Am I Lonesome Tonight?

Alone, A Monk Jumps on a Bed

IRA SUKRUNGRUANG has an exhilarating discovery: loneliness isn’t the enemy.

to this quiet, monastic life. When I first arrived, my brain buzzed like a hive. I searched for the next thing to fix, read, write, grade, play. My mind juggled multiple thoughts, unable to focus fully on anything. This is a “fast-paced world,” some say in the West. But the Western life is a fractured one. Back home in America, I was cleaved into different compartments. I was Ira the teacher, Ira the husband, the friend, the dog father. Each compartment had different rules and responsibilities. Each compartment