VV and Vancouver Peak Oil present: HOW TO STAY SANE AS THE WORLD GOES CRAZY w/ Dr. Kathy McMahon

VV, Vancouver Peak Oil, Boards of Change, Cool North Shore and How to Boil a Frog present:

HOW TO STAY SANE AS THE WORLD GOES CRAZY w/ Dr. Kathy McMahon

Cost: By Donation (Suggested donation is $10, or whatever you can afford)

As we’re bombarded with alarming headlines on a daily basis, how do we find the sane space between Doom and Denial? Is there a place for
wit when we examine the major challenges of our lifetime: economic
depression, environmental degradation, and energy depletion? Is blind
optimism itself, a diagnosable mental disorder?

With humor and insight clinical psychologist Kathy McMahon addresses a few of the major challenges of our time and discusses why “all or
nothing” thinking is cutting short a more serious conversation about
what we value, how our values dictate our behavior, and what we need to
do to prepare for a future that may be very different from what’s been
predicted.

She’ll introduce Panglossian Disorder with subtypes such as:

· Rhett-Butlerism – (“Peak Oil? Planetary and economic collapse? Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn...”)

· Scarlet O’Hara-ism- (“I’ll just have to think about that tomorrow...”) and

· Frank Zappa-ism: (“As soon as things get really bad, they’ll come up with something”- a belief that necessity is the mother of invention.)

All of these are popular but ineffective psychological strategies for handling bad news. What we face aren’t simple problems with clear cut
solutions, but rather complicated dilemmas that require good humor,
mature thinking and the ability to tolerate both unpleasant emotions and
joy in the unexpected. Come join us as we search for a space where we
can all be more human than otherwise.

Bio: Since 2006, Kathy McMahon, “The Peak Shrink,” has been offering clinical wisdom, common sense, and good humor to an international
readership, who’ve shared their stories and sought her advice about
managing in these hard times. Her research project, www.PeakOilBlues.com
is a collection of these narratives, investigating the emotional impact
on ordinary people, living through dramatic economic, energy, and
environmental upheavals.