Mike Attar Turns Life Challenge into Changing Lives

by Dee Anne Stiles 

Through the creation of the Good Mood Foundation (GMF), Mike Attar has turned his greatest life challenge into the blessing of finding his true life calling: helping people with mental illness and mood-related struggles learn how to live life in a good mood – one step at a time.   

Since its beginning in 2005, the GMF has reached out to help hundreds of afflicted people and their family and friends through its website at www.GoodMoodFoundation.org. Mike’s insightful, instructional, and motivating book, My Pursuit of a Good Mood, and his workshop recordings with workbook are all accessible for free on GMF’s website. My Pursuit of a Good Mood is currently being published and will continue to be given away for free.

Unlike other mental health organizations, the Good Mood Foundation combines the power of biblical teachings into its mental health ministry. Mike contributes his time, talents, and resources to the GMF without any compensation; he operates it totally on the goodness and donations of others.  

At age 32, Mike Attar was living a Camelot life with a successful and lucrative sales career, a wonderful wife, and a fulfilling church life. Then, suddenly, in the prime of his life, the walls came tumbling down. His company folded, his church was in upheaval, and a close friend died in an accident. 

The mounting stress, the sudden losses, and heredity factors trigged a severe mental illness in Mike called bi-polar disorder. This crippling and disabling illness left him with severe mood struggles, inner pain, and mental and physical ailments that made reconstructing a new life even more difficult. 

“Up to this point in my life, I didn’t know much about mental illness, clinical depression, or mood struggles. I didn’t know that losses, negative influences, rejection of friends and family, and genetics for mental illness would eventually catch up to me,” said Mike.

Even though his world had come crashing down, Mike’s faith and his strength of will from God and his wife, Michelle, remained standing strong amidst the dust.   He was determined to do whatever it took to overcome this illness. He researched and learned all he could about conquering bi-polar disorder. He sought professional medical and counseling help and worked vigorously to learn how to deal with the illness. At one point, Michelle gave up her career for five years to stay and help Mike at home during his recovery. Finally, Mike overcame this life-crippling disease and began a full life serving God and others through the creation of his Good Mood Foundation.   

 “Conquering this extremely painful and disabling illness with God’s help and the help of my wife, professionals, and my church, has so completely saved and positively changed my life that I know helping others with mental illness is my life calling from God,” said Mike.  

The GMF program outlines a comprehensive, multi-faceted strategy, which Mike has used to successfully conquer his own mental illness. The GMF encourages three critical steps to handling and overcoming mental illness: 

1.  Getting professional psychiatric and pharmacological treatment

2.  Making positive personal changes through counseling, support systems, introspective self-discovery, forgiveness, marital strength, and motivational, educational, and psychological resources

3. Finding healing, power, and new life through taking a faith walk with God and participating in the spiritual disciplines.

 “Apart from pharmacological treatment, praising and worshiping the God of the Bible is the single best activity that I engage in to lift up my mood. Regardless of how I am initially feeling, praise and worship gets me into a good mood and frame of mind,” said Mike. 

Sadly, many Christians still hold fast to the erroneous, long-standing belief that mood struggles are always the result of sin. However, a number of influences can trigger mood struggles, such as medical, environmental, physical, emotional, attitudinal, and spiritual factors. Since Mike did wrestle with unresolved sin, he encourages every Christian to read the story of The Four Stolen Silver Trumpets in chapter two of his book, My Pursuit of a Good Mood.

 “Unfortunately, this general lack of understanding and overall denial causes many people to hide their infirmities from friends and family. In addition, many who are fearful of rejection or losing their jobs do not seek professional care. Or worse, choose to self–medicate,” said Mike.

“This is sad, because in the last ten years, the fields of psychiatry and pharmacology have made more progress in understanding how to treat mood struggles than in all previous centuries combined. The diagnosis of a mental illness can be serious if left untreated,” he said.

Spreading the good news

The GMF spreads the good news: mental illness does not have to maim and destroy a life.   It can be treated and kept under control by following the GMF guidance. 

“By being honest and transparent in sharing my own struggles, pain, and recovery journey, I’m giving people not just education, help, and guidance, but I’m giving them great hope that mental illness can be overcome,” said Mike.

“I still have the illness, but now I know how to constructively deal with it. You can have a good mood and good life again. There is hope, people who care to help, and you can have a good life. And that’s the good news of the GMF,” he said.