we too often legitimize physical health over mental health, not recognizing or aware that physical health affects mental health and mental health affects physical health. what we think of as two, are in fact one relationship, both legitimate and both in need of our awareness and care.

on #WorldMentalHealthDay we stand in solidarity and affirm all who struggle with mental health, to remove stigma, open communication, and encourage ourselves, family, and friends to seek help when needed.
we should remember that self-care is mental health and self-care looks like:-

rest- setting boundaries- saying “no”- going for a walk- exercise- drinking water- communing with nature- meditating- laughter- journaling- creating art- eating good food- asking for help- therapy- medication.

what other self-care can you think of to add to your list?
~j

#MentalHealth #Semicolon #life #love #enso #calligraphy #EngagedBuddhism #Zen #art #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

*pictured: Semicolon Enso with short verse, “you are life, you are loved.”

**image available at JMWart (link in images and in bio) – a portion of any products sales with this art and design will be donated to organizations who serve and advocate for mental health awareness and those who struggle with mental health.

Hello friends! 🤗
I have a website – JMW Art & Meditation found at www.jaysenwaller.com! It’s basically a launch site for my multi-hyphenate life. 😂
+On the ABOUT page you can meet who I am (…not everything, but a bit more than the stardust that we are made of 🌟✨😉).

+On the ART page you can view some samples of my art and a link to JMWart, my Redbubble store where you can purchase anything from prints of my art and photography, to stationary, stickers, magnets, accessories, shirts – even shower curtains and bedding! 😳 I currently have over 40 designs in the store. 🎨🖌

+ On the MEDITATION page, I share my experience and view of path & practice, the practices I teach, along with some testimonials. I will also be posting a public teaching schedule soon with a link for sign ups. I offer both individual and group meditation instruction. 🧘🏼‍♂️📿

+ On the ACTING page, there’s agent contact, a short bio, link to my IMDb page, along with some production and behind the scenes production photos. I hope to have a reel up soon as well. 🎭🎬

+There’s also a CONTACT page to reach out directly to connect for commissioned art, and/or personal 1 to 1 meditation practice instruction/questions, along with social media links. 💌

+You can also click on the link to visit my blog – The Metta Garden which I’ve been doing for the past several years, if that is of interest. ✍🏻

I’ll be posting more updates soon on my art and related items that are for sale. I’ll be sharing these along with updates on my public teaching schedule on all social media accounts as well.

Thanks! ❤️🙏🏻~j

#art #meditation #mindfulness #contemplation #PathAndPractice #acting #jaysenwaller #JMWart #JMW

compassion puts the best of who we are – our open heartedness, empathy, and love – into action.

compassion recognizes our interdependent relationship with all around us and it works to bring healing and end harm.

this is acting in accordance with life, with love.
as the saying goes, “love wins.”
~j

#compassion #empathy #OpenHeart #love #life #interdependence #healing #LoveWins #EngagedBuddhism #JinpaLhaga

today is Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday. i’m sharing his quote on the power of nonviolence, because it is how he is best known and also because the power of this message is still deeply resonate and needed today.

we can expand our self and public inquiry into what nonviolence really means. this curiosity and openness to discovery reveals just how subtle violence can be in our personal relationships (even our relationship to ourselves) embodied in impatience and an eagerness to control, and also in the public sphere in traditions both religious and secular, and in governmental and institutional policies that aggress, especially towards the marginalized.

in time we discover that the qualities of an open heart, of empathy, of tenderness and kindness, of compassion, are nonviolence embodied. they pull the rug out under violence and aggression, making it impotent one word, one action, one conversation, one relationship at a time.

when we practice meditation – sitting, breathing, approaching ourselves and present moment with a gentle, tender openness – we are embodying nonviolence. we can take this same quality out into the world.
~j

#Gandhi #GandhiBirthday #nonviolence #nonaggression #tenderness #kindness #compassion #empathy #OpenHeart #meditation #path #practice #JinpaLhaga

wishing everyone a beautiful #AutumnEquinox as we ease into the embrace of change, the inward looking that prepares for the Winter ahead, which all the while holds within it the hope of Spring.

today with equal parts light and dark, we recognize the balance and harmony that is within life. may we embrace the simplicity of such balance, may we be reminded of our interdependent relationship with all things, which itself embodies harmony.

~j

#Autumn #Fall #Equinox #change #balance #harmony #path #practice #JinpaLhaga #JMWart #art

today is #InternationalDayOfPeace.i thought about posting some pretty, peaceful image. people like that. but then i saw the infuriating photos of the Texas Border Patrol officers herding Haitian refugees like cattle, with one using what looks like the reins for his horse as a whip on the refugees and i decided to show what peace DOES NOT look like. is this how we are to treat people? with inhumanity? no.

“Love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:39
“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me…I tell you the truth whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for me.” Matthew 25: 35-36, 40.

how can we take away anything other than immigrants and refugees being our neighbor in need?

i’m a Buddhist, but this is just a name, a label of my practice and approach to life, to suffering and the call the relieve and heal suffering in this world and life.i’m a Buddhist partly because Buddhist practice embodies this teaching of Jesus, whom i love and learn from.

if we don’t approve of what these images display, we must speak out.
if you do approve of what these images display, take it up with Jesus.🙏🏻
~j

#IStandWithRefugees #IStandWithImmigrants
#TheGoldenRule #Compassion

The biggest thing in this world, bigger than the ocean and the sky, is your heart.
~
Do Hyun Choe

it’s really amazing, this heart.
we got this, whatever it is, our hearts have the capacity to stay open and love, through the full range of what it is to be human, to be alive.
may we know our love.
~j

#OpenHeart #love #life #path #practice #EngagedBuddhism #JinpaLhaga #JMWart #art

control is an illusion anyway, even if it seems for a period of time to work, it eventually breaks down, and control can easily turn into aggression and oppression – how much harm is done in the process?

so we can practice being brave. we can step out of our comfort zones. we can love and do what we can, where we can, when we can, to bring some healing, happiness, and peace. and we can encourage – sometimes strongly encourage – others to do the same.
~j

#love #NoFear #NoControl #nonaggression #path #practice #EngagedBuddhism #JinpaLhaga

through every up and down, every breath in and out, we keep remembering to love. and when we’ve noticed we’ve forgotten, we can remember to come back to love again, to choose love again, for ourselves, for others, for a world that needs to know love is here.it’s always here.

~j

#love #OpenHeart #path #practice #JinpaLhaga #JMWart #art #calligraphy #Zen

like so many, i remember where i was a n 9/11. i saw the second plane hit on live tv and then each tower fall. the images don’t go away. the sadness, the fear, the anger, so palpable.

nearly 3,000 people died that day. citizens like you and me just doing their work, heroic first responders running toward the danger and regular folks rising heroically to help. people who are missed and are loved.

in the two decades since, the death toll has risen to an estimated 900,000 people including our military, allied forces, opposition, contractors, and humanitarian aid workers. the largest numbers though are from civilians. i heard on the radio that there have been an estimated 30,000 suicides related to the events of 9/11 and the wars following. so much suffering.

following 9/11, i came across a book by Vietnamese Zen Master, Thich Nhat Hanh. the book is titled, “Calming the Fearful Mind: A Zen Response to Terrorism” which would then set me on a path i hadn’t expected.

with such suffering, we can feel helpless what to do. however, there is an opportunity in such moments. an opportunity to acknowledge our feelings, our sadness, our fear, our anger and allow them with an approach that is loving, gentle, and caretaking. we can offer ourselves loving kindness. wishing ourselves safety, health, happiness and ease. we can touch in on these feelings and recognize that others are experiencing them also. in our awareness we know others all around the world are going through experiences similar to ours and often worse. we can offer others the same lovingkindness – “may you be safe, may you be healthy, may you be happy, may you be at ease” or whatever phrases come to mind – “may you be held in love, may you be surrounded in friendship, may you be free from suffering.”

we can use our suffering as an opportunity to be kind to ourselves, to connect to others, to offer lovingkindness and healing to a world in need. it can be a way of honoring the lives lost.
~j

#September11th #911Anniversary #path #practice #Lovingkindness #JinpaLhaga #JMWart #art