Despair & Hope During End Stage Capitalism

This has been a very HARD year and half for all of us!  We have been watching democracy crumble, fascism rise and with it the whole sale extraction and destruction of civil liberties and the environment which were already on shaky ground.  All kinds of systems from health care, to education, to even government are…

Workshop Description

This has been a very HARD year and half for all of us!  We have been watching democracy crumble, fascism rise and with it the whole sale extraction and destruction of civil liberties and the environment which were already on shaky ground.  All kinds of systems from health care, to education, to even government are falling apart. This is what end stage capitalism looks like in its last gasps for breath. The workshop leader is a therapist of many decades as well as a life long activist.   We will set ground rules about not ranting, pontificating or whining, but we will work with a number of practices to release our grief, anger, fear and despair.  We will work with what the most recent brain science tells us about how to regulate our nervous and also how to cultivate and maintain hope even in bleak times.

As we move from distress we will focus on discerning what actions each person will take in the next year based upon that which is most tender to them.  There will be some presentation of ideas and information from the facilitator, but there will also be quite a mix of experiential exercises, worship sharing from queries, and some worship discussion.   Everything we do will be grounded in a spiritual approach, but due to the cutting of one day of time together we will not be having just totally silent worship (other than starting in silence till everyone arrives.)

This is a workshop for people who are already taking action or who want to leave with clarity about action they can take.  If you only want to talk about what is happening or feel too busy to do anything about it, this is not your workshop.  The workshop will take in mind different size communities people come from and different levels of health.   There is something you can do no matter where you live or what your level of health if you have some time to devote to it.

Leader Experience

Lynn Fitz-Hugh has led roughly 25 workshops at FGC Gathering over her lifetime.  She is a trained AVP facilitator and a trained facilitator in Joanna Macy’s “Work that Reconnects.”  And as an activist, she often acts as a public speaker or webinar leader. She loves connecting with people over meaningful material and creating a community among participants. As a therapist, she brings a comfort in working with people’s emotions, even when those emotions are very raw.  Lynn believes that people cannot be very effective unless they move through their emotions, so the emotions do not “sit on us.”