It was right around seven years ago that I started sharing daily depth psychology quotes first thing every morning on Instagram. It wasn’t something I intentionally set out to do; I just kind of fell into it. The few encouraging responses early on kept me going.
This has been a contemplative practice for me, similar to a daily devotional reading or lectio divina. The commitment to sharing the quotes with others has motivated me to maintain this practice every day for over 2500 quotes/days. I try to not share a quote more than once to keep things fresh. This practice has also has ensured that I keep reading, which in turn feeds my monthly Reading in Depth newsletter, my weekly blog/Substack posts, and, really, everything else I do. I have consistently been amazed at the good engagement the posts get on a platform that doesn’t neccessarily encourage slowing down and reading a quote that is sometimes several sentences long.
When I read my life backward, I can see how all of this harkens back to one of my earliest childhood memories when I had a burning desire to learn how to read and would impatiently go around the house and try to sound out words. My earliest writing endeavors were letters I would leave on my mother’s desk when she was at work. I also wrote poetry and will never forget the day a poet visited my third grade classroom with a binder full of his poetry; I was entralled at the possibilities that presented. Fast forward to high school (ugh), which I made bearable by writing notes to friends on graph paper and discreetly passing them on during class. I still wrote poetry and helped assemble and print the school’s poetry journal. Then I went off to college and majored in English literature, of course.
I plan to keep sharing the daily quotes for as long as Instagram is around. Starting today I will also be posting a daily quote on my Substack for paid members. It won’t be the same daily quote that I post on Instagram. The chat is within the Substack app and also accessible on the website. It won’t clog your email inbox. Hopefully in time we can get some good conversations going in there.
I also have some downloadable PDF guides available on my Reading Room page. The most popular posts on my website are the ones explaining Jungian analyst John Beebe’s personality typology model and I plan to put them into guides. Seven years ago, as I slowly read Beebe’s book on typology, I wrote blog posts explaining it to help me understand it better and apparently others find them useful too. I also have a popular post on typology and tarot that I turned into a guide.
Another feature of the Reading Room will be astrology journaling guides to help you live seasonally and reflect on your life. There is one there for Mars-Pluto cycles (there is a Mars Pluto opposition coming up in October) with more to come.
For those who choose the Founding Member option, I will send you via snail mail a handwritten note that includes a quote, of course—and a new Field Notes pocket notebook from my collection, which is a place to carry a little piece of this practice with you: quotes, dreams, transits, ideas as they pop up.
I don’t know yet what exactly will happen in the Reading Room. A daily chat, some guides, a few good conversations, maybe more. What I do know is that it will unfold like everything else has around here: quietly, one ordinary morning at a time, for as long as I keep reading. I hope you’ll be there for some of it.
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