Dispatch from the Himalayas

Heterodox thinking abroad.

A quick note to share that we landed, and I received news that HarperCollins India is now promoting Trust Your Mind alongside its UK/US/CAN/AUS/NZ editions (here is a synopsis in Hindi). Who would have thought a book inspired by American heterodox thinkers would find its timing and resonance in such a wide breadth of societies? Mandarin, Spanish and other foreign translations are forthcoming as well.

I chuckle thinking back at my early days as a travel reporter in Asia, then going through a mental health awakening and becoming a psychology reporter, and now writing full-time, raising my family, and living back in Nepal. We landed a few days ago, along with our Bernese Mountain Dog.

Here’s some recent press on the book, including the British Psychological Society excerpt, the Josh Szeps interview, and Dan Harris interview. There’s also Wisdom of Crowds with Shadi Hamid, and an excerpt at the UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center.

Power converter

We last lived here from 2008-2014, just after the civil war. Nepal was a very different place, and we didn’t think we’d move back until we realized that further along post-war it now has a more vibrant ecosystem of innovators. By that I mean spaces are now filled with dynamism. It’s beautiful to witness, something like Bangkok or Tokyo would have been decades ago. Sixteen years ago we lived without power for much of the day, and the tiny cupcake place was the hip place in town. Now there are thriving coffee shops and farmers markets and boutique hotels.

My husband is Nepali and grew up here before landing at MIT and Berkeley, where we met. We’ve come back almost every year since, our kiddo now trilingual. It’s a wondrous thrill to be here.

Wading through jet lag,

Jenara