prose

a marathon, not a sprint…

~ jaysen ~ Leave a comment

so impressed with the multitudes marching yesterday. looking through the pictures i see so much to be inspired by.

a lot of love, passion, light and humor.

this is what democracy looks like.

and the continued persistence of this movement will be needed.

despite my critic friends, i would have loved to have seen the President do an about face and grow into this job, but many of us knew that wouldn’t happen and it hasn’t. i’ve been called out for not being fair and not carrying a neutral position. i disagree with that opinion. i firmly believe that a year in, any fair assessment continues to shed light on the consistent destructive nature of this Administration and Presidency. i believe it cuts through to the moral core of our hearts and the very fiber of our democracy. so being neutral in the face of such harm is not my path and not an option. i will continue to add my voice and my art mindfully and peacefully to #resist any actions that result in the degradation of our planet, any actions that target those on the margins and most vulnerable, and policies that deepen the divide of wealth in favor of the most elite. and i will continue to do so from a place of love and fierce compassion, calling out all forms of aggression and violence as best and consistently as i am able.

the road may be long, but it is well traveled by generations of open hearts before us who stood in the light with love, as they faced darkness.

~j

November 8th, 2018

#TheLongArc #TheResistance #PlantingSeeds #LoveWins #WomensMarch #MindfulResistance #MeditateAndResist #StandUp #SpeakOut

#RiseUp

~ jaysen ~ Leave a comment

last year i was marching, joining tens of thousands of others through the streets is downtown San Diego, joining hundreds of thousands in other cities around this country, joining millions around the world, rising up and speaking out.

i am unable to march this year, but my heart is there with so many courageous and caring souls putting their passion to the pavement.

it is still so necessary. the attack on our lands, on immigrants, on others in the margins – Muslims, people of color, women, LGBTQ, elderly, poor, sick is ongoing. not always in big ways, but in little ways chipped away and ignored with more salacious headlines. the Russia issue continues to reveal that it is much deeper and goes much further than thought. and a twitterstorm of fake news, insults, continues to stream out of phone coddling fingers of a leader who golfs and holds court at his private resort every weekend.

there’s a lot to be concerned about and speak to. may we of sound mind continue to retain focus, avoid false equivalence, persist in our resistance, and ensure our passion – our drive is motivated from fierce compassion and unwavering love for that which is true, kind, and open-hearted. may it be put into action with our feet, our hands, our voices, and our art.

truth will out, love will win, and light will shine bright.

#TheResistance #RiseUp #resist #StandUp #SpeakOut #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #LoveWins #FierceCompassion #MindfulResistance #MeditateAndResist

breathe…

~ jaysen ~ Leave a comment

…and repeat.

you can do this. your heart is stronger and more resilient than you may yet know.

#breathe #JustBreathe #YouGotThis #YouCanDoIt #StayOpen #StrongerThanYouThink #TheLongArc #TheResistance #MindfulResistance

#TheShapeOfThings

~ jaysen ~ Leave a comment

Just as water, through consistent interaction, smooths the rough edges of the rock, so too can consistent love and compassion smooth the rough edges of our hearts as we continue to open to all of life around us.

~j

#TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #LoveWins #CompassionWins #OpenHeart #life #Zen #Buddhism

#TheShapeOfThings

#BWphotography #photography #JMWphotography #JMWart

advice for our President regarding nuclear war…

~ jaysen ~ Leave a comment

in response to the President, some wisdom from Thomas Merton. and may we, my friends, substitute “Christian” as “human” and/or “humane and sane” because all of us need to participate in this mission no matter our spiritual tradition or of we have no spiritual tradition.

~j

“(the) task is to work for the total abolition of war. There can be no question that unless war is abolished, the world will remain constantly in a state of madness and desperation in which, because of the immense destructive power of modern weapons, the danger of catastrophe will be imminent and probable at every moment everywhere. The church must lead the way on the road to the nonviolent settlement of difficulties and toward the gradual abolition of war as the way of settling international or civil disputes. Christians must become active in every possible way, mobilizing all their resources for the fight against war. Peace is to be preached and nonviolence is to be explained and practiced. We may never succeed in this campaign but whether we succeed or not, the duty is evident.”

~Thomas Merton

you are…

~ jaysen ~ Leave a comment

Don’t try to be someone else…

the cosmos has come together

and helped you manifest in this way, and you are beautiful just as you are.

To be beautiful means to be yourself.

~

Thich Nhat Hanh

you are. simple as that.

it takes courage to be authentic, to settle into who we are and all we have to offer through our talents and our open hearts, yet continue to open and grow. but it is our authenticity that benefits the world and connects us to others in a genuine way.

be you, be beautiful. it is your gift to this world.

~j

#YouAre #BeYou #BeBeautiful #authenticity #courage #presence #gift #OpenHeart #beauty #PlantingSeeds #TheLongArc #Zen #enso #JMWart

love is it…

~ jaysen ~ Leave a comment

The message of Christmas is so much more radical than the welcome and beneficial sentiments of warmth and familial love.

That a small refugee infant with parents trying to find safe haven in a foreign country, fleeing from their home and the danger there, poor and homeless, would become a symbol of divine and sacred love, a messenger of peace and generosity of heart, speaking truth to power, standing up for the vulnerable and powerless, giving space and attention to the outsider, the outcast.

An incredible message and life changing if we open our hearts to it.

We need this Christmas message today.

May it strike our hearts at their core, opening us to love all, including and most especially the refugee, the homeless, the foreigner, the poor, the vulnerable and outcast.

May it be so.

And may you and your family and friends have a Merry Christmas.

Wishing you all that is beautiful and beneficial today and everyday.

May you be happy, may you be safe and at ease, and may you be free from suffering.

~j

12.25.17

#Christmas #NoBansNoWalls #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #LoveWins

Bodhi Day – wake up…

~ jaysen ~ Leave a comment

Over 2500 years ago, deeply moved by the suffering he saw in life (sickness, aging, and death), disenchanted with the excess from which he came, and the practice of extreme ascetism, the historical Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama) set out to meet life face to face, as it is. He sat until he woke up. And in waking up he became the Buddha, which means awakened or awakened one. Seeing the middle way – not running away from or grasping at life, rather meeting life with an open heart – he found freedom from suffering.

Today, December 8th, we Buddhists commemorate the Buddha’s awakening under the Bodhi Tree, as Bodhi Day. A day to remember the event, but to also be reminded that we too can wake up, we too have within us the ability to be with life as it is, to be free and at peace.

This morning I practiced, I sat and meditated, and then painted this “wake up” enso to honor not just this one man who decided to sit beneath a tree and meet life authentically with an open heart, but to honor all who sit, all who practice, all who meet this passing life with all of its beauty and heartbreak with an open heart.

May we all wake up to the preciousness of this life, may empathy and compassion be born from our open hearts, to light the world with our love.

~j

12.08.17

nature and connection…

~ jaysen ~ Leave a comment

if we spend time with nature, watching and listening without agenda, our hearts open. there is a natural reverence that springs forth from this connection. we see its intrinsic sacred nature. we perhaps sense our connection and if we look deeply enough, we may open to the insight of our interconnection.

unfortunately, disappointingly, what we are currently seeing is the result of a disconnection. only disconnection can allow greed to surrender the beauty and generosity of nature’s resources to an abuse for commercial and monetary gain.

i’ve heard the claim of States’ rights and Federal overreach which although may have a foothold and value with some audiences, must seem like a tragic irony to our Indigenous sisters and brothers, who’s ancestors understood interconnection and were here long before this land was colonized by outsiders. Long before this newest grab at sacred land, they have known the bite of loss and disenfranchisement.

~j

#MonumentalMistake #MonumentsForAll #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #MeditateAndResist