving them like pearls at my feet.”
Rumi’s influence in Persian culture is significant; beautiful poetry which is easily picked apart into aphorisms. These aphorisms connect to people on the levels of faith, art, music, and love.
Moezzi’s second memoir, “The Rumi Prescription: How an Ancient Mystic Poet Changed My Modern Manic Life”, focuses on her experience embracing the philosophy that has been alongside her all along. The poems helped push her thought process into a different direction. They forced her to analyze her situations with a new lens. For example, she brings up the line, “every storm the Beloved unfurls permits the sea to scatter pearls” and how it showed her that “what mattered was that [she] approached [her] poetic pilgrimage with patience and humility, recognizing every hardship as an invitation to step out of fear and into love in [her] own life.”
Pre-order Moezzi’s compelling second memoir here.
