My Talk about ACT:-)

[Guest guest]

hi GROUP:-)miss u all...and firstly b4 i forget , @ thank you soooooo much for ur wonderful email from last week:-)i have baaaad optic migraine today, and a lotta family visiting from out of town, so i am sincerely gonna "try to" make my email short..aaah..letz c how that goes:-)now about my talk:-) Alhamdulillah it went good. I had a lotta issues that my community sisters were struggling with, so i treied to incorporate that into my talk, by talking about values, and committed actions and then using dr. russ harris 'willingness and action plan' for each one of their issues. ( i am still a beginer in ACT, so tried to do the best way i could, while i keep studying it myself, to improve my own quality of life:-)b4 that i talked in detail about the ACT Principles, (thanks to jen and john's act in context podcasts, who make it easier for busy mums like me (with lil kids:-) to be able to learn ACT via ipod, & ofcourse thanks to drs -steven, russ, sonja, matthew & joanne) my notes were mostly based on the their talks from the podcasts. ( & my x-therapist Joann,who is a huge support, )Right b4 my talk started, i had someone approach me & another person, asking about what the talk was about. initially she would have given me a major panic attack instantly as i am easily intimidated by (seemingly ) aggressive people, but alhamdulillah i was ok:-)she was trying to convince us that u will never find the "religious" muslims suffer from things like anxiety, depression, stress, becoz they know that complete trust in god is ALL that is needed to be free from any mental suffering. I tried to tell her that perhaps we don't c as many muslim sufferes is becoz it is such a stigma in our community, hence our women have immense shame and guilt to open up, and don't know whom to even go to for support, becoz they feel they r at fault, and that it is somewhere in their spirituality where they r lacking, hence they r being "punished". and this actually coming from misconceptions about mental suffering and about certain aspects about our religion. but soon i realized it was no point trying to talk to her, as she was only interested in making her point clear. plus she was in her 50's , my mums age, and just out of respect i decided to let the topic go. But i did in the begining of my lecture, talk about mental suffering being an inevitable part of human life, and that there is no shame in struggling with anxiety, depression, stress etc. and no shame in opening up, seeking support, and even seeking professional help if needed etc.etc.so i have a few more things i am working on, at my own pace:-). will let ya know how they go. also i haven't been writing much, but do get a chance to read every now and then, and jazakallah khair marteen for posting that article abotu Gratitude, i looooooved it:-) ...and it is sooooooooooo exciting to find out started the ACT live conferences:-) wooohoo. i can't wait to hear u guys:-)and i just c another email about ACT Sig, and can't wait to read it. Plus i c something about a lonliness podcast, i can't wait to listen to that ...take care group and have a greaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat thanks giving weekendwasalaam:-)-K Designs."" Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes.

That way, when you criticize them, you're already a mile away AND you have their

shoes." ~ a very pious intellectual