ABSTRACT
This chapter explores what Well-Being Systems look like in action, specifically how the individual pieces of the system work together to support well-being. An interview with a woman named Teresa provides a concrete example. At the time of this interview, Teresa was living in a small, weathered ranch-style house, surrounded by agricultural fields in a rural part of eastern Washington State. Teresa suggests that she chose to make this dangerous journey to insure a better life for herself and her children by reuniting with her husband, brother and sister-in-law, all of whom were already living in the US Teresa's experiences and choices, including her momentous choice to emigrate to the US and continuing through the many other decisions she needed to make along the way, are illustrative of this process. Autonomy is defined by Deci and Ryan as the desire to have control over the direction of one's activities and Teresa certainly was desirous of control.
