Invitations

The beginning of every journey

Dear Reader,

This is a longer newsletter than I normally send out, but there’s an invitation to an adventure at the end that I would love for you to participate in. But, first, today’s newsletter:

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There’s a pool in the house behind mine. It looks like it’s lined with indigo or navy colored tiles. I can see a tiny part of the pool from the upstairs windows through the trellis on top of the fence that divides our houses. The pool is usually kept covered in the winter, but sometimes as I am walking by the windows, I’ll catch the movement of sunlight dancing on the blue water. I’ll try to move my head up and down to see if I can get a better view, but I can only ever see a small section. Catching these diamond-shaped (because of the trellis) glimpses of the water feels just like looking into my old, glass kaleidoscope¹. It’s as though some magic has mysteriously inserted itself into my day and is inviting me to pause for a deeper contemplation. I think that’s what living near water (a river, the ocean, or even something more pedestrian like a pool), mountains, or forests can do for us: take us out of ourselves and remind us that we are part of something greater. And that’s what exploring myths and archetypal journeys can do for us too.

“The first function of mythology is showing everything as a metaphor to transcendence.”
― Joseph Campbell, The Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life & Work

I read in an article in Time² that seeing yourself as the hero or protagonist in the adventure of your life- where you go on the hero’s journey, and depart from the ordinary world, set off on a quest, make friends and allies, deal with enemies, overcome challenges and return with new knowledge (or gifts, skills, experiences)- is good for you. The article cited research that shows this kind of reframing or narrativizing has psychological benefits. By reflecting on our life, mapping a trajectory, and identifying which portion of the journey we are on allows us to be more objective, and develop more courage, hope, and resilience³.

I find it fascinating that it’s useful (practical) to think of ourselves as the hero on a journey (not necessarily only the hero’s journey but the hero of our narrative arc) and it can provide a bridge from the mundane to the more mysterious.

Invitations

To kickoff my second year of writing here on Substack, I am starting with an invitation. After all, every journey starts with an invitation. Some thing invites you to go on a journey and in going, you are transformed in some small or large way. Invitations can be delightful occurrences, but just as often they can show up as dreams, restlessness, boredom, discomfort, loss, or other outright disruption of the status quo. They can be loud, clear, repetitive, or they are whispers that we miss unless we are paying attention.

Oh do you have time
to linger
for just a little while
out of your busy

and very important day
for the goldfinches
that have gathered
in a field of thistles

for a musical battle,
to see who can sing
the highest note,
or the lowest,

—Mary Oliver, an excerpt from the poem “Invitation,” A Thousand Mornings

Today, I’d like to invite you to subscribe to a new, private Substack called Once Upon A New Moon where I’m going to serialize my first novel-in-progress. Here are the details: This novel is about a middle-aged woman named Maya. Maya is at a crossroads in almost every area of her life. Her relationships, both with her husband, Ajay, and their two adult children, Sam, 19 (short for Samyukta) and Rohit, 22, are unraveling. Her career has stalled and her life has become a continuous self-improvement hamster wheel. Adventure comes calling when her aunt arrives with a magical painting and Maya is swept away on an odyssey to a fantasy land. Is Maya ready for her hero’s journey and will she return with the magical elixir? This is Maya’s story.

This novel is for you if you think midlife is a powerful and potent period that forces you to reckon with yourself. It’s for you if you think going on a transformative journey is the treasure we seek. It’s for you if you like an old-fashioned romance, magic, and adventures in a fantasy land.

I’m still working on the novel. By keeping the Substack private, I want to create a sandbox environment to finish the novel, fine tune the parts of it that are already written, and get it ready to submit for publication. I am still working out the schedule of chapters, but tentatively, you will receive a chapter/week for three weeks followed by a discussion week. The first chapter arrives in your inbox Friday (March 15th) morning.

When you click subscribe, you will request to be part of a group of readers who will read the book as I complete it. It promises to be an exciting experience for both of us!

I’m excited to continue writing nonfiction here on Ten Thousand Journeys and fiction at Once Upon A New Moon!

Dear Reader, I’d love to know how you’ve experienced invitations to transformative journeys.

Best,

Priya

1. I bought the kaleidoscope many years ago from a vendor on the beach in Kanyakumari, the southernmost tip of India. It has a lot of blue glass shards, coupled with the occasional green, and like my view of the pool, each time the light looks different, and the shades and patterns of blueness are different.

2. Want to Give Your Life More Meaning? Think of It As a ‘Hero’s Journey’ by Angela Haupt

3. I found the article interesting, but I think there’s a paradox here. It’s easy to get sucked into a kind of journey spiral where you think every journey is going to lead you to a better place. It might. But, we may have to be careful about taking on a solving mindset of getting everything right. Plus, the hero’s journey is not the only kind of journey arc. So, yes, it’s beneficial and hold it lightly!