My life passions and goal are now a value

[Guest guest]

Further to my other email about how I reduced my sadness by thinking and

researching

etc.......

...........this just goes to show that I'm a bit of a " thinker " ....... the same

thing

happened after diagnosis with all my medical problems ....... I got scared of

what I'd be

like in the future since I'm at such a risk of getting so many other problems

including

cancer again and dementia again ..... I was even searching suicide internet

sites so I

could just print out pages and put them away so I wouldn't be thinking about it

anymore.

Well, this was in about 1999 ..... I soon found out about the " voluntary

euthanasia "

movement (like Jack Kevorkian, Philip Nitschke et al) and rather than just take

a back

seat on the topic I actually started taking notice of the VE movement in

Australia and

since then I have been a very very vocal and passionate supporter of VE.

Super-passionate. And in fact it's added " life " to my life. I don't really

fear for my

future anymore and have a cause to work towards that I'm extremely passionate

and

motivated about.

In fact that local Dying with Dignity office here in our state (DWDnsw)

published an

updated story of my situation on their website showing just how i've managed to

become

much happier because of my passion for the issue of VE. About 3 or 4 years ago

I learnt

(from medical journal research) that the happiest people were those that were

passionate

about something in their lives and/or had a goal to strive for.

Well, you can translate that to ACT by making Being passionate " a value, and

I'm

passionate about 2 things ........

1. About the legalisation of volutnary euthansia

2. Collecting " mr smiley " things (I don't think I've told you this ........

or maybe i

have..... sorry)

And of course if it's a value then it's almost like a goal ....... but for me

it's

actually a GOAL ..... moreso than my other values.

Here's the link to how I've describe it in laymans terms (without using ACT etc)

in the

newsletter but I'm sure you'll see the similarity.

http://www.dwdnsw.org.au/ves/index.php/my-story-an-update-iolanda

and my smiley collection

http://community.webshots.com/album/13113635nmXtvLlqfL

If anybody's found these emails I've sent good or interesting, feel free to let

me know

(even privately). It makes me happy to know that I've helped someone .... even

if it's

from my computer chair :-) (and especially if my smiley collection induced

some smiles

in you!! feel free to show your kids .... they'll laugh :-) )

iolanda