it’s September 20th which means it’s -#NationalVoterRegistrationDay!

we have important #MidtermElections coming up. please #register, #engage, #participate,

and #vote in our #RepresentativeDemocracy!

~j

👍🏻✊🏻🙏🏻

#EngagedBuddhist #enso #art #JMWart #JinpaLhaga

a few minutes of respite in the backyard.

a quick game of hide and seek with the late afternoon sun.

nature’s gift.

#NoFilter

⭕️♥️🙏🏻

#nature #trees #sky #sun #photography #JinpaLhaga #JMWart

we can come back to the breath.

we can just come back. no matter. it’s so simple, yet we forget to do it. 

and here it is, it is already happening, even without us thinking about it. we are alive and breathing. so how fortunate that we can simply come back to noticing this automatic thing, this incredible function of our body, this miracle, and simply be with it, be with the feeling of our breath. and all at once, our body and mind are back together, not separate, not divided or distracted, and we can feel some ease as if we’ve returned to a place of refuge, because we have. we have returned home.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏻

*THIS SATURDAY 9/24 IS UNFORTUNATELY CANCELLED. OF INTERESTED PLEASE RETURN ON SATURDAY 10/1.
Self-Care Saturdays are normally on all Saturdays at 10am over Zoom for mindfulness awareness and lovingkindness meditation. you can feel free to have your camera on or off. session is free or by donation. $10 suggested. 💫

#JustBreathe #breathe #meditation #mindfulness #awareness #lovingkindness #OpenHeart #SteadyMind #path #practice #JinpaLhaga #JMWart #ThichNhatHanhQuotes

.

before the mind craves

the moment yet born

before the pain unravels

into rambling story

before a tempered heat

reaches a boil

before the tears dry

and the heart shifts to close

just sit.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏻

*artwork available as prints and on products at my Redbubble store. 💫

link: http://linktr.ee/jaysenwaller

#meditation #practice #zazen #shamatha #Buddhism #Zen #JustSit #JustBe #JustStayForABit #life #pain #grief #anger #story #TheLongArc #PlantingSeeds #poetry #buddha #moon #JinpaLhaga #JMWart #art #BuddhistArt #BuddhaArt #ContemplativeArt #SpiritualArt

could it be that you, in all your authenticity, open heartedness, and willingness to show up, are the manifestation of love that those around you and all life needs in this moment?

why not?

we just show up. we drop all that we’re carrying that weighs us down. just let go, allow, and move from a space of open-heartedness. each moment is new, each moment is an opportunity to release, to invite, to be curious, to be kind, to embody love.

imagine a world filled with people doing just this. people setting this intention as their path. people returning to it again and again as practice.

powerful.

transformative.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏻

#love #DivineLove #embodiment #authenticity #OpenHeart #path #practice #EngagedBuddhist #JinpaLhaga #RichardRohrQuotes

i’ve noticed that i see a lot more GOP tweets on Twitter recently, even though in large part i don’t follow them. i’ve also noticed an uptick in scripture quoting by GOP politicians on Sundays.

why not participate? it’s easy and fun!

here’s a good one:

I was hungry and you gave me food,
I was thirsty and you gave me drink,
I was a stranger and you welcomed me.
~
Matthew 25: 35

may hearts open, may sanity arise.

~j
⭕️♥️🙏🏻

.

The actions, thoughts, and words 

of each of us are important. 

All of us together 

are making the world. 

So we have to ask ourselves: 

“How am I living? 

What kind of actions am I taking? Am I a force for good in the world 

or am I just another person 

doing nothing to help and therefore

making things worse?

~ Norman Fischer

may we put our feet and hands where our words are, led by the warmth and tenderness of heart and the luminous wisdom of mind, which is to say – love.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏻

#compassion #action #love #engage #OpenHeart #wisdom #ForceForGood #luminous #interdependence #EngagedBuddhist #JinpaLhaga #TaoistWisdom #BuddhistWisdom #NormanFischerQuotes

everything.

⭕️♥️🙏🏻

#love #TheAnswer #OpenHeart #path #practice #EngagedBuddhist #JinpaLhaga #RayBradburyQuotes

in Buddhism, it is said there are three root causes of suffering. there is ignorance, there is attachment, and there is aversion. 

aversion can also be understood as aggression, or pushing away. we find something uncomfortable, so we push it away – sometimes aggressively or violently. this can be especially true with painful experiences, but pain not healed or transformed can turn into hate and bring both us and others much suffering. and as Baldwin points out so wisely, with such aversion to our pain, we can then become attached to our hate, perpetually cycling suffering.

the Franciscan Priest Richard Rohr has said similar in his often repeated phrase, “What we don’t transform, we transmit.”

the good news is, love (which i’d define here as courage, generosity, and spaciousness) has the capacity to transform our pain. and the other good news is that we don’t have to go far to find it. it’s right here already, within our own tender heart. 

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏻

#aversion #aggression #hate #pain #suffering #transformation #healing #love #OpenHeart #bravery #generosity #spaciousness #path #practice #EngagedBuddhist #JinpaLhaga #JamesBaldwinQuotes

my response to any theocratic nationalist movement, so called “Christian” or otherwise.

love is an open hand, receiving and giving away freely. love isn’t manipulative, controlling, or oppressive – those are the languages of fear, and where there is love, there is no fear.

so kiss the ground dear friends, embrace the path of love in its myriad ways.

~j

⭕️♥️🙏🏻

#love #path #practice #EngagedBuddhist #JinpaLhaga #RumiQuotes #SufiWisdom