Pop culture that makes bad days better

Life is beautiful, and sometimes beauty is pain. A long day at work or school; the weeks following a breakup; T-minus five days until rent is due; the seemingly endless stream of horrifying news … we could go on and on listing the inevitabilities that stress or depress us. And these moments all suck, but we couldn’t have life without them, could we?

That’s what we tell ourselves in order to persist, at least. Accepting our bad moods is a lot easier said than done, and so is moving past them. When we’re sad, or frustrated, or feeling hopeless, humans …

Girlfriend, you are so out: Marianne Williamson quits presidential race

New Zealand’s prime minister can rest at ease that she won’t be getting a call from Marianne Williamson in January 2021 — at least not from Marianne Williamson from the White House.

The author, spiritual leader, and friend to Oprah Winfrey announced that she is ending her presidential bid on Friday. In an email announcing the decision, Williamson said that she “stayed in the race to take advantage of every possible opportunity to share our message,” but with the primaries and caucuses approaching, she was suspending her campaign. “The primaries might be tightly contested among the top contenders, and I …

Are we morally obligated to meditate?

Eight weeks ago, I started meditating every day.

I knew I’d be going home to visit my family at the end of December, and well, I have a bad habit of regressing into a 13-year-old whenever I’m around them. All my old immaturities and anxieties get activated. I become a more reactive, less compassionate version of myself.

But this holiday season, I was determined to avoid fighting with my family. I would be kind and even-tempered throughout the visit. I knew that in order to have a chance in hell of achieving this, I’d need a secret weapon.

That’s where …

Vox Sentences: Shot down

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Reports: Missile strike downed Ukrainian airliner