I sweat over the lid trying to devise a solution, but could barely hear myself think over the chorus to Leonard Cohen's "Closing Time," which played a relentless loop in my head, as it would every day of this retreat, at a perfect-acoustics, full-volume blare. I was three days into a 10-day silent meditation retreat, and absolutely at the end of my rope.
"Sorry to break the noble silence," I finally told my fellow meditators. "But that toilet is clogged." It was the first thing I'd said in three days. The words felt like poetry on my lips.
When I told friends my plan to attend the program, they were justifiably incredulous. "You can't shut up for 10 minutes, let alone 10 days!" they protested. (They were-and remain-correct.) But my then boyfriend was an avid meditator, and had raved about the program since we first met. Vipassana, a meditation practice originating in India over 2,500 years ago, had utterly changed his life, he told me. It made him calm, self-connected. I had just quit my day job to pursue writing full time, and all I could sell was an article about how to make latkes. I had time to kill, is what I mean.
I said "OK!" to the 10-day Vipassana meditation for the same reason I said "OK!" to moving to Chicago with him. Because I thought there was something wrong with me for instead thinking, Run! Love, I speculated, was the noble pursuit of making two people fit together. My pieces didn't quite squeeze into the jigsaw puzzle of our relationship, but I thought this might sand down their edges. My boyfriend was so good, I thought (still think), and I desperately wanted to be good too.
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Denne historien er fra February 12, 2024-utgaven av Time.
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Gaza's Doctors Face a New Fight - Polio has resurfaced in Gaza for the first time in 25 years, with the first case confirmed Aug. 16 in a 10-month-old unvaccinated child in Deir al-Balah, the enclave's health authorities said;
Polio has resurfaced in Gaza for the first time in 25 years, with the first case confirmed Aug. 16 in a 10-month-old unvaccinated child in Deir al-Balah, the enclave's health authorities said; the World Health Organization (WHO) announced in July that the virus had been initially detected in wastewater in the city.
Justin Theroux The Emmy-winning actor, writer, and producer on Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, his roles in cult classics, and the enduring love for The Leftovers
I was absolutely a fan.
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FOR A WORK OF LITERARY NONFICTION TO thrill readers the way Lisa Taddeo's 2019 best seller Three Women has done, it must offer more than just rich subject matter.
3 sisters and one empty recliner
DEATH CAN BOTH TEAR FAMILY MEMBERS apart and bind them closer-often simultaneously.
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IRON FIST
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NURTURING LONG-DISTANCE friendships takes work, but the payoff is worth it-and even small gestures can keep bonds alive.
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