Joy of Exploration 2.0

"There is nothing quite like the feeling of exploration and the natural joy of discovery. This site is dedicated to wandering, exploring, and, when we are lucky, discovering. We humans are natural explorers, seeking to know more about the world around us, about others and, ultimately, about ourselves. We will explore outer and inner landscapes, discovering things we have never before seen or known.

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I became a psychologist because psychology and psychotherapy are about an internal exploration of self -- what we like, what makes us tick, what makes us stressed, and discovering enough about ourselves and our responses to the world around us to find a space for safety, security, peace, self-awareness, serenity, joy, contentment, and happiness. Therapy is a guided journey of exploration and discovery through which we come to understand, accept and love ourselves."

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I wrote the above section when I was still in my late 40s. Now, approaching my 60s and somewhere still not quite at the end of menopause, I see the world a little differently. I see myself a little differently. And the world is certainly a lot different.

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I started this website during a life transition of a career change, a job change. It was a way of expressing who I thought myself to be at that time. I kept it up for a few years before life demands distracted me and I moved on to other things. I am picking it up again now, some years on, during another life transition. This time, a transition into Hagitude (I borrow the phrase coined by Sharon Blackie in her book Hagitude because I resonate with it). And so, once again, this website becomes a testament to myself at a moment in time. In many ways, I have changed very little. My core self, my personality, my central "archetypes" are the same. But I am different. Freer with myself, more confident and excited about who I am and who I am becoming. Come along on this journey into late middle age and let's see what we discover.

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​Lori R. Vallelunga, Ph.D.

March 2025