New member introduction

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone

I'm new to the list - I read about ACT in the TIME magazine a few years ago and

although I

purchased The Happiness Trap in November 2009 I only just finished it when ACT

was used on

television here in Australia as part of a series of programs on happiness.

I thought it would be easier for me to just give you some info about me

personally in this

email, and then post my first question in another email. Keeping it separate

would be a

bit easier ;-)

I'm 44 and 13 years ago I was diagnosed with a rare combination of diseases -

Hodgkins

lymphoma (cancer) and a neurological disease limbic encephalitis (the diagnostic

term is

" paraneoplastic limbic encephalitis " .) My medical story appeared in a newspaper

here in

Sydney and a link to the story is at the bottom of the email if anybody wants to

know

more. I've got about 15 medical issues to deal with some of which are in the

article below.

The doctors and psychologists etc I've seen in the past have commended me on how

well I've

done given how terrible I was when I left the hospital, and this is mostly

because of my

personality - I'm the type of determined " never tell me never " person, I have a

masters

degree, natural curiosity and a need to do the best for myself. For example, at

my worst

in hospital my memory was horrific - couldn't drink anything hot because I would

forget

it's hot and burn my mouth. I couldn't remember 2 seconds earlier. I've improved

since

that time but still have very significant memory problems, but it didn't stop me

attending

a few courses on how to improve your memory. To try to do the best for myself.

And that's

why I'm here ....... to try to help with a few problems I've got.

Anyway, my memory is still bad enough that I don't really like watching movies

because

while watching it I've forgotten what was at the beginning of the movie. I've

read The

Happiness Trap but remember only a few basic things. I'll attempt to summarise a

few

chapters at another date.

Another significant problem I have is chronic weakness and fatigue - both

physical and

mental - so I have a hard time sitting at the computer for long at any one time,

and if

I'm mentally tired I won't be able to read too much. I know it will make it

difficult for

me to keep up with all the messages so I apologise in advance. If there's ever

any message

that's directed at me I'd really appreciate you putting my name in the subject

like so

that I can read it straight away rather than leaving it unread because of my

exhaustion.

Oh - something important that I forgot to mention ;-) I'm a collector of

something that is

absolutely invaluable to my psychological health. I collect smiley faces (the

traditional

yellow smiley face) and you can see some of them on the photo page below. We

moved house

about 18 months ago and I still haven't put any wall pictures up ....... and I

really

notice their absence.

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

Anyway, thanks for letting me join your community. I'm looking forward to

learning some

skills to put into practice.

iolanda

My medical story as it appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald years ago .........

http://www.biansw.org.au/index.php?option=com_content & view=article & id=63:network\

-of-friends & catid=6:stories & Itemid=5

--

Smile – it increases your face value!!! ;-)