The Power of Silent Retreats

My first retreat in 2009 changed my life. I can’t unsee what I saw, I can’t unhear what I heard. They should be normalized.

— From my journal, written at a small retreat house in Flagstaff, Arizona, 2009.

I haven’t eaten in 2 days, I haven’t heard a human word in 3. If I found a cigarette, I’d smoke it.