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like so many, i am still practicing finding balance in these challenging times. here are some steps i developed for myself to keep engaged skillfully without burning out. i hope they also bring benefit to you.

The Five R’s:

for self & community care in a time of resistance to fascism.

REST

get proper sleep. take naps. meditate. spend time in nature. listen to music. read for fun.

RISE

get up. bear witness. engage. take the action that you can where you are & how you are able. protest, march, boycott, call your Reps, write letters, post content, create art, write poetry, have one on one conversations – even the difficult ones. support others – orgs, charities, people doing the work you are unable to do.

RESIST

don’t obey in advance. don’t give in to hopelessness, despair, cynicism, or hate. don’t isolate yourself, connect with community instead. don’t accept lies or propaganda for truth. don’t give up on democracy or the power of love, goodness, kindness, beauty, & light. still have joy in things that are joyful, & gratitude for the good things, places, & people still present & available.

RINSE

literally – take a shower, give yourself a feeling of cleanliness & freshness. allow the water to wash away all you are carrying, down the drain. cleanse yourself of all the worry, concern, stress – at least once a day (i prefer the end of the day before bed). another option is a sun or moon bath, stand for a few minutes in the sunlight or moonlight & let it all go for a bit & just allow life, allow the light to shine on you, & in you, as a reminder that we are part of something far more vast than this one moment & we are supported by a universe beyond time.

REPEAT

consistency & persistence are evidence of our commitment to love & work like a kind of ordinary magic over time. bodhisattvas, those committed to love & freeing others from suffering, keep showing up. we too, can simply keep showing up, trusting that through love, what is needed will appear & we can be of benefit.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#TheFiveRs #rest #rise #resist #rinse #repeat #selfcare #balance #engaged #bearingwitness #OpenHeart #love #path #practice #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

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friends ~

the House budget that passed by the slimmest margin & party line vote yesterday is an immoral & harmful budget targeting those who are low income & poor, along with those who are disabled.

the budget would give tax cuts to the top 5%, with $1.1 trillion in tax cuts for the top 1%, while increasing taxes for the bottom 95%. the budget would increase the military spending by $100 billion, & increase the debt ceiling by $4 trillion.

all of this while cutting $880 billion from Medicaid which provides medical care for the disabled, for low income & poor, along with foster children. this budget also cuts $230 billion from SNAP, the food assistance/food stamp program for low income & poor, who are not able to afford enough to eat. this has been the planned agenda, but is this what you voted for – to take healthcare from the poor, from children & the disabled? to take food from children, the elderly, & poor? just so the obscenely rich can get financial assistance in the form of tax breaks?
this is immoral. this will lead to harm, injury, & death.

PLEASE call your Reps (202) 225-3121 Senators (202) 224-3121 to voice your opposition in the strongest terms.

may hearts open, may empathy, generosity, & compassion arise.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#GOPBudget #MAGABudget #HouseBudget #TaxBreaksForWealthy #TargetingThePoor #TargetingTheDisabled #TargetingTheElderly #TargetingChildren #immorality #harm #OpenHeart #empathy #generosity #compassion #JinpaLhaga

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if this is all there is, if what we have in front of us is it, we still have the power of individual choice to love all of it into beauty, into healing, into restorative justice, equity, & peace. not some saccharin hallmark card love, but getting our hands dirty doing the needed work of fierce compassion kind of love – raw, vulnerable, empathetic, tender, gentle, yet strong, clear, focused & wise. no one can take that away. we can choose to be practitioners of love, & we can choose to be alchemists of our own circles of relationship & influence when we have the opportunity, privilege & responsibility – transforming the world, bit by bit, seed by seed, spark by spark.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#LoveItAll #SitDownRiseUp #MindfulResistance #bodhisattvas #alchemists #OpenHeart #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

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“…easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle…”

said with all due respect, out of love & concern.

we all know someone elderly, sick, or struggling financially. perhaps it is us, a loved one, or friend.

should the richest man in the world – not elected, not confirmed by Congress, working illegally, & outside the Constitution – tell us or them, their SSI is too much – breaking the bank? not worth the effort to heal? not worthy of food or housing?

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#hell #cruelty #harm #FollowLove #OpenHeart #SitDownRiseUp #MindfulResistance #JesusIsWithThePoor #BookOfMatthew #JinpaLhaga 

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not everybody can do the same thing, but everybody can do something. 

we can listen to our heart, to what aligns with love, & also works to preserve democracy, to pull in those who have been cast out, to protect the vulnerable, to lift up the oppressed, heal the injured, & create a new what has been destroyed.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#IfNotNowWhen #SitDownRiseUp #MindfulResistance #OpenHeart #bodhisattvas #path #practice #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

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this moment calls for it.

our collective future depends on it.

care.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#care #OpenHeart #NoFascism #SitDownRiseUp #MindfulResistance #path #practice #JinpaLhaga #JMWart #calligraphy 

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it’s obscene, watching the world’s richest man parade around on stage with a chainsaw, gleefully laughing, & celebrating mass firings, affecting the livelihood of so many, slashing food aid & needed medical care from the poorest who desperately depend on the aid. reminding the public that they need to prepare for austerity, for their own good & the good of their country, leaves such a foul stench in the air. such rot. unadulterated cruelty & callousness. devoid of empathy.

what we are seeing is the opposite of love, the opposite of honoring the sacred. it is harmful, destructive, & for some will be deadly. it isn’t something to laugh about or enjoy.

may we have eyes to see & ears to hear, & the courage to speak out. may hearts open.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#cruelty #callous #harm #suffering #resist #SitDownRiseUp #MindfulResistance #OpenHeart #path #practice #CSLewis #JinpaLhaga 

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“The death of empathy is one of the earliest and most troubling signs of a culture about to fall into barbarism.”

~ Hannah Arendt

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#empathy #OpenHeart #path #practice #HannahArendt #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

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“Destiny itself is like a wonderful wide tapestry in which every thread is guided by an unspeakably tender hand, placed beside another thread, and held and carried by a hundred others.” ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

we are here to love one another, to care for each other. we are not here to divide, to scapegoat any particular group, or target, marginalize, oppress, harm, or attempt to erase any community of people. all are sacred embodiments of life & love.

life is of one piece. 

love is of one piece.

when we divide & target any group, or support the targeting of any group, or are indifferent & apathetic to the targeting of any community of people – whether that be as we are seeing now with the targeting of immigrants, BIPOC, the sick, the elderly, the poor, or the LGBTQIA community (which my art in this post is pointing to) – then we are dishonoring life itself & grieving the heart of love.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#life #OneLove #sacred #community #LGBTQIA #SitDownRiseUp #MindfulResistance #NoFascism #TransLIvesMatter #OpenHeart #path #practice #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

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When the narrative is dark and foreboding,

when the banner of fear is waved 

gathering the masses under it, 

and what is said divides us, 

denying our interdependence – 

look to nature to regain your balance.

Sit with her, resting in her silence, 

aligning yourself with the Way, 

and remember there is always Light.

And after Winter, Spring.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏼

#light #spring #love #interdependence #balance #OpenHeart #SitDownRiseUp #MindfulResistance #JinpaLhaga #JMWart