Hi friends,
Last night I went live with my brilliant and hilarious friend, Liz Plank — journalist, author, podcaster, and one of the sharpest cultural commentators out there.
We started with what we lose (and gain) when we ride in driverless cars, and before long we were on the dance floor — talking about clubbing as ritual and what happens when we lose those chaotic spaces of joy and risk and serendipity. Together we explored questions like:
Is Gen Z onto something with their return to flip phones?
Why does MAGA seem to be throwing the better party? And what can we learn from their seemingly joyful gatherings?
How did clubs function as ritualized spaces and what happens to us when we don’t club anymore?
Are DJs shamans?
How much friction should we be designing back into our life (and groups)?
How do we water the garden of a group before we tackle the hard stuff?
And we kept returning to two ideas: designing for serendipity and respecting friction.
The replay is up now for you to watch. It’s free and open to all. And let me know, who else would you like to see on our new Group Life LIVES?
As always,
Priya
P.S. I’m kicking off my new Group Help Sessions on Zoom TOMORROW, September 10 at 12pm EST, and I’d love for you to join. RSVP here and we’ll send you the Zoom link to join today. (Note: My GROUP HELP sessions are part classroom, part hang, part community practice, and for now I’m going to do them on ZOOM because I can see you better, you can interact more freely with me, and, I want you to watch me and practice holding a virtual space together.)
In this first session, I’ll share the #1 secret to thriving group life — and how to harness it. We’ll dive into practical ways to help people feel connected, know they matter, and sense they’re part of something bigger. And we’ll look at how to create that kind of stickiness — so your team, your run club, or even your weekly friend hang becomes something people can’t wait to return to.
P.P.S. I’m going Live again this Thursday, September 11 at 5 PM EST. This time, I’ll be joined by my friend, the luminous, creative, multi-talented Suleika Jaouad — author of Between Two Kingdoms and The Book of Alchemy and founder of The Isolation Journals. She has recently started a new model of group practice: the journaling club. Instead of reading a book together, people are coming together to journal together. We’ll be in conversation about how to gather well, hold healthy conflict, and build vibrant, resilient, meaningful community. Add it to your calendar now.
To join this Live: Subscribe to GROUP LIFE and Substack will automatically send you a link to join when I go live. You can join right from your phone or desktop. The link will come from Substack so make sure you check your Spam folder. And if you don’t see it in your inbox, you can head to www.substack.com and the video will pop up right below the navigation bar. And if you can’t make these Lives, don’t worry – I’ll share the replays afterwards.
Keep the conversation going: We’re experimenting with Substack Chat. On the app, look for the little speech bubble icon at the bottom of your screen. On your desktop, you’ll find it on the left-hand menu. That’s where I’ll post prompts and where you can share your own stories. Come introduce yourself here! Can’t wait to see you there.
