Before moving to this newsletter platform last year, I’d send emails and receive private replies to my inbox, but there was no way for people to see each other’s reactions, questions, and comments. In my classes, everyone gets to know each other and gets to learn from each other. I had wished for the same for my regular missives.
Now that we’re here and many new subscribers are joining longtime subscribers, let’s introduce ourselves!
Please join me in sharing something about yourself. Honestly, there is an awesome collection of humans here. Don’t be shy!
Tell us who you are and what you love. Free-form. Options: where you live, what you do, what you love to explore, your favorite part of the world, your favorite author, musician, or artist, or your favorite creative outlet. Anything!
Feel free to add a link to any of your work, something you’ve created, or something/someone you love. Bragging is allowed!
Feel free to ask a question of me or the community.
I’ll chime in after a dozen or so folks introduce themselves. And I’ll answer questions too, if you want to throw something out there.
Hello friends! My name is Isabel and I am a queer neurodivergent storyteller and writer based in Seattle who is passionate about mindfulness and mental health advocacy. I am dedicated to challenging societal norms, fostering self-discovery, and promoting authenticity as a means to finding meaning and purpose. My work has been published in over 50 publications world-wide on the topics of wellbeing, sex and relationships, and more. I am also the host of "Being Yourself Loudly," a Queer podcast de-stigmatizing mental illness, and I run a mental health advice column for the Seattle Gay News called “Ask Izzy.” I discovered Quarterlife over a year ago and found it incredibly helpful in understanding my own quarterlife journey and have used the framework to talk about Quarterlife with other people!
A little late to this but I finally found it in my email inbox! I'm based in the Denver metro area, currently make maps for my paid work, and try to keep myself entertained as a novice of sundry hobbies. I don't currently put much of my creative results into the world, but maybe soon? Trying to find a way to do it without sliding into a too-familiar performative/achievement mindset.
Per a rec from a Culture Study newsletter thread, I've recently been reading "Self-Compassion" by Dr. Kristin Neff and feeling kindly called out on so many pages - would definitely recommend (and I'd be curious, Satya, how this dovetails with the Quarter-Lifer's need to Separate, particularly emotionally; some of the author's example personas are in this stage of life).
Hello All, I am kristen and live in Santa Monica CA. What I am loving most today is the Memorial Day weekend, the extra space to breathe and connect to what is important. Why am I here this morning? Curiosity.
Hi everyone, thank you Satya, for this nice idea to introduce ourselves and grow some kind of community experience! This is what I love most about social media networks, to hear from people that I never would have met before. I'm new to your newsletter, so double gratitude here :)
I'm Julia, a self taught artist and live in Hamburg/ Germany with my longtime partner Marc and our daughter Lara. Our elder daughter already lives in Berlin.
I love kundalini yoga and gardening in our very old farmhouse garden (very wild and huge!!!). The last 10 years I made besides my job as an office manager poetic jewelry. Like there is still some to see here
Hi everyone, i’m Taylor. I live in the South Island of New Zealand and call the Sourthern Alps home. The natural rugged environment has shaped and grounded me over the years. I just turned 30. I feel called to make a positive contribution to the world. Right now I’m thinking that may be through becoming a psychotherapist but time will tell. I love words particularly quotes and poetry. Reading your introductions makes me feel less alone and more connected. Thank you for everyone’s generous sharing. I am spiritual and religious - trying to be on the fringes of Catholic Christianity. Wishing you all peace and every good.
Hi everyone, I'm Katharine. It makes me feel happy and unlonely to read through all these introductions. I'm a writer and mother, and though my background is in the law, it didn't take me long after law school to realize that wasn't going to work out so well. My book, The Uninnocent: Notes on Violence & Mercy, came out a couple of years ago. Since then I have given a few talks and lectures and have been slowly--so, so slowly--starting to think about and work on another book. I used to be a teacher, and wonder if I'll return to the classroom again someday. As a grown up, I have lived in San Francisco, Vermont, and now Virginia. I am feeling like I've been lost for the last few years and am just now finding something like clarity or traction again. Though I am mostly a nonfiction writer, I love to read novels and poetry most of all (Satya, I read "Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead" by Tokarczuk this year--wild). I'm on a big Joy Williams kick right now. I also love being outside and have felt most happy as a parent when I'm outside with my kids, in woods or water, when there is no activity but everything that's before us, which is so rich and mysterious. I found the Salome Institute when I started studying my dreams more formally. I love how the dreamwork mimics textual analysis, and makes me feel like I'm back in college in my favorite English classes. I'm learning so much from these letters and workshops.
Hi everyone! It's so nice to "meet" everyone and see some familiar names/faces. My name is Laura and I live in South Florida, which is beautiful, but also horrific in some big ways, politically.
I am in my late 40's and working on my MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. I am not at all enjoying or appreciating the curriculum of the program, but getting my license is a requirement to be able to study as a Jungian analyst. I resisted this path for over a year and finally realized I didn't feel I could do anything else as part of my own individuation process. It's both an exciting and frustrating, overwhelming, burnout-y time in my life.
In my day job, I work as a somatic/movement/meditation coach, specializing in working with people who are not comfortable in traditional fitness spaces, and/or who want to work in a deeper way to supplement their own journey in therapy or the individuation process (www.laurabethwenger.com if you want to read more, but that's the essence of it). Jung's work is infused into all of my client work, along with Tibetan Buddhist principles. I incorporate active imagination and other creative work, along with more "traditional" movement stuff.
I also co-facilitate Jungian Somatics workshops with Jane Clapp online, which brings me a lot of satisfaction and keeps me connected (along with Salome Institute stuff) to Jung's world and the reason that I am going through hell to get this degree. I love the people I meet in this world and the curiosity and engagement they bring to the experience.
I'm deeply introverted and love my inner world, but I also find a lot of joy in connecting with others online in this way.
I don't have time for much outside of work and school, but I enjoy spending time with my dogs, reading (usually science fiction/fantasy; my favorite author is Tad Williams); and cooking/baking, when time allow!
Hello everyone! My name is Chuck and I live in the foothills - the liminal space between the city of Fort Collins, CO and the high mountain peaks of the Rocky Mountains. My life's work is aligning with and developing relationship with nature - human nature and the natural world. I'm also endlessly fascinated with depth psychology, the relationship between the collective and the personal, the spirit of the depths and the spirit of the times. I'm in practice as a psychotherapist (LPC), or as I like to call it, an "Inner Life Guide" and in training in Jungian based Analytical Psychology. I appreciate Satya's integration of Jungs work in the modern age and I look forward to continuing to be in community and dialog around these topics. My rather old and outdated website is here: https://www.innerlifeadventures.com/ One day, I'll bring that up to the modern age as well. :)
I am Vishal . I am 20 years old I am a college student .I am from Jaipur ,India. I love nature, birds ,insects and animals. I love to read and listen spiritual philosophical and psychological content. By this ,I want to explore myself and my connection with God and nature. I think we are becoming to artificial and dad towards nature and humans. I want to get wisdom and real Joy through spirituality ,philosophy and psychology. I want to help people by this knowledge .I think that it should, it should be and its some concepts be part of our life and our academic education. It gives us a right hope and help us to deal with failure, inner fear and self doubt.
I have not traveled too much. But I want to travel the ancient places like forts, temples, civilizations in my country and world. Also I want to see the best nature greenery, stream, rivers sunset ,sunrise ,stars watching places of my country and world.
I love reading books I think every author is best because he puts his whole life experiences and life mistakes learnings in its book. But I love to read spiritual philosophical and psychological books. Goswami Tulsidas and sant Kabir are my favourite spiritual authors. Osho Pythagoras Socrates Swami Vivekananda j Krishnamurthy are my favourite philosophy authors. And CG Jung Alfred Adler and sigment froid are my favourite psychology authors.
I also love music and art. I love to draw and write creative illustration. I want to praise you through my creative writing.
Your name Satya is very meaningful and beautiful because this is in Hindi word and it is very important and very powerful word in Indian spirituality and Hindi, Sanskrit language. The meaning of the word Satya is truth. The main goal of all philosofies in India and world is to know Satya ( truth ) . And you are doing work like your name . you are helping us through your knowledge and your work. You have written a very nice book for quarterllife crisis. Thank you very much
I want to ask a question from you that I have seen a kind of inner emptiness in every person of my surroundings in my friends ,in my parents and myself. And we are trying to fill this inner emptiness by doing random things watching movies, reels. And many wrong ways like smoking, drinking ,drugs specially my age group is trying to fill this inner emptiness by doing the wrong things.
In philosophy I heard a statement that face the problem , don't run and cover the problem,.
So my question is how do I and my age group deal with this inner emptiness. How do we stop ourselves to go towards the wrong ways for feeling our inner emptiness ? How do I deal with self doubt?
Vishal, thank you so much for everything you wrote and shared. I loved reading it and learning more about you. The question you pose is a big one and I wish I had a simple answer. It's possible that people in this community will also want to share their thoughts. I'd say that in some ways, that emptiness is timeless, it's what all world religions are really wrestling with, the pain of existence and of finding our way in the world. Some of it is also very modern, we're disconnected from each other and nature, we're tied to technology, we're obsessed with performance and climbing ladders in school and in society more than we are in being in rich relationship. All of this fuels the emptiness.
Have you read "Siddhartha" by Herman Hesse? That book strikes me as one that might speak to you right now...
I'm Deryn, from England. I recently retired from my academic post at the University of Birmingham where I taught different ways of interpretating the Bible, especially from LGBTQ+ perspectives. The book coming out shortly, however, is on ecopsychological interpretation of biblical texts. I also taught thealogy (the 'a' is deliberate), where your quarterlife journal article, Satya, was required reading in week one. The thealogy module also introduced students to Jungian ideas about individuation. A regular user of sandplay, I recently wrote an article on how pagan home altars can be dynamic moving things that have much in common with sandplay.
Deryn, I remember we exchanged emails years ago. I'm really honored to have had my paper included in your course. I'd love to read your piece about pagan home altars! That sounds very alive and spot on... and please share your book when it's out!
I'm Satya! I live in Portland, Oregon and grew up in Montana. I live with my longtime partner, Jay, and my step-son who is almost 14! I'm happiest when the weather is gorgeous and I can sit outside and read or water the garden while my dog runs around. I am increasingly longing for writing time again with a bunch of new book ideas popping up. I wrote Quarterlife, teach at The Salome Institute, and released a podcast on Jung's Red Book during the pandemic. I've been loving listening to some throwbacks lately—Joni Mitchell, Jim Croce etc. —and I'm about to start reading the novel "Flights" by Olga Tokarczuk, which I'm excited about!
Hi—What a great idea this is! I’m Libby from Portland where I am an artist working in clay and making paintings. I am intrigued by the earliest ceramic techniques of hand-building and lo-fire/pit-firing. My paintings include a series of Madonnas for a Sustainable World (instagram Libbyhoagland) In the past few months i have re-discovered the absolute wonder of playing hard w others in a spirit of fun—that i remember from childhood. I’m doing this mostly by playing pickleball and am surprised by all the layers of engagement, co-operation, athleticism and just pure good-natured open-ended play that are involved. Perhaps this is a revelation to me because for my entire adult life, ‘play’ was somewhat absent.
It’s great to read the introductions of this community!
Hi, I’m Erika from Seattle, WA. I live in Osaka, Japan and work as an English teacher. I read quarter life a few months ago and it really helped me understand that I am a “meaning” type and why I’ve struggled so much to find my place in my twenties (still finding it).
Hello, I am an ecopsychologist, climate justice activist, and retired Licensed Professional Counselor and management consultant and the author of The Hoop and the Tree. Recently, I have been giving presentations based on my book about the deep structure of psychological and spiritual health. Readers of Selt & Society can view this 19-minute video on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PlCdVgpwxc
Hello, everyone! It's so nice to read through these intros. My name is Jack and I live in San Francisco. I'm an internal medicine physician, where I also teach medical students and residents and do education research on teaching in medicine. I've spent much of the last 10 years as a stability type on a cognitively-heavy career path and discovered Quarterlife and Self & Society last year when a longing for more meaning and a more embodied experience in day-to-day life came to a rolling boil. I have felt such delight getting to engage with the community here and, more recently, through the Salome Institute sessions. I love being in the ocean and swimming, passing afternoons reading book in coffee shops, watching movies and stand-up comedy, and going on walks with friends through parks or the woods.
Hi! Tawny here in NYC. Big fan of human decency, mental health advocacy, Jim Morrison, and writing. I love learning about Jung's work through your writing and your courses. Thanks for sharing such lovely gifts!
Hubby and I just launched a vinegar-based botanical drink called (parentheses) if anyone's looking for interesting NA drinks! https://www.drinkparentheses.com/
Hi. I'm Brian, and I'm a writer, artist, and musician living between the Pacific Northwest and Thailand, though I'm currently at an artist's residence in southern France. I've been making a musical podcast of original soundwork for the past five years, the most recent episode is here:
I've also had published or published myself a novel, New People of the Flat Earth (https://a.co/d/88IINva), and two memoirs, The Seventh Dead: The UFO and the Underworld (https://a.co/d/c14P5CC) and Eating Gods: Encounters With the Vine of the Dead (https://a.co/d/1RPuRtp).
Hi, I’m Nora. I now live in the foothills of the Adirondacks in upstate New York (where I was born) after spending years living in bigger cities around the Northeast. I play Irish fiddle, write songs, and play in local bands around the edges of my soul-sucking day job at the intersection of news media and tech. I’m also a licensed bodyworker, was a story director for The Moth for 10 years, and run a small artist residency program that my partner and I founded to serve non-traditional and folk artists. My 20s were spent in creative fulfillment but financial precarity, my 30s have been spent in financial stability but creative restriction, and I’m here looking for tools that will help me make room for a more integrated life and career as I approach my 40s. I’m not really a quarter-lifer, but found a few things in Satya’s book to be helpful for a mid-life crisis as well!
Hello, everyone! My name is Taylor, and I'm a writer and retired runner who moved to Seattle last year to start formal library training! I've been living alongside anxiety and emetophobia since I was very small, so I've been immersed in mental health work since before I knew what it was! This community is new to me, though I've been diving into cognitive functions for ~4 years and recently had my world rocked by "Quarterlife."
If you'd like to take a look at some of my writing, feel free to explore my website (https://fluffernutterfriday.wordpress.com/portfolio/)! I blog semi-regularly, though grad school is swallowing me whole in the best way.
My deepest joys come from long walks, good talks, reading on the beach, and fluffernutter sandwiches every Friday. I'm also a "Survivor" superfan and have applied three times. :)
Hello from a fellow lifelong emetophobic! Thank you for naming it - I often feel alone in that experience, so it always helps me to see other folks saying they feel terrified too.
We live halfway across the country, but looking at the other things you read and interact with, it looks like we share a lot of interests, and I think we would be good friends :)
Hi Satya and community! I'm a therapist by day and yoga teacher in my beloved community on the coastal South Shore of Nova Scotia (Canada). I'm happiest at home in nature, reading books and writing for my Substack, Wisdom Within, which is an intersection of psychoeducation and personal narrative. (https://annavonmaltzahn.substack.com/)
I'm passionate (obsessed!) with emotional health and living a life of deeper presence and meaning. I write most often about skillfulness in self-regulation, harnessing the wisdom of our emotions, deepening relationship with self and others, feeling connected in the human experience rather than alone, and the power of paying attention. I'm REALLY grateful for Substack as a way of connecting with other writers and communities like this one, and it's helped me to show up more consistently in my creative life.
Hi! 👋🏽 My name is Bernice. I'm originally from the Philippines but have been living in Spain the past three school years (each year a new place, depending on my assignment). Teaching has been my longest career so far, most of it in an alternative pedagogy, but prior to that, I was in market research for a number of years as well.
I still can't decide if I want a master's degree in anthropology, sociology, history, psychology, or communication, but I'm mentioning that really just to show what kind of topics I gravitate towards. Yet, as I grow older, I feel a growing curiosity to learn trades and skills I can do with my hands. I'm looking for something to ground myself, maybe because I feel I think too much, haha.
My mom started Jungian psychology a number of years ago, so by osmosis, I kind of picked up on things, and that's how I found myself subscribing to Satya's Substack! Over the last half year, though, I've been remembering more and more dreams, so I'm especially interested in trying to work with that information.
Hello, I am relatively new to Substack and I feel like I have found my home. I’m originally from the Midwest and have been in Arizona for the last two years, which I love. I have always wanted to write and am finding my feet on Substack; “how I got here from there… a path to healing…” https://yesvirginiaeveryoneisloveable.substack.com is my website.
I am a RN by trade specializing in mental health, which I love and I ended up here as a travel nurse 2 years ago with my dog Mayzee in my 37 foot fifth wheel camper.
love Arizona for all of its great outdoors and all of the amazing sites to see and things to do.
I am so grateful to have found Substack and all the amazing people on it, you being one of them! Thank you, Lynne Beers
Hi! I’m Olivia. I’m a writer, mom, and former fashion exec who started a newsletter after lots of searching, learning, waiting and growing. I write about beautiful things, growth, motherhood and more: https://rallier.substack.com
Hello friends! My name is Isabel and I am a queer neurodivergent storyteller and writer based in Seattle who is passionate about mindfulness and mental health advocacy. I am dedicated to challenging societal norms, fostering self-discovery, and promoting authenticity as a means to finding meaning and purpose. My work has been published in over 50 publications world-wide on the topics of wellbeing, sex and relationships, and more. I am also the host of "Being Yourself Loudly," a Queer podcast de-stigmatizing mental illness, and I run a mental health advice column for the Seattle Gay News called “Ask Izzy.” I discovered Quarterlife over a year ago and found it incredibly helpful in understanding my own quarterlife journey and have used the framework to talk about Quarterlife with other people!
A little late to this but I finally found it in my email inbox! I'm based in the Denver metro area, currently make maps for my paid work, and try to keep myself entertained as a novice of sundry hobbies. I don't currently put much of my creative results into the world, but maybe soon? Trying to find a way to do it without sliding into a too-familiar performative/achievement mindset.
Per a rec from a Culture Study newsletter thread, I've recently been reading "Self-Compassion" by Dr. Kristin Neff and feeling kindly called out on so many pages - would definitely recommend (and I'd be curious, Satya, how this dovetails with the Quarter-Lifer's need to Separate, particularly emotionally; some of the author's example personas are in this stage of life).
Hello All, I am kristen and live in Santa Monica CA. What I am loving most today is the Memorial Day weekend, the extra space to breathe and connect to what is important. Why am I here this morning? Curiosity.
Hi everyone, thank you Satya, for this nice idea to introduce ourselves and grow some kind of community experience! This is what I love most about social media networks, to hear from people that I never would have met before. I'm new to your newsletter, so double gratitude here :)
I'm Julia, a self taught artist and live in Hamburg/ Germany with my longtime partner Marc and our daughter Lara. Our elder daughter already lives in Berlin.
I love kundalini yoga and gardening in our very old farmhouse garden (very wild and huge!!!). The last 10 years I made besides my job as an office manager poetic jewelry. Like there is still some to see here
https://www.instagram.com/dreifuenfacht?igsh=MXFreXowcWw2cmd1
I love my art moments of solitude and creating. The rest is with me while doing.
(You can read more about in my substack)
I love the community of menders with Kate Sekules/ fashion revolutionaries. There are stunning projects in Hamburg. And I love to be part of it 💗
Hi everyone, i’m Taylor. I live in the South Island of New Zealand and call the Sourthern Alps home. The natural rugged environment has shaped and grounded me over the years. I just turned 30. I feel called to make a positive contribution to the world. Right now I’m thinking that may be through becoming a psychotherapist but time will tell. I love words particularly quotes and poetry. Reading your introductions makes me feel less alone and more connected. Thank you for everyone’s generous sharing. I am spiritual and religious - trying to be on the fringes of Catholic Christianity. Wishing you all peace and every good.
Hi everyone, I'm Katharine. It makes me feel happy and unlonely to read through all these introductions. I'm a writer and mother, and though my background is in the law, it didn't take me long after law school to realize that wasn't going to work out so well. My book, The Uninnocent: Notes on Violence & Mercy, came out a couple of years ago. Since then I have given a few talks and lectures and have been slowly--so, so slowly--starting to think about and work on another book. I used to be a teacher, and wonder if I'll return to the classroom again someday. As a grown up, I have lived in San Francisco, Vermont, and now Virginia. I am feeling like I've been lost for the last few years and am just now finding something like clarity or traction again. Though I am mostly a nonfiction writer, I love to read novels and poetry most of all (Satya, I read "Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead" by Tokarczuk this year--wild). I'm on a big Joy Williams kick right now. I also love being outside and have felt most happy as a parent when I'm outside with my kids, in woods or water, when there is no activity but everything that's before us, which is so rich and mysterious. I found the Salome Institute when I started studying my dreams more formally. I love how the dreamwork mimics textual analysis, and makes me feel like I'm back in college in my favorite English classes. I'm learning so much from these letters and workshops.
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374720650/theuninnocent
I loved "Drive Your Plow." In fact, I seem to like it more as it ages in me. So far, I'm also loving "Flights" but it's *very* different.
"happy and unlonely" makes me feel the same way! So wonderful to meet you, Katharine 💚
Hi everyone! It's so nice to "meet" everyone and see some familiar names/faces. My name is Laura and I live in South Florida, which is beautiful, but also horrific in some big ways, politically.
I am in my late 40's and working on my MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. I am not at all enjoying or appreciating the curriculum of the program, but getting my license is a requirement to be able to study as a Jungian analyst. I resisted this path for over a year and finally realized I didn't feel I could do anything else as part of my own individuation process. It's both an exciting and frustrating, overwhelming, burnout-y time in my life.
In my day job, I work as a somatic/movement/meditation coach, specializing in working with people who are not comfortable in traditional fitness spaces, and/or who want to work in a deeper way to supplement their own journey in therapy or the individuation process (www.laurabethwenger.com if you want to read more, but that's the essence of it). Jung's work is infused into all of my client work, along with Tibetan Buddhist principles. I incorporate active imagination and other creative work, along with more "traditional" movement stuff.
I also co-facilitate Jungian Somatics workshops with Jane Clapp online, which brings me a lot of satisfaction and keeps me connected (along with Salome Institute stuff) to Jung's world and the reason that I am going through hell to get this degree. I love the people I meet in this world and the curiosity and engagement they bring to the experience.
I'm deeply introverted and love my inner world, but I also find a lot of joy in connecting with others online in this way.
I don't have time for much outside of work and school, but I enjoy spending time with my dogs, reading (usually science fiction/fantasy; my favorite author is Tad Williams); and cooking/baking, when time allow!
Hello everyone! My name is Chuck and I live in the foothills - the liminal space between the city of Fort Collins, CO and the high mountain peaks of the Rocky Mountains. My life's work is aligning with and developing relationship with nature - human nature and the natural world. I'm also endlessly fascinated with depth psychology, the relationship between the collective and the personal, the spirit of the depths and the spirit of the times. I'm in practice as a psychotherapist (LPC), or as I like to call it, an "Inner Life Guide" and in training in Jungian based Analytical Psychology. I appreciate Satya's integration of Jungs work in the modern age and I look forward to continuing to be in community and dialog around these topics. My rather old and outdated website is here: https://www.innerlifeadventures.com/ One day, I'll bring that up to the modern age as well. :)
I am Vishal . I am 20 years old I am a college student .I am from Jaipur ,India. I love nature, birds ,insects and animals. I love to read and listen spiritual philosophical and psychological content. By this ,I want to explore myself and my connection with God and nature. I think we are becoming to artificial and dad towards nature and humans. I want to get wisdom and real Joy through spirituality ,philosophy and psychology. I want to help people by this knowledge .I think that it should, it should be and its some concepts be part of our life and our academic education. It gives us a right hope and help us to deal with failure, inner fear and self doubt.
I have not traveled too much. But I want to travel the ancient places like forts, temples, civilizations in my country and world. Also I want to see the best nature greenery, stream, rivers sunset ,sunrise ,stars watching places of my country and world.
I love reading books I think every author is best because he puts his whole life experiences and life mistakes learnings in its book. But I love to read spiritual philosophical and psychological books. Goswami Tulsidas and sant Kabir are my favourite spiritual authors. Osho Pythagoras Socrates Swami Vivekananda j Krishnamurthy are my favourite philosophy authors. And CG Jung Alfred Adler and sigment froid are my favourite psychology authors.
I also love music and art. I love to draw and write creative illustration. I want to praise you through my creative writing.
Your name Satya is very meaningful and beautiful because this is in Hindi word and it is very important and very powerful word in Indian spirituality and Hindi, Sanskrit language. The meaning of the word Satya is truth. The main goal of all philosofies in India and world is to know Satya ( truth ) . And you are doing work like your name . you are helping us through your knowledge and your work. You have written a very nice book for quarterllife crisis. Thank you very much
I want to ask a question from you that I have seen a kind of inner emptiness in every person of my surroundings in my friends ,in my parents and myself. And we are trying to fill this inner emptiness by doing random things watching movies, reels. And many wrong ways like smoking, drinking ,drugs specially my age group is trying to fill this inner emptiness by doing the wrong things.
In philosophy I heard a statement that face the problem , don't run and cover the problem,.
So my question is how do I and my age group deal with this inner emptiness. How do we stop ourselves to go towards the wrong ways for feeling our inner emptiness ? How do I deal with self doubt?
Vishal, thank you so much for everything you wrote and shared. I loved reading it and learning more about you. The question you pose is a big one and I wish I had a simple answer. It's possible that people in this community will also want to share their thoughts. I'd say that in some ways, that emptiness is timeless, it's what all world religions are really wrestling with, the pain of existence and of finding our way in the world. Some of it is also very modern, we're disconnected from each other and nature, we're tied to technology, we're obsessed with performance and climbing ladders in school and in society more than we are in being in rich relationship. All of this fuels the emptiness.
Have you read "Siddhartha" by Herman Hesse? That book strikes me as one that might speak to you right now...
I'm Deryn, from England. I recently retired from my academic post at the University of Birmingham where I taught different ways of interpretating the Bible, especially from LGBTQ+ perspectives. The book coming out shortly, however, is on ecopsychological interpretation of biblical texts. I also taught thealogy (the 'a' is deliberate), where your quarterlife journal article, Satya, was required reading in week one. The thealogy module also introduced students to Jungian ideas about individuation. A regular user of sandplay, I recently wrote an article on how pagan home altars can be dynamic moving things that have much in common with sandplay.
Deryn, I remember we exchanged emails years ago. I'm really honored to have had my paper included in your course. I'd love to read your piece about pagan home altars! That sounds very alive and spot on... and please share your book when it's out!
I'm Satya! I live in Portland, Oregon and grew up in Montana. I live with my longtime partner, Jay, and my step-son who is almost 14! I'm happiest when the weather is gorgeous and I can sit outside and read or water the garden while my dog runs around. I am increasingly longing for writing time again with a bunch of new book ideas popping up. I wrote Quarterlife, teach at The Salome Institute, and released a podcast on Jung's Red Book during the pandemic. I've been loving listening to some throwbacks lately—Joni Mitchell, Jim Croce etc. —and I'm about to start reading the novel "Flights" by Olga Tokarczuk, which I'm excited about!
https://satyabyock.com/quarterlife-book
https://salomeinstitute.com/
https://plnk.to/salome?to=page
Hi—What a great idea this is! I’m Libby from Portland where I am an artist working in clay and making paintings. I am intrigued by the earliest ceramic techniques of hand-building and lo-fire/pit-firing. My paintings include a series of Madonnas for a Sustainable World (instagram Libbyhoagland) In the past few months i have re-discovered the absolute wonder of playing hard w others in a spirit of fun—that i remember from childhood. I’m doing this mostly by playing pickleball and am surprised by all the layers of engagement, co-operation, athleticism and just pure good-natured open-ended play that are involved. Perhaps this is a revelation to me because for my entire adult life, ‘play’ was somewhat absent.
It’s great to read the introductions of this community!
Warm best,
Libby
Website: libbyhoaglandstudio.com
Hi, I’m Erika from Seattle, WA. I live in Osaka, Japan and work as an English teacher. I read quarter life a few months ago and it really helped me understand that I am a “meaning” type and why I’ve struggled so much to find my place in my twenties (still finding it).
I write about living in Japan on my blog peacefulsea.substack.com
I am also an artist and dancer! My favorite singer is Jamila Woods.
Love Jamila Woods ❤️
Hello, I am an ecopsychologist, climate justice activist, and retired Licensed Professional Counselor and management consultant and the author of The Hoop and the Tree. Recently, I have been giving presentations based on my book about the deep structure of psychological and spiritual health. Readers of Selt & Society can view this 19-minute video on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PlCdVgpwxc
I hope you find it useful. My website: www.hoopandtree.org
All the best, Chris Hoffman
Hello, everyone! It's so nice to read through these intros. My name is Jack and I live in San Francisco. I'm an internal medicine physician, where I also teach medical students and residents and do education research on teaching in medicine. I've spent much of the last 10 years as a stability type on a cognitively-heavy career path and discovered Quarterlife and Self & Society last year when a longing for more meaning and a more embodied experience in day-to-day life came to a rolling boil. I have felt such delight getting to engage with the community here and, more recently, through the Salome Institute sessions. I love being in the ocean and swimming, passing afternoons reading book in coffee shops, watching movies and stand-up comedy, and going on walks with friends through parks or the woods.
Hi! Tawny here in NYC. Big fan of human decency, mental health advocacy, Jim Morrison, and writing. I love learning about Jung's work through your writing and your courses. Thanks for sharing such lovely gifts!
Hubby and I just launched a vinegar-based botanical drink called (parentheses) if anyone's looking for interesting NA drinks! https://www.drinkparentheses.com/
Hi. I'm Brian, and I'm a writer, artist, and musician living between the Pacific Northwest and Thailand, though I'm currently at an artist's residence in southern France. I've been making a musical podcast of original soundwork for the past five years, the most recent episode is here:
https://open.substack.com/pub/briancshort/p/damages?r=d74r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
I've also had published or published myself a novel, New People of the Flat Earth (https://a.co/d/88IINva), and two memoirs, The Seventh Dead: The UFO and the Underworld (https://a.co/d/c14P5CC) and Eating Gods: Encounters With the Vine of the Dead (https://a.co/d/1RPuRtp).
Hi, I’m Nora. I now live in the foothills of the Adirondacks in upstate New York (where I was born) after spending years living in bigger cities around the Northeast. I play Irish fiddle, write songs, and play in local bands around the edges of my soul-sucking day job at the intersection of news media and tech. I’m also a licensed bodyworker, was a story director for The Moth for 10 years, and run a small artist residency program that my partner and I founded to serve non-traditional and folk artists. My 20s were spent in creative fulfillment but financial precarity, my 30s have been spent in financial stability but creative restriction, and I’m here looking for tools that will help me make room for a more integrated life and career as I approach my 40s. I’m not really a quarter-lifer, but found a few things in Satya’s book to be helpful for a mid-life crisis as well!
Good morning 🌅
Hello, everyone! My name is Taylor, and I'm a writer and retired runner who moved to Seattle last year to start formal library training! I've been living alongside anxiety and emetophobia since I was very small, so I've been immersed in mental health work since before I knew what it was! This community is new to me, though I've been diving into cognitive functions for ~4 years and recently had my world rocked by "Quarterlife."
If you'd like to take a look at some of my writing, feel free to explore my website (https://fluffernutterfriday.wordpress.com/portfolio/)! I blog semi-regularly, though grad school is swallowing me whole in the best way.
My deepest joys come from long walks, good talks, reading on the beach, and fluffernutter sandwiches every Friday. I'm also a "Survivor" superfan and have applied three times. :)
Hello from a fellow lifelong emetophobic! Thank you for naming it - I often feel alone in that experience, so it always helps me to see other folks saying they feel terrified too.
We live halfway across the country, but looking at the other things you read and interact with, it looks like we share a lot of interests, and I think we would be good friends :)
Hi Satya and community! I'm a therapist by day and yoga teacher in my beloved community on the coastal South Shore of Nova Scotia (Canada). I'm happiest at home in nature, reading books and writing for my Substack, Wisdom Within, which is an intersection of psychoeducation and personal narrative. (https://annavonmaltzahn.substack.com/)
I'm passionate (obsessed!) with emotional health and living a life of deeper presence and meaning. I write most often about skillfulness in self-regulation, harnessing the wisdom of our emotions, deepening relationship with self and others, feeling connected in the human experience rather than alone, and the power of paying attention. I'm REALLY grateful for Substack as a way of connecting with other writers and communities like this one, and it's helped me to show up more consistently in my creative life.
By the way, as I've noted before- I have such huge gratitude for Quarterlife, which has come up frequently as a recommended book title for my clients! :) (https://substack.com/@annavonmaltzahn/note/c-52411336)
Hi! 👋🏽 My name is Bernice. I'm originally from the Philippines but have been living in Spain the past three school years (each year a new place, depending on my assignment). Teaching has been my longest career so far, most of it in an alternative pedagogy, but prior to that, I was in market research for a number of years as well.
I still can't decide if I want a master's degree in anthropology, sociology, history, psychology, or communication, but I'm mentioning that really just to show what kind of topics I gravitate towards. Yet, as I grow older, I feel a growing curiosity to learn trades and skills I can do with my hands. I'm looking for something to ground myself, maybe because I feel I think too much, haha.
My mom started Jungian psychology a number of years ago, so by osmosis, I kind of picked up on things, and that's how I found myself subscribing to Satya's Substack! Over the last half year, though, I've been remembering more and more dreams, so I'm especially interested in trying to work with that information.
Hello, I am relatively new to Substack and I feel like I have found my home. I’m originally from the Midwest and have been in Arizona for the last two years, which I love. I have always wanted to write and am finding my feet on Substack; “how I got here from there… a path to healing…” https://yesvirginiaeveryoneisloveable.substack.com is my website.
I am a RN by trade specializing in mental health, which I love and I ended up here as a travel nurse 2 years ago with my dog Mayzee in my 37 foot fifth wheel camper.
love Arizona for all of its great outdoors and all of the amazing sites to see and things to do.
I am so grateful to have found Substack and all the amazing people on it, you being one of them! Thank you, Lynne Beers
Hi! I’m Olivia. I’m a writer, mom, and former fashion exec who started a newsletter after lots of searching, learning, waiting and growing. I write about beautiful things, growth, motherhood and more: https://rallier.substack.com