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it is so easy to get caught up in all that life can bring & dissatisfied with the slightest inconvenience or discomfort, that we forget the most basic truth of all – just being alive is a gift. the potential available with having a life is a gift. that we are even here together in this moment, breathing & housing some 30 trillion + cells in this body that makes consciousness and awareness possible, is a miracle.

so whatever is happening, whatever challenges we are facing, we can take a moment to come home to this truth, this truth that is no further than our next in and out breath – we are alive. may we allow ourselves to enjoy this. and may we make it a practice to do so.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#life #miracle #being #happiness #OpenHeart #path #practice #ThichNhatHanh #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

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rest in well earned peace, President Jimmy Carter.

very few in public life have lived the message of Jesus so directly & fully. never has there been a post presidency so devoted to service & the common good. a life of faith lived in the compassionate action of loving one’s neighbor & serving the poor & un-housed. the open heart, the kindness & resolution, of a saint & bodhisattva.

the world is better from having the presence of such a human being. may we all devote our lives, in our own ways, to love & compassionate action for our neighbor as President Carter did.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#PresidentCarter #JimmyCarter #RIP #LoveThyNeighbor #bodhisattva

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we often live our lives in past memory with a mix of nostalgia & regret, & in a dream like future of hopes & fears. but in reality, all we have is this moment in front of us. it is in this moment that we heal past injury & regret, that we remember with gratitude what has benefitted us, & plant the seeds for a future we want to see. the past has happened & the future is yet to be, so we only truly have this moment where life is happening. it is this moment that we can love, that we can tend to with a quality of open-heartedness, warmth, grace, compassion, & hope.

it is in this moment, the present moment, that the past & the future can both be held & met with love as well.

love the moment.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#love #PresentMoment #OpenHeart #path #practice #alchemy #JinpaLhaga #JMWart #enso #calligraphy

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“Suns laugh when I say, 

‘I’m in love with everything.’

They know what I mean.”

~

Amy Chini

may all our fabricated barriers fall away, revealing all that is, as the one love that originates, pervades, & sustains all. always, always shining through. 

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#love #NoBarriers #ShineThrough #OpenHeart #path #practice #AmyChini #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

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“Be wary of any belief, ideology, dogma, or tradition that promotes division between you and your fellow human beings.”

~ Hemley Gonzalez

love doesn’t divide that which was never separate, which includes all things. all things in their true nature, are union. so that which divides, is not from love. disunion is not from love. love is the awareness shining light on the darkness of delusion, revealing what is & always has been – love – vast & infinite, intimate & present, always.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#love #sacred #NoDivision #awareness #interdependence #infinite #intimate #presence #WilliamBlake #HemleyGonzalez #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

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this Christmas, may we see with clear eyes the significance of the Christmas story – that the Christ came into the world as a baby in poverty, who then with his family became refugees fleeing persecution. that this child named Jesus, would grow into a man who preached of a God of love, a love that includes the outcast, the marginalized, & oppressed. may we also embody such love, that we too heal the sick, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, & open our hearts to those who are rejected by seats of power.

may there be an end to the insanity in our world that is greed, mass death & destruction, so that there may be peace.

may the barriers of our ignorance, greed, & aggression be undone by awareness, open-heartedness, & wisdom, that we may embody true love & peace for a world in need.

Merry Christmas 🎄

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

🌀

time to clock in.

let’s love this world into awareness, empathy, generosity, tenderness, compassion, equity,  & peace.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#TheWork #love #NoOneLeftOut #OpenHeart #path #practice #ThomasMerton #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

🌀

may we embody the world we want to see.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#kindness #peace #love #OpenHeart #embodiment #path #practice #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

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there is the darkness of delusion, fear, aggression, violence & hate, but these are not the rich darkness of which the mystics have spoken of for thousands of years.

the rich darkness of which they speak is the deep darkness of mystery, silence, & presence where from light & life springs forth.

there is a balance in nature, in life – an ebb & flow, where even the darkest & longest of nights, holds within it the promise of ever-growing light in the days ahead.

blessed Winter Solstice to you, friends!

~j

🌑♥️🙏🏼

#WinterSolstice #darkness #mystery #balance #OpenHeart #path #practice #JinpaLhaga #JMWart #photography

🌀

thank you, dear friends for all the kind, generous, beautiful birthday wishes!

50 years on this earth. how can i not be grateful, w/ a myriad – a lifetime – of experiences in relationships & learning & growing. these 50 year old eyes are weary & at times exhausted w/ constant change & the state of the world. but at 50, i find myself more resilient & resolved as ever to align w/ love, to embrace kindness & tenderness, & to act w/ fierce compassion for a world in need.

i am a little late in posting my gratitude, because i’ve been in the middle of a big move to Arizona, where i now reside w/ family for the indeterminant future. the last few weeks have been a whirlwind as we made our way here. i do hope to make my way to California for many visits, & perhaps, depending on where life opens & takes me, returning to reside once again. California will always be home in my heart, though it is my practice to make wherever i am my home. as Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh said, “I have arrived, I am home.”

this is a practice.

for anyone who may find themselves out this way, or for the purposes of mail, private message me for my new address.

grateful for you all, buoyed by your love & presence.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼