Hopelessness as a course-corrector

Hi everyone,

Today’s newsletter has:

1) Current opportunities for groups
2) An empowering idea - today the focus is on Hopelessness as a course-corrector

1) Current Opportunities:
(Sign up or get more information by emailing [email protected])

A) Wednesday Mornings and Afternoons at Hard Feelings Mental Health

Beginning February 7th, I will hold two groups at Hard Feelings Mental Health (353 Church St). One group runs from 10:00am-12:00pm and the other from 12:30pm-2:30pm. To sign up for a meeting to set your intentions, click here and go to the Hard Feelings location.

B) Friday Lunchtime virtual group

Beginning January 12th, I will hold a virtual group on zoom from 11:30am to 1:00pm. To sign up please have a physician or nurse practitioner fax a referral to 1-833-520-1502.

C) Cosmic Walk - Dec 30, 2023

Although this is not a psychiatree offering, the Cosmic Walk is a Work That Reconnects event that will be led by a mentor of mine, Natalie Zend, along with two other members of the Neighbourhood Unitarian Universalist Congregation. It is open to everyone and full details can be found here.

D) Virtual Group

There are still options for other virtual groups with flexible timing depending on your availability.

E) Start your own Group

If you have 3 or more people who are interested in organizing a group together, we can find a time and location that works.

F) Organize a Workshop

I have expanded my offerings to hold workshops for organizations that would benefit from the Work That Reconnects. These workshops are not covered by OHIP and can be very helpful to prevent burnout among staff.

2) An Empowering Idea - Hopelessness as a course-corrector

During difficult times, hopelessness is a healthy emotion to alert us when our hopes become unlikely. The failures of our leaders to take meaningful steps towards planetary health ought to cause hopelessness.

Since our culture disconnects us from our unpleasant emotions, we struggle to engage with hopelessness in an effective way. We often distract ourselves, try to talk ourselves out of it or drop into unexamined cynicism. This creates insufficient space to effectively listen.

So let’s make some space to understand hopelessness.

There is always an implicit “hope” or “desired outcome" hidden within hopelessness. The often assumed message is that our desired outcome is hopeless. Yet most of the time it is that the process to reach the desired outcome that is hopeless.

The only truly hopeless outcome is one that has passed and not met our hopes. The effective action in this instance is radical acceptance¹ of our disappointment. We must grieve the lost desires. This naturally shifts us to envision new, possible hopes for the future.

There are outcomes in the future that initially feel hopeless but are actually possible. If we listen carefully, there are implicit assumptions about the process that lead to the hopeless feeling. However, if we change something about the process, the outcome becomes unlikely rather than impossible.

Consider a person in 1700 who hoped to fly. Their peers likely felt this was hopeless. That individual couldn’t fly using the technology of their time but their descendants can fly. To respond to their hopelessness, this person could have engaged in the scientific process that led to flying. Human would not fly if no one engaged in this process.

To regenerate our world is not a hopeless outcome. There is no guarantee it cannot happen. If we feel hopeless about this vision, we must examine our process. If we rely on leaders who are acting too slowly, hopelessness needs to emerge. Sufficient change will not happen if we passively hope for their actions to be enough. When we shift our own individual actions to engage in an effective process, the hopelessness fades. It may take time and failed attempts to figure out how to make meaningful impact. We may not see the full effects of our work in our own individual lifetime. Thankfully our hopelessness will re-emerge when we are not engaged in a process that makes sufficient difference.

When we become part of the process of change, we see the possibilities of change everywhere. This transforms our feelings of hopelessness because we are part of an effective change process. There are many reasons to doubt whether humans will change fast enough to survive. However, our desired outcomes are only hopeless if we are not engaged in a process that will manifest them.

To receive future psychiatree posts on healing our mental health and the planetary crisis together, please subscribe to: https://psychiatree.beehiiv.com/subscribe

I’d love to hear your reactions to this post. Please email me at [email protected].

Thanks for the care that you give,

Nate

References:

1) Brach, Tara. Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha. 2003. New York, NY: Bantam.