i am home.

inspired by my root teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, who has a gatha (verse) and calligraphy containing the phrase, “I have arrived, I am home.”

this is a practice, a practice i am engaging (and then re-engaging) during this time.

the urge is to want to flee. there is so much to be concerned about, so much that is painful and worthy of grief, that there can be an urge to flee from the discomfort of all that is going on. it can be easier to just pay no attention. but of course, we can only flee for so long. life and all that comes with it, catches up with us eventually.

where would we flee to anyway? wherever we go, still we are right here. and right here, is where life needs us, where we can be of benefit, where we can embody the love needed in this world to bring healing and to reduce suffering.

when we say, “i am home,” we are saying that we are invested in this place, in the people, animals, life that is also here in this place and also call it home. when we say, “i am home,” we are saying we care.

we can also take comfort in the phrase, “i am home.”

home is a place where we belong, a place where we can keep our heart open and relax into the comfort love can bring. we can trust that.

home is a place of safety, of sanctuary. we can learn to practice in that and find that within the spaciousness of our own open hearts.

the practice, isn’t magic, in the way of whisking away our troubles. the practice is, however, magical in that it reveals to us what has already been given and available within us, what once seen as vulnerability begins to be seen as bravery and resilience, a bravery and resilience that can be found in the multitude of generations before us who also faced great troubles as well.

“i am home” is a practice of love.

~j

#iamhome #meditation #practice #openheart #vulnerability #bravery #resilience #engagedbuddhism #zen #JMWart #JinpaLhaga