https://niargomsk.com ru Thu, 22 Oct 2026 11:09:47 +0300 https://niargomsk.com/tpost/kh4thh2s51-harry-potter-universal-studios https://niargomsk.com/tpost/kh4thh2s51-harry-potter-universal-studios?amp=true Thu, 22 Oct 2026 11:05:00 +0300 Наталья Яргомская Travel And what methods do you use to distinguish between what's real and what's fictional?

Harry Potter, Universal Studios

We took the kids to Universal Studios—we rewarded each other for doing well in school and at work.

On Friday, we took the kids to Universal Studios—we rewarded each other for doing well in school and at work.

There, we waited in line for an hour for the Harry Potter ride. We caught up on a whole week’s worth of conversation.
I realized that standing in line with preteen kids really brings you closer together :))) It’s pretty cramped, narrow, and there’s nowhere to run.

Then we settled into our seats on the ride and headed into the world of Harry Potter.


Well, let me tell you, it was actually pretty scary. It was dark, with all kinds of Dementors and spiders. A dragon was breathing steam right in my face. The most impressive part, of course, was flying on a broomstick with Harry and Ron.
It turns out our brains are really silly. They genuinely can’t tell the difference between fiction and reality. And our bodies follow suit.
Harry was flying on the screen in front of me, and I was actually flying right behind him. My body was lurching up and down; I felt the fear of heights and of falling.
So, through this simple example, I was convinced once again that Omar Khayyam’s poem—“All that you see is but an illusion...”—is the absolute truth.


We view life through the filters of our own perceptions and behave as if that were reality. In other words, we are constantly at the mercy of our own cinematic illusions. It’s both funny and sad how easily we’re led astray and, in a sense, how helpless we are.

What can we do about it?
For me, it’s a choice: do I want to fully immerse myself in these impressions, or can I realize that reality might be a little different than it seems to me…? That’s how I, at least, dealt with my fear of heights. I knew I was safe… and allowed myself to be just a little bit afraid so I could let go of the fear :))).


What methods do you use to separate the real from the imaginary?


P.S. When I got off the ride, I thought that a journey into our inner world accompanied by a coach is quite worthy of a Potter-style ride.
Everyone has their own demons, spiders, dragons, and dizzying flights on a broomstick...
Only it can be even more beneficial, because by facing our illusory monsters, we gradually clear the space and become more aware of how they can be useful in life—for creativity, for our energy levels...]]> https://niargomsk.com/tpost/7aa1ov0l81-esalen-institute-big-sur-california https://niargomsk.com/tpost/7aa1ov0l81-esalen-institute-big-sur-california?amp=true Thu, 22 Oct 2026 11:06:00 +0300 Наталья Яргомская Travel How to Keep Learning at 79

Esalen Institute, Big Sur, California

I’m sitting here writing a cover letter. I’ve finally decided to apply for a job at the organization. My heart is craving this experience. I’ve decided to go for it.
And I’m looking at my resume—probably five pages long, maybe even more—filled with everything I’ve done, learned, and experienced in my life.
“Wow,” I think, “what a force of nature!!! Who is this mega-woman who’s managed to accomplish so much in so many different areas?”

But then I remembered a conversation I had with another mega-woman I met at the Esalen Institute. We struck up a conversation in the dining hall. Her name was Sylvia. She was the roommate of a close friend of mine. So this woman—a massage therapist—had come to attend a massage training seminar. She works at a hospital, helping cancer patients. She turned 79 at Esalen!!!! We all sang “Happy Birthday” to her.

And so we talked and talked, and then I suddenly realized that, unnoticed, another of my illusions about education had melted away—the idea that it’s a one-time thing that lasts forever, and that once you’ve learned something, that’s it—you can live off of it for the rest of your life.
For some reason, I suddenly felt such intense disappointment that it even gave me a tight knot in my stomach.

So I asked her, “So what, even at 79, after being a massage therapist for 20 years, I still have to keep learning?????

And she laughed so loudly and cheerfully.........

Of course!!!]]> https://niargomsk.com/tpost/y5yv9p0001-as-i-travel-outward-i-travel-inward https://niargomsk.com/tpost/y5yv9p0001-as-i-travel-outward-i-travel-inward?amp=true Thu, 22 Oct 2026 11:07:00 +0300 Наталья Яргомская Travel When you're not really expecting anything, but then you don't want to leave )))

As I travel outward, I travel inward

Houston—NASA’s Mission Control Center.

Yesterday we arrived in Houston, and the first thing we did was go to NASA’s Mission Control Center. There’s a museum attached to it. I wasn’t expecting anything special from this attraction. However!!!!

I absolutely loved this place. Such amazing faces in the black-and-white photographs from the era when the first humans were launched into space—engineers, scientists, astronauts. Intelligent, profound, and inspired, with an incredible light in their eyes. People on a noble mission.

The place turned out to be filled with the nourishing energy of the union of dreams, reality, and a deep yearning of the heart to understand the nature of the cosmos. I didn’t want to leave. Looking down from the glass gallery at the hangar where cosmonauts train and where robots are developed and tested, I thought enviously that this was the kind of place where one would want to be and work—a place with a noble mission and the drive to push beyond the limits of what is currently possible.

And around the museum, roe deer roam the lawns—with their moist brown eyes, slender legs, and little tails. Nature is so close and so trusting of the heart’s potential.

It’s hard to describe my feelings—they’re powerful and profound—when humanity sincerely believes in its boundless potential and serves lofty goals. I hope the new century will also open up such horizons for us through awareness, courage, faith, and love.]]>