The Block

The Holidays have a common theme. This is for those with the holiday blues.
 
The psychology of Christmas is rooted in our innate need for social connections, emotional attachment to holiday traditions, and the positive feelings and behaviors associated with the season, including altruism, goodwill, and generosity. 

Like any other holiday or idea, after so many years you can loose sight of many original ideas. The holidays have become a mindset for some. I like to remind Jedi and everyone when all seems lost or you get a bit on the isolated feeling during the holiday's, remember why they are. If you get lost, return to the original idea(s). Here are a few ideas during these holiday times that may help. 

(Check the lights)
Make new connections or work on the old ones that need our attention.
Revisit old traditions and make new ones. Check on lost loves or old ones and friends. Some relationships need a dusting. Fire them back up. Some may need to be exactly where they are.

(Check your perspective)
Reflect for the year. Actually review the year and see what is what or in this case, what was what. What has actually happened this season? The holiday can be for reflection as well. How did we get to the place we are at now in life?

(Find your season)
There are so many things that can be available during the season, I will give you examples. Some have a tree they return to. Some have a place they return to during the holidays. For some it is food or the time off.
Music tends to join humans in a common way to stop and listen more. There is a magic in the music. Revisiting people you have lost touch with seems to be one of many hallmarks of the season. 

(Explore more)
 Pick a reason to connect again at the end of the year. Make plans but let them be open and ready for what a new year will bring. There is a benefit to being prepared but do understand life can and will change as life ebbs and flows. How do our seasons ebb and flow?

(Accountability) 
Do this for yourself. Who or what are you accountable for this season? If you are not the one who has any task or responsibility, grab one or aid some one who struggles. See (Check the Lights.) Break the effort to become a part of things unknowingly. Try being accountable this season to something or some one if you are not already. Become a part of your circle. Lift your circle of connections up.

(Start it this next year) 
Make a plan for the year. See how much you can get done. Sometimes just having an itinerary can get things in a forward motion. Write down what plans you have this year or in the next years to come.
 Organizational reflection is the practice of taking time away from the daily routine of business to evaluate past actions, generate knowledge based on those evaluations, and create action plans for implementing that knowledge. It involves contemplation of tacit knowledge, explicit knowledge, and experiences to create new information, knowledge, and ideas that can be used to address challenges. 

(Be generous) 
Generate goodwill. This is the most hardest for a selfish person like me. What does true generosity look like and would we recognize it if we saw it in action? Do we understand it enough to have a working knowledge of it and a way to encourage others to do so? Not in monetary value, give in a generous manner what is in our Code. It is the hope to give without the hope of receiving. It  is kind of like mixing the soup. Just give it a stir.

The seasons come with the idea of the selfless. What version are we developing during this season? Are we fatigued, exhausted or at our limit with the holidays? Is there rest in the holidays? 

Take some to think about what this season is for you and for those around you. The holiday seasons are not joyful and triumphant for everyone. There are a few things we can do to beat the holiday blues. You are not alone. Reach out to those who are present. 

May the Force be with you all this holiday season

Pastor Carlos


 

Let us begin

Good day and good time zone Temple of the Jedi Order and Discord-ers

Today is DECEMBER 30 th which means it is just a few hours (59 hours) and the turn of the year will begin.

At this time, I would like to give 30+ simple yet worthy self-reflective questions for this year.  I use these often. I hope they can be of use to you in the near future.

PLEASE FEEL FREE to take YOUR LIBERTY and post those reflective questions that have helped you develop who you are today. I would love a whole wall of questions to think about this year. I will post all of them in this Mondays Morning meditation on site after all is said and done.

Self-reflection in psychology is the process of examining our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors to gain insights into our inner workings.

The more we can understand who we are, the better off we will be.

With these, they are just bookmarks or dog ears to things, like reminders.

Apply them as you see fit.

What was accomplished this year? 
By whom?
How?

What challenges were present?

Did any habits present themselves this year? 

Are we in the same place we were last year?

What was unexpected this year?

Are there "stretch marks" or pains from spiritual growth or development in our path? Is there evidence of change?

What did you read out loud and to yourself? What did you read this year?

Did you give any books away?

Did you write something new?

What are we developing as we develop?

What keeps us in the interconnectedness of humanity?

Where do our compassions and passions lay?

Did we find inner peace or any level of mindfulness at all this year?

What did we do with it?

How did we apply our own Doctrine and Philosophy to our ordinary life's?

What was considered stressful or easy this year past?

Where do you see yourself this coming next year?

Was I in my "comfort zone" all year?

Where did I find myself the most vulnerable this year?

What all actually happened this past year? What were the significant things that happened?

Where was the love?

Where was the Pardon?

Where was our Faith?

What was our light?

Where was our joy?

Did we give more than we got?

What balance DID we find this year?


Apply these as needed where they are needed. These questions still have me in a place of learning and vulnerability.

Now, none of the Clergy are Health care professionals. None of us are here standing as paid people, we are all volunteers. What I share is often from my own path and what I have found from others here in the Temple. In no way is any advice intended to be taken as therapy or even medical advice. Please seek out those who are qualified and professionals if you ever have a need.

I am available here or on site for those who need contact. Be safe and remember there is no "them," just you and me. May the Force be with you all this turning of the year.
Pastor Carlos

https://youtu.be/quhcyPpCaSk?si=Dy-m9B_2z2zFkDdy

For those who like Ted Talks, here is one for you.
At any time, these are not our videos and can expire and change at any time. Not our site, not our stuff.
Good day Jedi everywhere
We have a Creed
I want to remind every Jedi of it and its importance. 

I am a Jedi, an instrument of peace;

Where there is hatred I shall bring love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.

I am a Jedi.

I shall never seek so much to be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

The Force is with me always, for I am a Jedi.

We are reminded that we can be different this year. Any year, really.
How did last year end? Did it end the way you thought it would?
Here are a few ways to find what you need this year.

Ask yourself questions about what you want and why.

Keep a journal of your thoughts and feelings.

Set goals and monitor your progress.

Ask others for feedback about you.

Reminisce on your past self.

Exercise and meditate to nourish your mind.

Practice gratitude.

These seem simple enough, but you see, they are not.

Master Rev. Carlos (Pastor) — Today at 6:05 AM
Without mentors or even guides, how will we know any different from the past? How will we ever see anything else but what we see?
Albert Einstein famously said, "A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new." AND  "If you only do what you can do, you can never be more than what you are now."

Here are 9 reflection points that come from the Creed.

What of love this year?
Pardon, was it given this year and how?
What of my faith this year?
What of my own hope?
What is my own light?
Where does my joy come from?
Did I console or get consoled more?
Did I understand or need more understanding?
Did I practice pardoning others as well as myself?

These types of questions change and grow. I have been asking myself these questions for over 10 years. The mediation and contemplation results yield new things. Every year. They have adjusted me.

Mentors help us see what we do not by offering a safe space to discuss fears, frustrations, and failures without judgment. They become cheerleaders and confidants, helping build resilience, self-confidence, and a sense of belonging. There are levels they come in. The outside influence is what we need.

This year, find those who can give you that "Alarm clock moment."

Find those in your path that can AID you.

" Mentorship is something you do for yourself, with the help of other people"  Doug Steward. 

This year can be different if you like.

This is the list from the video. It is not our video, and it is not our site nor do we endorse any views and is subject to expiration and rules as their site dictates.
Here are the 5 1/2 mentors mentioned.

World view mentor
Street view mentor
Time machine mentor
Stealth mentor
Categorical mentor
Anti mentor


May the Force be wth you all
Pastor Carlos

Good morning, Jedi everywhere.

I do hope that this year is off to a good start for those who pay attention to things like that.

This year is starting off like most.

So much to see and hear in the news and online, there can be a constant barrage of violence and war. What do we as Jedi do about this?

What can we do?

Is the violence out there or in here? I point to our hearts for this one. (edited)

I want to encourage every Jedi present and represented here to take some time to realize what side YOU are on. Where are YOUR attentions?
Where does your fear, doubt and worry go? 

This is taken from different places from the "Freedom from the Known" by Jiddu Knrishnamurti Chapter 6

"Fear, pleasure, sorrow, thought are all interrelated. Can we go to the root of violence and be free from it? For many centuries, man has been violent religions have tried to tame him throughout the world and none of them success.  Violence is not merely killing another. It is violence when we use a sharp word, when we make a gesture to brush away a person, when we obey because there is fear." 

I want to give this to the Temple this morning.

Jedi comprehend that we are beings of thought, feeling, and will, who flourish within the Force through self-aware action and lifelong learning.
Teaching 5

This week plant new seeds.

Speak less sharp to each other. Give mercy in your words and speech.

Do not brush our own circle of people off. Bring them in.

Identify our own fears.

The climate is war and rumors of wars but that is a constant thing in the ordinary world. What is not ordinary is developing and taking time to understand which are our thoughts, feeling and will.

When we change how we react, there is where development can happen. There is where we change the world, by changing our reactions.

Calm the flow that is present. Teaching 9: The Jedi maintain integrity, our individuated wholeness. We practise to foster the awareness of our interconnection with all other phenomena, thus ensuring authenticity in our interactions with others and our capacity to accept our limitations and those in interaction with us. 

.....foster the awareness...

To rid this world of fear, pleasure and sorrow, understand your own. Take the time for it.

Understand what is present.

" We do condemn it, though we do justify it. Therefore, I am saying, stop for the time being condemning it or justifying it. "

Jiddu Knrishnamurti

May the Force be with you all this week,
Pastor Carlos

Good Monday Jedi everywhere. This Monday I want to give you one word. This week's word is VALOR! My wife has a Facebook page for the farm. One of the random videos she shows me, is a guy dressed up yelling "HAMMER!" all the time. It brings me a small ounce of the giggles. I give you this word today in its place, valor. VALOR! Why is it so important? If you are like me, the memory of a Knights Code comes to mind. But here is a question for reflection, why is valor important? Why is a Knight, sworn to valor?

 19. Valour - True valour lies between cowardice and rashness. It is a delicate skill, those having it never knowing for sure until the trial comes. In any case, valor that struggles is better than recklessness that thrives.

 In psychology, valor can refer to a moral, social, or aesthetic principle accepted by an individual or society as a guide to what is good, desirable, or important.

In some countries, during crisis in peace or war, each act of valor worthy, is honored with a physical medal or award. 

Where does the application actually apply for us?

The act of valor is a term used to describe strength of mind or spirit that enables a person to encounter danger with firmness. It is synonymous with courage or bravery, especially in battle or in crisis. 

Jedi teaching 11: Jedi practice living in universal compassion, understanding the phenomena of our environment. We cultivate a particular sensitivity to when feelings of fear, anger, hatred, and aggression germinate within us. These emotions are among our limitations as incarnated, organic beings. We bring to these feelings hope, pardon, and love in equal measure to bring us back into balance with the movement of the Force.  

What parts are worth the efforts? Here is where we can notice where our attention can change things.

We bring hope, pardon, and love in equal measure to bring us back into balance with the movement of the Force.  Here is where we can focus valor.
Apply  what you know and understand, where hope is needed. Use it then. Use it when pardon is needed or when love and compassion is needed or missing. Add a dash of valor to this area of our time and effort and see if results differ. 

In the present moment, would you recognize when the feelings of fear, anger , hatred and aggression begin in us? To combat them, I give you the reminder of valor. Grow your understanding of it as often as you can. Speak to someone about it. This is worth the time and effort, every time. Study the subject of valor for 18 minutes a day for one year. This will change you. 

What valorous acts can a Jedi do?  It is Knightly to bring hope, pardon and love,  in equal measure. Equal and never one-sided. Do we know what is just enough or what will bring everything back? That is worth the time to understand. It took me years to figure out that simple reactions are worth understanding and developing. 

What is equal measure then? This is worth understanding more and more each day. 

Find time to think on things like this. Give it the space. Here is our reminder.

    19. Valour - True valour lies between cowardice and rashness. It is a delicate skill, those having it never knowing for sure until the trial comes. In any case, valour that struggles is better than recklessness that thrives.

May the Force be with you 
Pastor Carlos 
 

Development

Yes, development is a noun. According to the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, development is defined as "the steady growth of something so that it becomes more advanced, stronger, etc.". Development can also refer to the process of coming into existence or of creating something new or more advanced. 

The field of developmental psychology explores the physical, cognitive, emotional, and social changes that happen as people age. Psychologists strive to understand and explain how and why people change throughout life.

Now, can one develop without a mentor. The answer is yes. 

There is saying I have found in my studies.

Il faut cultiver notre jardin, “We must cultivate our garden.” Voltaire

There is a automatic idea out there that can focus on me, myself and I as first propriety. This is a very closed circuit of thought. This garden only yields what is planted and its usually selfish and ego centric. The idea is to find those who have the elixirs of life. The experience of moving and advancing forward from a unattended mental and life garden to something more organized and reliable. Most time we are looking for things other than those just naturally made.

Mentors give us the sight beyond our own sight. I will be the first person to tell you that mentors have made quite the significant change in my life. The ability to see beyond a few things was more than a warning but a forward motion to create so much more than just reaction, it created the space for what was needed to understand more. We are reminded as Jedi, there is always a bigger fish. Someone will have gone through the path I am about to embark or have the elixirs that they have found during those times that can aid our development. We only have our mentors for a limited amount of time. In every saga and every story, the mentor is the reminder and the hope you remember that time is limited, and seasons come and go. It is done in a manner of ways. 

Mentors encourage growth in one's path. Personally, or professionally, mentors can create a flow of growth than can be beneficial. Here are a few things to identify if someone is a mentor in your path. 


Mentors serve as a source of knowledge.

Mentors help with setting goals.

Mentors serve as accountability to one other. 

Mentors offer encouragement and growth. 

Mentors remind about the importance of the connection we share. 

Mentors listen. 

Mentors are trusted.

Mentors challenge what we know.

Mentors give you time you would not give yourself. They give you your past or some part we were missing. 


Understand why THIS union exist.

Mentors matter. 

There are ways the mentor reaches the mentee; would you recognize them? 

Identification is good. Being able to identify things without judgment or condemnation can be difficult but it takes practice. Learn this from someone who knows how, who holds THAT elixir. Why is there this mentorship and WHAT is it mentoring? WHY? 

There is an understanding that I hope most mentors have. The level at which we "do things for others" can become crippling or freeing. One of the ideas of a mentor can be to release the person to accomplish things on their own. This is where we can get really tired really fast. Here is where compassion fatigue can start kicking. 

There is a hope that mentees go further than the mentor can take them and learn more than we can teach them.
Yoda reminds us that as Jedi and as mentors" We are what they grow beyond." 

I do hope you grow beyond me and beyond what we share. 
Are some people in your path, more than just friends or acquaintances? Is the connection we share much more valuable that just mere passing? 

This week, I give you, our mentors. With these types of ideas, are you a mentor or is someone mentoring you? 

What is the significance of our connections? Why do we meet here? 
Find out for yourself. Take some time to think about what we do here and why. 

May the Force be with you. 
Pastor Carlos 



 

  20. Honour - Acting with honour through The Force preserves peace. Always remember: if peace cannot be maintained with honour, it is no longer peace.
We all have some definition of honor and a working understanding of it.

 Definitions: 
High respect; great esteem:
"His portrait hangs in the place of honor"
Adherence to what is right or to a conventional standard of conduct.

As a verb, honor means a regard or to treat someone with admiration and respect.
Show great respect for someone or something, especially in public.
Hold in honor or high respect, revere.
Treat with honor; give honor or distinction to.
Keep to the terms of an agreement or treaty.

Honor is a measure of the quality of a person, including personal ethics, e.g., honesty, compassion, valor, and chivalry. Honor lies at the core of who we are and aspire to be.

 It is an abstract concept entailing a perceived quality of worthiness and respectability that affects both the social standing and the self-evaluation of an individual or of institutions such as a family, school, regiment, or nation. Accordingly, individuals (or institutions) are assigned worth and stature based on the harmony of their actions with a specific code of honour, and with the moral code of the society at large.

In phycology it is said that Honor is an abstract concept that includes personal, individual values (“ethos”) as well as norms of social interaction (“code of behavior”). Honor is a measure of the quality of a person, including personal ethics, e.g., honesty, compassion, valor, and chivalry.

Where is the honor Jedi hold or have? Where is our honor at? What does it entail and encompass?

https://www.templeofthejediorder.org/doctrine


This is a reminder. They may sound familiar.

Here is a list of things we can do to create the honor we share.

The first and foremost service a Jedi performs is devotion to our learning.
The Jedi seek to return balance to that which has become tumultuous.
The Jedi cultivate empathy with others.
The Jedi practise living in universal compassion, understanding the phenomena of our environment. 
The Jedi maintain integrity, our individuated wholeness.
The Jedi practise patience.
The Jedi foster an acceptance of limitations.
The Jedi practise humility
Jedi comprehend that we are beings of thought, feeling, and will, who flourish within the Force through self-aware action and lifelong learning.  
Jedi practise non-attachment,
Jedi maintain a clarity of awareness that all events are interconnected
The Jedi practise clarity of mind.
Jedi feel the Force.

Did you recognize them? Here is where our honor can be built or had. How we do these things can be the flavor of life. This week, if you are looking for different type of honor, seek no further. There is honor in what we do here, but we must find it and share the elixirs of life with one another. 
May the Force be with you all. 
Pastor Carlos

Doctrine
 

May the Force be with you - wherever you may be this morning.

Decency - Through decency, we render happenings tolerable. Decency is not derived through faith but precedes it. If decency could be easily found in reality, would we have need of myth?

Decency follows accepted moral standards and can show respect for others.

Decency can be honest, polite behavior that follows accepted moral standards and shows respect for others.

It is the quality or state of being decent and propriety. Psychology suggests that empathy, honesty, and humility are just the surface traits of a truly decent character.

Here is where we can meet. Here is one of many things we share. Our level of decency can vary depending on how much time we have given this idea.

Here are a few ideas I want to share with you on this Monday Morning.

The idea of decency comes from the use or application of what we know. This is the way for many things in development. We are limited to how much of the subject we know.

For this, I remind Jedi to be aware and make an attempt to rid your findings of judgement or condemnation. Just identify.

What do you truly know about decency? What levels of decency exist and are you aware of any? Where does your own idea of decency come from? It is my hope that we grow in understanding together. Here is a small list of ideas to better understand this very subject.

* Be aware of your surroundings.
* Give empathy space and time to sink in. Practice.
* Give Pardon.
* Let go of a few things
* Be reliable. Be faithful. It finds favor.
* Be kind and show kindness.
* Understand the present limitations, but understand they are also not constant.
* Develop your Being.

In the action, we can find the connection.

The Jedi realise that all phenomena, including that of life itself, arise from and dissolve back into the cycles of creation and renewal of the Force. We are aware of the interconnectedness and the continuum of all phenomena, that unconditional love and compassion are central to us, and that is real, but so is pain. When we must bear witness to the dissolution of those we care for in our and their limited, incarnated, organic capacity, we must extend our compassion, our faith, and our comprehension to re-balance that which we otherwise would feel as loss. The Force only creates and renews, it does not deprive.

This is something to think about this week.

Decency - Through decency, we render happenings tolerable. Decency is not derived through faith but precedes it. If decency could be easily found in reality, would we have need of myth?
 

Good morning, Jedi everywhere
It is almost time.
Here is a small video by Arnold Schwarzenegger - the actor, politician and grandpa.


MOTIVATIONAL VIDEO: SLEEP FASTER BY ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER

Time management.
Good day Jedi everywhere. Today I would like to share with you some time-on-time management. 
I give you these two definitions on time management to think about.


Time management is the process of planning and exercising conscious control of time spent on specific activities—especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency and productivity.


Time management is the ability to plan and control how someone spends the hours in a day to effectively accomplish their goals. It involves organizing and allocating time to promote mental well-being, reduce stress, and balance responsibilities, self-care, and leisure time.




Every one of us can admit, we could benefit from better time management.
This is ok. It is ok if you are not ok at time management. Over time we can get used to the habits and the practices and think that THEY are time management. 
Here are ways I manage my time.
* Wake up early.
This one gets everyone, every time but there are RESULTS that come with this sacrifice.
Every time
* Read in the morning. Make time to read in the morning or learn.
Time spent reading never goes waisted.
If you practice or study something for 18 minutes a day, you will become more efficient at whatever task you choose or subject in ONE YEAR.

* Meditate or contemplate on the present moment.

In that moment, I realize some things are not quite as effective as some. Here is where I would like to give you a bit of an " elixir " or recipe to create a more time conscious manner.

* Find out what actually waste your time.
Find your habits and practices.
What things are you doing that fall under that category?
What is a waste of time to you? Why are you doing it still?

* What tasks can be taken by others?
Currently, there are not enough hours in the day to do everything I would like. Let us examine what all we do. Is everything the same priority?
These are questions we can ask and find out what is actually going on.

The more we understand about our own being, the more we can see what us is and what is the Force.

I hope this can " stir the pot " a bit for our own value of time management.

May the Force be with you,
Pastor Carlos

I am available all day via DM here.

One time management practice I can recommend is to be present.

One of the things I remind others is to be present.

What does this mean? What does it mean to be present?

Why is it important?

It is natural for humans to thing on things tomorrow or in the past. We all do it.

I do it.

Think about it. What are the things you are thinking about in the future?

What things do you think about in the past that have happened?

Thinking about these things is not good or bad. This is what we do if we don't develop anything else. 

I can share with you some of the practices and things I have found as I myself, practice to be present.

One of the things I ask myself is, am I currently in the present moment? Am I thinking about tomorrow or yesterday?

It is at this point when my brain lights the bottle rocket of reaction and thought.  My brain takes off. In my own response, I ask what I can do or think or bring to the mental table.

This initial reaction is worth taming. It is worth the time to understand its origins and its direction. That initial response to asking myself to sit still and the action of it taking off, is worth understanding.

Where do we go when we go into the present moment? To the future or to the past? This is what I would like to share with you this week.

Where do your thoughts, feelings and will go when your presence is requested?

Practice being present.

Dwell on the tasks at hand.

It does take practice and dedication. Find out.

Firsthand.

I hope our time together is never waisted.

One of the things that has drastically changed my path as a Jedi is to be able to dwell in the present moment.

That rarely means never think about things or contemplate.

We are reminded to do these things often.

"Far from being a detached state, nonattachment is something that arises when we are truly present and not caught up in the automatic process of fixating on things being better or worse than what they are at any given moment." Definition of Non-Attachment in psychology. 

Jedi Teaching 3 and 4

Jedi maintain a clarity of awareness that all events are interconnected. The balance of the Force is a flowing continuum; it flows around us and through us, allowing us to adapt to change arising in its eternal cycles of creation and renewal.

Jedi practise non-attachment, maintaining an awareness that the cycles of creativity and renewal in the Force give rise to phenomena as others pass away.

Be present Jedi.

Do or do not, there is no try. 

Be present.

May the Force be with you all this week.

Pastor Carlos