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A SELECTION OF ARTISTS ORIGINATING BEFORE THE 80'S
A SELECTION OF ARTISTS ORIGINATING BEFORE THE 80'S
A SELECTION OF ARTISTS ORIGINATING BEFORE THE 80'S
A SELECTION OF ARTISTS ORIGINATING BEFORE THE 80'S
A SELECTION OF ARTISTS ORIGINATING BEFORE THE 80'S
A SELECTION OF ARTISTS ORIGINATING BEFORE THE 80'S
...a journey of healing
The following verses are a summary of a much larger collection of words I put together as field notes to stay at peace while dealing with a relentless musculoskeletal mystery disorder.
Read the following summary slowly.
Ok, this next section is diving in a bit deeper. So knowlege of Zen, Taoism and Buddhism is helpful in having the following section make sense
Ok, this next section here we go a little bit deeper as well. I love the ending on it so much :)
Below is my newest summary, lol. Momentary Mindful Meditation
Ok, in the section below is a goofy intro and then the whole chicken pot pie. Enjoy :)
Intro: The Legend of Wordless Scraps: it’s 2026 and after a few years of getting knocked around by some sort of neuro-musculo-skeletal fibromyalgia phantom menace, I looked in the mirror and noticed my beard had grown a lot whiter than I had remembered. Or rather, maybe it was just a little more seasoned. I then said to myself, “Dude, you kinda look like a Scraps.” As in a guy named Scraps - a bit weathered and worn, maybe handled a little roughly in transit. Kinda like one of those packages that shows up all dented and battered, but when you open it, the contents are surprisingly intact. Then you discover some extra goodies thrown in by the sender and upon further examination, realize this extra lagniappe is really quite special. “Oh happy day,” right!?
So when I looked inside this newly named Scraps fella, I hoping to at least find maybe a few embers of mindfulness still glowing sweetly in the darkness to seek refuge in. But what I eventually found, was something pretty incredible and, quite frankly indescribable. It was something that hadn’t seemed to age while everything else was growing older.* It was in that blissful discovery that the name Wordless found Scraps.
*Discussed later in Essential Being section
Now after spending all of 2025 being poked and prodded from every different doctorial direction to figure out what was terrorizing my body, and still coming up dry after every single test, I decided to take a different approach to well-being.
Returning now back to that inward search that showed me a glimpse of something amazing, I began to take down some notes and ideas. What follows in the sections below isn’t really documenting my journey as a story, but more like field notes that I scribbled down for myself along the way. Writings from a guy who re-nicknamed himself Wordless Scraps while fending off the most bizarre health crisis of his life. Putting pen to paper as to not forget the important findings that my fibro brain tries to let slip away. Again, these are words that were originally written down just for me, to keep myself centered along this newly revealed path of humble discovery - a narrow, shrubby dirt trail that winds through valleys and canyons, occasionally dipping below the morning mist into an amazing world that had apparently been hiding down there this whole time. It’s hard to say exactly where the path will lead but what follows in the words below gives me great hope beyond health that things are gonna be quite alright.
After dedicating a good amount of time organizing these notes, I realized that this knowledge could be of value to others as well. Great sages passed down valuable wisdom from one generation to the next — ancient ways of existing in the purest and most natural state. And I’m making my interpretations available here for those who might find themselves on a similar path.
I feel that if I can practice what I’ve put down into words here, it will either help rid my physical body of whatever this thing is that’s wreaking havoc inside it, or that it will at keep me in a peaceful, fearless state of mind while learning to accept every single thing unconditionally exactly the way it is.
So, in a humble attempt to keep this magical wisdom flowing through the world, and myself at peace, I’d like to now share my field guide from the canyon with you...
Mindfulness in Action: Ok to begin, I want you to recognize that you exist right here in this moment. Bring your attention to your upper body and to your heart. Sit or stand up as tall as you can. Breathe deep and slow, opening up your chest and extending your spine while allowing fresh air to fill the depths of your lungs. Now gently exhale slowly and fully, freeing any stale air that’s been bottled up inside. Continue with a few mindful breaths and patiently let go of any thoughts that arise while calmly returning your attention to the moment and just simply be. Let go of the need to plan or rehearse for future moments and continue to calmly return to this one. While still here in this moment, attend to something simple that you’ve done a million times over, such as washing your hands or dishes, folding clothes, eating… Normally, while performing these routine actions most of us usually have the tendency to multitask — letting our brain map out what needs to happen next. Resist the urge to do that and return your attention to the task at hand. Move slowly and methodically with meaning, appreciating the fact that you are fortunate enough to able to perform this task. Anytime thoughts arise, slowly let them pass while returning your focus to the moment. Let it all just naturally happen in a mindful momentary meditation. Feel gratitude for everything you have that’s precious. Smile to that feeling. The more and more we can bring ourselves back to the present the more peaceful our days will become.
Scraps from the past: I was a teenager in the 1990s and I started reading books about Buddhism because the little I knew about it intrigued me to want to know more. I started practicing mindfulness and breathing techniques that Thich Nhat Hanh was teaching in his books. Those practices stayed with me throughout the years since. I lean on them from time to time when needed, for finding peace within the storms that can often rage around us. As I write this in 2026, I am now 45 years old and for a few years now I have been dealing with this very hindering muscle and nerve disease that modern western medicine just can’t seem to figure out. It’s a fluctuating disorder but seems to be slowly getting worse as the months go on. After testing and scanning for every possible thing my neurologist and I could think of last year I finally talked with a head doctor about it. It was through that interaction that I realized there was a chance that wanting to control things that were out of my control over a long period of time, could have possibly caused all of this physical damage within me. So that’s now one of many hypotheses for what’s wrong with my body. This condition I’ve got can literally feel like something is swimming around inside my muscles, trying to punch its way out through my skin or dig deep into bone, all over my body, whenever and wherever. Picking up on that hypothesis, I started having the realization that if I somehow mentally got myself into this mess, and getting little to no help from western medicine, then I was going to do everything I could to mentally find my way out of it. So I got back into practicing mindfulness and then that led to me going deeper into it more and learning about Zen teachings and getting back into Taoism as well. After six or seven months now of practicing and learning new teachings daily, I have unfortunately not yet found any improvements with the physical ailments that I suffer from. What’s in there is strong and putting up a pretty good battle. It’s highly possible that the damage is done and beyond repair. I hope that’s not the case, and I continue to soldier on every single day and make the most out of every single moment. What’s the point in doing anything less? So the practice continues, everyday. The changes it has made within me mentally, not only have helped me cope with this disease, but they have transformed my daily living into a most beautiful dance with an infinite reality. Please continue reading if you want to find out what this is all about and what made me write the following sentence:
This blissful awakening seems to be the sweetest thing available in our existence. I don’t know how anyone would not want to live this way.
If you read to the end and don’t feel that way too, hey I’m just a dude trying to heal myself with a lifestyle change. I’m not a teacher or a guru. I’m just jotting down in my own words what I feel is the most sacred of realizations that we, as humans, can grasp and embody through discipline. And I feel that I’ve learned a lot on the subject and feel that my words, interpretations and practices could help others as well.
Mindfulness in Love: Awaken to the all-encompassing love that’s available to us in every moment — a love that is evident in every smile we share with the world…
-Scraps (Jeffrey St. Romain)
…There is only now. The only thing we know for certain is that we are here in this moment right now. What happened yesterday is just a memory. What we expect to come around tomorrow, may or may not come. So what you’re doing right now in this moment is the most important thing always. [This will make more sense as the words continue to unfold.]. When we embody mindfulness and do it because it just feels right, then something interesting happens. We smile. We naturally smile because love is also present with us in the moment. When we feel that emotion then we can actually feel in love with the moment, then it really starts to become magical. Take a few seconds to feel that statement. Now, going one step further, can we feel love radiate from the moment back to us? It’s a meditation. Give it a try. Forget everything else that needs to get done and just be 100% here, open and free. But don't force it. Just relax and be. Be, here, now. Recognize it, chill and enjoy it. Take a slow deep breath in and out. The more we can remember to be present, the more often it will happen naturally. Feel the love flowing back and forth. Smile into that sweet process as it unfolds and expands. This practice is a deeply mindful practice. In the following section we learn how to take it another step further and starts to set the path for the rest of this journey.
Mindfulness Bahiya Sutta: In ancient times, Bahiya was a wandering seeker questioning himself about whether or not he was enlightened or even on the path to it. In an attempt to achieve it he sought out the Buddha for his teachings. After asking and persisting again and again, the Buddha finally gave him a teaching. He taught him to train himself to perceive experiences just as they are without adding labels or judgments to the experience. “In the seen, just the seen. In the heard, just the heard” and so forth. This teaching shows us how to perceive with “bare awareness” — letting the self fall away. (non-duality, awakening, part of the path to liberation) And, it's a radically simple practice. Before we allow our opinions and labels to arrive on the scene, we first recognize the bare experience within any moment. What do you see and hear? Can you recognize it first before making any judgements? We are non-attached when we lose the self in this way and perceive the experience only for what it is. This practice leads us down an unbound, non-conceptual path. And for the sake of finishing stories…. after the Buddha gives Bahiya this teaching, the Buddha declares him enlightened. Bahiya was then immediately run over and killed by a wild cow. Thus, teaching us that tomorrow is never guaranteed.
Just to be alive is enough.
-Zen Saying
Impermanence: Nothing in this world that we can perceive will last forever. Everything and is always changing and growing older. New people are born everyday. People pass away everyday. We make new things everyday, and everyday other things we made deteriorate and crumble back to the Earth. When we truly understand and accept this, then we can be at peace with the aging process of life.
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“Except everything just the way it is”
-Miyamoto Musashi
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Non-attachment is about accepting impermanence but it’s also about releasing the need to control outcomes. When something happens that we have no control over, there’s no use adding more suffering to it. Just accept it and roll with it. Things happen all day, every day — good things and bad things. We are reminded naturally, the more and more we practice, that we have control over our reactions and responses. The shift is learning not to wrestle with what already is. My natural reactions are different now than they used to be. The moment something unfavorable arises, an initial reaction no longer occurs. There’s a neutral pause for recognition. And sometimes even a slight smile knowing that mental progress is occurring in the recognition. Then to assess and respond from wisdom. When we implement this throughout each day, it slowly becomes more natural. As time goes on something truly beautiful happens. The moment itself becomes sweeter — not because the instances change, but because I can see that I am changing — steadily walking the path I want to be on. Non-attachment isn’t indifference, it’s freedom from fighting reality.
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Non-judgmental: We are brought up making judgments. Judging people and things. Judging everything we perceived through our five senses. This is normal everyday programming, and it's a natural thing most people do without batting an eye at it. We’re silently judging anyone or anything, although it’s just an instinct, in reality, it does no one any good. But reprogramming a mind that has been doing certain things a certain way can take time. We can catch ourselves before making judgements. In the seeing, just the seeing. One must trust the process. Sometimes it just takes a glimpse to know we were on the path you want to be on. Radical acceptance and embracing diversity is how the human race can become a more peaceful society. If we practice this notion then we can reprogram our minds with a more loving approach. We should feel love for everyone and everything. There's no reason not to. Remember that we are all in this together. Every interaction is a chance to practice this. We just need to slow down, and stop to listen deeply to everyone and everything. Respect breeds love.
Equanimity: This is the practice of staying steady in the face of whatever arises. This practice can be extremely transformative. It’s also similar to the previous section about non-attachment. When frustrations appear, that first spark becomes the reminder — just stay. Stay non-reactive. Stay unfazed. Catch yourself before the reaction takes over. Let the very sight of a disruption be the cue to remain unaffected. This isn’t something achieved once and secured forever. It’s a practice. Something we return to again and again. I apply this this practice to pain as well. When sudden sharp sensations hit without warning, I let that instant be the reminder. In the pain, just the pain. No added resistance. Don’t get me wrong, there are exceptions of course. But the point is to not add unnecessary layer of suffering on top. Just the direct experience. But when the mentally stressful stuff hits, when these unexpected events try to test us, just pause, and chill — and see what happens. For me, I sometimes get a small grin, not because it feels good, but because I recognized the moment just as it is — that recognition itself, is progress. Equanimity is not the absence of disturbance. It is the decision to not to be carried away by it.
Short story about staying unfazed: There was a farmer who once found a wild horse that roamed onto his property and he decided to keep it. His neighbors saw this happen and went over to congratulate him, saying how wonderful this was. He replied with: maybe so, maybe not. The next day his son was riding this new horse and he fell off and broke his leg. Again, his neighbors came over to talk to him about how unfortunate this was. Again, the farmer replied with: maybe so maybe not. The next day they found out that the local officials were putting together an army for a war and that every able-bodied young man had to sign up for the draft. Due to his son‘s broken leg, he was able to avoid the draft. This story gives us another reason why we should never get too excited or sad in the face of anything positive or negative. We never really know what’s going to happen tomorrow. All we can do is work from the moment, pause, stay non-reactive, and respond to any situation from a place of peace and wisdom. This allows us to become uninvolved with expectations and enables us to take responsibility for how our mind responds.
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Pain: I’m learning to shift my perspective on pain. This central nervous system processing malfunction disorder that I’m dealing with is teaching me new ways to cope with the accompanying chronic pain. Finding new ways to detach from it all has been my latest challenge. Each day is different and affords me new ways to practice. In a strange way I feel the need to thank the pain, because there is nothing I can do about it and therefore, I may not have reconnected with this loving way of life — this mindful, non-attached approach to living as deeply as I have, with out it. If we can view our pain as part of our path, it makes it much more possible to coexist with. Not getting lost in questions that we might find ourselves asking such as “what did I do to deserve this?” or “why is this happening to me?” is crucial to keeping us aligned with a healthy mind. Training our mind to conquer the matter and to not add mental suffering to the physical pain, is extremely important. Whenever we find ourselves veering off the path, we just need to gently drift back to the center again. We do this through recognition and patience. The practice is always right here in the moment, right where you left it. Just return to it again and smile for the recognition. Then have a deep mindful breath expanding lungs and spine again.
Pain Mantra: When the pain gets really bad slow down and quietly repeat this mantra until the pain subsides: “I am not this body. I am not this pain. I am light consciousness going back to the source.” (This too will make more sense further along in the reading)
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10 Ox Herding Images: The ten ox herding pictures describe the Zen training path to enlightenment. Folk images are accompanied by poems and commentaries. They depict a young ox herder whose quest for something more leads him through seeking, glimpsing, finding and taming the ox, (his truest nature). Even though these images are presented in a sequence, but self-development and Zen practice don’t go in a straight line; It is more like a spiral, and we go back to different stages but with more understanding. You can see these pictures adorning the walls of Zen temples in China, Korea, and Japan.
Essential Being/Nameless Source:
“The Tao which can be named is not the Eternal Tao” -Lao Tzu
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What this points to is the idea that there’s an underlying, unchanging, unnameable consciousness, an eternal divine source that flows through all beings and through everything that grows on Earth. According to the Tao, this is the source from which all things emerge, and is beyond description in human spoken language. Yet it is the fabric that ties everyone together — like a tree of life that connects all of humankind. This invisible source of energy is what beats your heart and digests your food. It’s what guides the flight of 1000 birds flying together in unison. Back in the introduction, the beginning of the story when I had mentioned that I looked in the mirror and saw that my beard had gotten whiter than I remembered. What was also there in the reflection was an inner consciousness that observed that change in the mirror, and it hasn’t aged a single day. This is the unchanging consciousness that dwells within us and through us throughout our entire life. When we act from this consciousness as we navigate our days and our moments, then we live with a deeper purpose and appreciate every step of the journey. We become a guiding light of goodness illuminating the path. This is the enlightenment that people seek. It is not something external. It is not something we have, it is something we are. You cannot lose it. Wherever you go, it goes with you. Whatever you do, it does it through you. The ox knows the way home. You do not have to guide it, you just have to trust it.
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Taoist principles for moving with nature’s rhythm emphasize flowing with life's natural pace rather than forcing outcomes. This Taoist core teaching is called Wu Wei (effortless action), living through simplicity, and embracing the cyclical nature of change. By aligning with these natural rhythms, one reduces stress and finds peace, similar to a river flowing to the sea. Understanding and accepting that we cannot force outcomes and remaining patient while letting things unfold naturally is the nature of the Tao.
-Quoted from Tricycle Publication
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Random thoughts:
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The fifth ox herding picture explains the point that the ox and the seeker become one. They were never separate to begin with. The seeker was simply looking in the wrong places and not within.
The yearning for liberation is what separates the two. Remove the yearning and you become one with your essential being.
The seeking is Buddha nature seeking itself.
After learning what I have about these ways of living, I feel like it would be rude to not appreciate it and want to embody it. To know that it exists and not be a part of it just seems foolish, lol. I feel grateful for it being part of my path, and I am grateful that it has come back into my life.
It’s a realization and a way to carry yourself and a way to have a deep loving care for all living creatures. We’re all in this together. We need to be love. Smile and offer a help to one another. We create and trade, create and trade and that’s what we do as a race. Everyone deserves respect and basic needs.
Let suffering become a doorway. I do not wish things were different. I simply respond to what each day asks of me.
The work you create is an expression of who you are not a definition of who you are.
Are you someone who has awareness or are you awareness itself expressed in physical form?
© 2026 Zen of Hearts