Mad Practice

Today JD & Col dive into another light topic… Eco-Anxiety! Here's the thing, the climate is changing in all the worst ways and that fact makes us feel… how? We're anxious, we're grieving, we're guilty, we're angry and doubtful, we're in shock, we're numb, and the list goes on. But what is the healthy response to these very real and valid emotions? JD has a few great ideas: Accept that this is real, increase our capacity for uncomfortable feelings, and toss ice cubes to the baby seagulls (literally and metaphorically). They talk through how to keep hope alive, how individual action is important,and the anxiety of feeling like it's too late. There are no easy answers, no answers at all in fact, but this conversation made us feel better and kinder, hope you hear that in this episode. References: Anatomy of an Epidemic by Robert Whitaker As we keep on keeping on with this podcast we need your help connecting with more listeners, show us your support by listening, sharing, rating and subscribing. You can even support us on Patreon, if you like, here

Today JD & Col have been Yearning to record an episode in-person, and they finally did! After sitting (literally) in the feeling of reconnecting physically they explore how yearning, an intense longing for something, relates to how we approach and experience diagnosis and self-identity as Mad folk. JD sums it up perfectly when they say “That when it comes to Mad Practice that yearning has been with me so long, the yearning to want to talk about and know mental illness differently.” They talk through what it feels like to “receive” a diagnosis of some mental illness, both the real validation and access to care it brings and the limitations of being put into the most suitable box. They talk through common ways into the mental health system, the often traumatic way in when in crisis and the privileged way in via family doctors, and how to empower ourselves and each other to navigate these systems. A frequent saying that JD and Col both use in their community organizing is to aim for everyone getting what they need and a fair bit of what they want. Dear listener, thank you for listening and we hope that as you feel your own Yearnings you likewise get what you need (and at least some of what you want). References: Anatomy of an Epidemic by Robert Whitaker As we keep on keeping on with this podcast we need your help connecting with more listeners, show us your support by listening, sharing, rating and subscribing. You can even support us on Patreon, if you like, here

Today JD & Col reunite to talk about Worthiness Are you feeling “good enough”? JD and Col ask each other and themselves this question. They share thoughts on shame ditches and imposter syndrome, before looking back and taking stock of the 1st season of Mad Practice. A quick digression on phrases we've scratched off the ol' vocab list like Grandfathered in and Rule of Thumb (which we discovered may not actually have the harmful origins we talked about, but we're still not using it) As always they refer to this beautiful list of 300 emotions by Prakhar Verma - Expand Your Emotional Vocabulary With This Dictionary Of Emotions As we keep on keeping on with this podcast we need your help connecting with more listeners, show us your support by listening, sharing, rating and subscribing. You can even support us on Patreon, if you like, here

Before we begin Season 2, we wanted to share some fun moments that weren't part of the regular season! We look forward to bringing you new content soon!

Before we begin Season 2, we wanted to share some fun moments that weren't part of the regular season! We look forward to bringing you new content soon!

Before we begin Season 2, we wanted to share some fun moments that weren't part of the regular season! We look forward to bringing you new content soon!

Today JD & Col are bursting with Happiness! Happiness, what's there to say? It's great, right? Turns out Yes, it is, and JD and Col explore their whys and hows they find happiness. After touching on ideas around shifting from exuberance to contentment, the impermanent happiness, and the dangers of toxic-positivity they play a game by sharing super-specific, happiness-adjacent emotions like… Duende: The mysterious power we feel when a work of art deeply moves us. And Kilig: The feelings of butterflies in your stomach, usually when something romantic or cute takes place. Or Nakhes: The pride or delight seen in your child's accomplishments, no matter how insignificant; naches; k'velen (Hebrew). And they top it off by coining a few phrases themselves. You can play along by checking out this beautiful list of 300 emotions by Prakhar Verma - Expand Your Emotional Vocabulary With This Dictionary Of Emotions As we keep on keeping on with this podcast we need your help connecting with more listeners, show us your support by listening, sharing, rating and subscribing. You can even support us on Patreon, if you like, here

Today JD & Col take a tender look at Shame, in our longest episode yet. Oh Shame, our old, uninvited friend, let's get into it. They talk about shame and social media, obsessive self-shame, the paradox of escaping the shame of addictions by burrowing deeper into those exact same addictions, and how nasty it gets when shame is inflicted on others, and a lot more. They share the hope they find in Mia Mangus' Transformative Justice accountability framework. They also mention Dr Gabor Mate's “Universal Experience of Addiction”. JD recommends the Kate Bornstein's amazing Hello, Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks, and Other Outlaws Col mentions, semi-accurately The New Leaf Project, a one-time cash payment of $7,500 to folks experiencing recent homelessness in Vancouver. As always they refer to this beautiful list of 300 emotions by Prakhar Verma - Expand Your Emotional Vocabulary With This Dictionary Of Emotions As we keep on keeping on with this podcast we need your help connecting with more listeners, show us your support by listening, sharing, rating and subscribing. You can even support us on Patreon, if you like, here

Today JD & Col come together to talk about Loneliness. How did loneliness become the one emotion equally discussed on the Goop, Jordan Peterson, and Brene Brown podcasts? Why are there Ministries of Loneliness cropping up over the world? Is there a Loneliness epidemic? When is it a symptom of madness, and when is it a cause? Is it ever-present for us Mad folks? Let's discuss. JD mentions the Vancouver Foundations 2017 report on Loneliness They refer to a book they love called How To Do Nothing, and some that have some great parts like Bowling Alone and A History of Solitude. As always they refer to this beautiful list of 300 emotions by Prakhar Verma - Expand Your Emotional Vocabulary With This Dictionary Of Emotions As we keep on keeping on with this podcast we need your help connecting with more listeners, show us your support by listening, sharing, rating and subscribing. You can even support us on Patreon, if you like, here

Today JD & Col feel Empathy! Our two friends both start off feeling pretty overwhelmed by… everything. They work to show empathy towards each other, then towards themselves, then explore empathy in it's greater sense (and it is pretty great, isn't it?) They approach the limits of their empathy and disentangle ideas of self-martyrdom, hero complexes, clocking when the tank is empty, and the difference between understanding and excusing. They mention the 15 Styles of Distorted Thinking and JD mentions the book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson As always they refer to this beautiful list of 300 emotions by Prakhar Verma - Expand Your Emotional Vocabulary With This Dictionary Of Emotions As we keep on keeping on with this podcast we need your help connecting with more listeners, show us your support by listening, sharing, rating and subscribing. You can even support us on Patreon, if you like, here

Today JD & Col take a good long look at Fear. They try and tweeze out the difference between fear and danger, and how both can produce body shock for JD and what they do to stay grounded. From body shock they move to Collective Shock (what a trip). JD reads an original piece of writing “Before It Was A Dog” and mentions the amazing book “The Body Is Not An Apology” by Sonia Renee Taylor. And Col opens the Christmas present he was/is going to send JD, The Care Manifesto. As always they refer to this beautiful list of 300 emotions by Prakhar Verma - Expand Your Emotional Vocabulary With This Dictionary Of Emotions As we keep on keeping on with this podcast we need your help connecting with more listeners, show us your support by listening, sharing, rating and subscribing. You can even support us on Patreon, if you like, here

Welcome to Mad Practice, where we're shoring up our sanity skills for these crazy times. JD and Col, two unlikely, almost sane friends keep it less than real as they grapple with staying steady in a wobbly world. Here's a peek at our first 10 episodes!

Welcome to Mad Practice, where we're shoring up our sanity skills for these crazy times. JD and Col, two unlikely, almost sane friends keep it less than real as they grapple with staying steady in a wobbly world. Listen every Monday, wherever you find your podcasts!

Good Grief! Today JD & Col take a deep look at Grief. JD and Col discuss the importance of recognizing the small-wins in community activism, even when our bodies are still in battle modes. They chat about the “Ring Theory” of grief and how circles of care emanate out from the centre of where that grief lives hardest, and the practice of “Comfort In, Dump Out”. As with any elegant theory like this they complicate the idea a bit and ask what to do when there's grief and need all around us and we're all living in somewhere between 4 and 20 rings at different depths at any given moment. They talk about Grief as a thing you feel and Grieving as a thing you do, and a bit of the complicated history of how proper grieving time is determined in psychology. As always they refer to this beautiful list of 300 emotions by Prakhar Verma - Expand Your Emotional Vocabulary With This Dictionary Of Emotions As we keep on keeping on with this podcast we need your help connecting with more listeners, show us your support by listening, sharing, rating and subscribing. You can even support us on Patreon, if you like, here

Today JD & Col delight in each other as they dive into, well, Delight! Col wonders what effect the collective touch deficit we've experienced this year will have on us all. JD finds delight in the notion that we're all living in a dream, which admittedly freaks others out. They chat about the role of surprise in delight, how it acts as a punctuation mark kind of emotion, and how to reclaim delight if it's been pathologized as mania in the past. Finally JD and Col share books that have provided them delighted them this year like Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellman and Trust Exercise by Susan Choi As always they refer to this beautiful list of 300 emotions by Prakhar Verma - Expand Your Emotional Vocabulary With This Dictionary Of Emotions As we keep on keeping on with this podcast we need your help connecting with more listeners, show us your support by listening, sharing, rating and subscribing. You can even support us on Patreon, if you like, here

Today JD & Col laugh and cry through a chat about Sadness. JD coins the term “feathery-nest-ship” describing the safety net friendship offers. JD talks about picking up John Rauston Saul's Voltaire's Bastards in an otherwise sad psych ward library. Col mentions the Universal Vulnerable Subject, a beautiful idea from Martha Fineman, and how the myth of universal rationale actors can't handle the complexity of our time. They also reference The Body Is Not An Apology. While they're busting myths they do away with sadness being deemed unproductive and indulgent. Col's been trying, unsuccessfully, to cry lately. The closest he's got so far has been listening to Bonnie Raitt's I Can't Make You Love Me. As always they refer to this beautiful list of 300 emotions by Prakhar Verma - Expand Your Emotional Vocabulary With This Dictionary Of Emotions

In Episode 2 JD & Col take a deep dive into the elusive and potent emotion of the day: Doubt Tangents include: JD is thinking about mysticisms, spurred on by this 10% Happier interview with Martine Batchelor Col's upset about the history of COVID outbreaks in the meat packing industry in Alberta, which this great CBC article outlines Also JD mentions that there are 86 billion neurons in the brain, which is pretty close to correct! You can find us on Twitter & Instagram and support us on Patreon.

On the first episode of Mad Practice hosts JD Derbyshire & Col Cseke take a deep dive into the emotion of the day: Anger! Tangents include: Angry vs Mad - JD introduces the reclaimed term Mad; Mad Pride, Mad Practice, Madness in all its glory and complexity. The hosts lean heavily on this Medium article by Prakhar Verma - Expand Your Emotional Vocabulary With This Dictionary Of Emotions They chat about Co-Evolution Through Friendship introduced by adrienne marie brown in Emergent Strategy and Mia Mingus' Accountability Framework You can find us on Twitter & Instagram and support us on Patreon.