Caution: If you are planning to watch “The Mandalorian” don’t read any further unless you want to hear of a major plot spoiler.  You’ve been warned.

During the Pandemic, I’ve been able to complete a lot more studying of different subjects.  Many of these subjects involve some aspect of the human condition or mental accuity.  I’m in the middle of listening to The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer as a book recommendation from a work colleague who shares an interest in all things leadership and human potential.  [This is a book I’ll need to buy for my library as highlighting an audiobook doesn’t work too well for me. 🙂 ] I highly recommend this book for additional reading for anyone interested in a better understanding of the composition of the universe and their higher power – or “the Force.”

I’ve long been a believer of “the Force” but not as described by the Star Wars books where it can be directly manipulated to such a degree….I wish.  (Can you imagine the fun you’d have?) No, this “Force” is our mindset or perspective.  It is the feeling we have within ourselves when we don’t know the feeling.  The Untethered Soul discusses this in great detail.  Singer has also written a book called The Surrender Experiment which will be the next book in my collection.  A very good interview with Singer and Tami Simon of SoundsTrue can be found on YouTube which discusses both of his books.  In fact, Singer has shared his information very freely and there are many interviews of note that provide very different aspects of what Singer means by an untethered soul and surrendering.  I believe that it is our life’s journey to work within The Force, to live our life as we intend; it is what happens that creates new opportunities for learning more about “The Force.”  For example, if you believe that there is no coincidence in life, then the daily activities that encompass what we consider as “life happenings” would have no meaning.  Like finding out that we avoided a car accident by taking a left turn at a light earlier than you normally do.  Coincidence? Perhaps.  Maybe not.  Think about these life coincidences this way:  What if these life happenings are happening FOR us, not TO us?  Did you notice that the feeling with each thought is different?  Sit with this for a while and really think on this: How would you respond if you believed that life is happening FOR you for a greater purpose?  Wouldn’t some of these happenings, then, have a different context? I like the correlation of how “for us” and “the Force” sound so much alike.  Hmmm.

As I began to contemplate the “for me” aspect to my life, I began to journal and this helped me to get my thoughts out of my head and on to paper.  Since I am a visual person, I’ve learned that writing things down when I’m bothered or when I have an important decision to make really helps clarify my thinking.  I guess “seeing is believing” holds true in this aspect of mentagility, too.  I’ve realized that everything in my life has happened for me to learn and respond to…there is no emotion that would need to be included here although I have certainly spiced my life with all kinds of emotions – good, bad, and everything in between.  We all have done this, haven’t we?  It is how we are taught to live our lives – or it is the lack of teaching at a young age that is now requiring correction as an adult.  I cannot imagine what my life would look like now had I learned this at age 16 when first presented with these aspects of myself.  I was unready for such knowledge as this greater understanding only comes after years of experience for the knowledge to really sink in.  About two years ago, I heard the other voice that Singer describes and was startled at the realization of the voice in my head…and what it was saying that kept me so small. I wrote an entire blog post of the experience, too, without knowing just what happened and have an understanding of what this event meant to me and my future.

Cue to The Mandalorian.  I love all things Star Wars, Marvel, DC, anything fantastical with powers. Maybe it was my desire to overcome a bullying childhood?  I’m not sure but one area I’ve always loved is how Luke Skywalker used the Force to fight the evil Empire.  Now that the Empire is sort of in the back seat for the Republic (Is evil really ever gone from the world?), my husband and I began watching The Mandalorian a few weeks ago…and already finished the two seasons in about a week.  This is a record viewing for us as we normally take our time between watching television and video gaming, playing all types of immersive games.  So to watch two seasons in a week had us set aside our normal gaming time.  All of the enemies in The Last of Us, Part II get a reprieve. (BTW, finished that game just yesterday.  What a thrill of both shock, horror, and of overcoming odds!)

Our tale opens with the Mandalorian character struggling between the new world order and the ways of his people from the planet, Mandalore.  The main character is Din Djarin who plays most of the series with his armor and helmet protection as is custom for Mandalorians.  He finds a creature that is childlike and is considered a bounty for some of the Empire evil-doers.  Djarin – as The Mandalorian – fights to return the creature to his own people and it is Djarin’s struggle for his version of “right and wrong” that we view in each episode.  In the final scene of the second season, with all of the characters in the Control Room of the Empire’s ship with Moff Gideon‘s Death Troopers pounding the door in – and making this a good effort, too – a lonely X-Wing fighter comes and lands in the ship.  The characters in the Control Room see this “help” as insufficient because there is only one ship and dozens of these Death Troopers (which were really scary). The X-Wing’s entry actually brought a stop to the attempts to break in the door as these Death Troopers turned their full attention to the new arrival.  Just who is coming to help? These evil killing machines all turned to attention and awaited the arrival of the single occupant aboard the ship.

Our rescuer has the posture of a Jedi, cloaked in black, and is really handling the light saber like an expert.  Still and confident, the Jedi strides through this ship making quick work of an entire platoon of Death Troopers without even the appearance of a struggle.  (I’m conversely cheering and crying about now, hoping that my “friends” in the Control Room are saved through some miracle.) The lone occupant, wielding a light saber, expertly deals with these soldiers who just drop at the slash of a saber or the sudden crushing movement of large containers.  (Prior to this, we witnessed the Mandalorian and all of his comrades fighting a losing battle against the Death Troopers so this was such a relief!)  After handling the squad, the Jedi waits at the door for the Control Room occupants to release the lock.  In the meantime, Moff Gideon, played by the unbelievably talented Giancarlo Esposito, realizes just who may be at the door for his eyes widen and he becomes visibly shaken.  Gideon, who covertly moved his robes to hide a dropped weapon from the previous battle, takes this hidden gun out to quickly try and commit suicide.  Gideon would rather kill himself that realize his fate at what awaits in the dark Jedi robes.  Watching Gideon’s face as he sees the Jedi striding towards them, and seeing the realization of just who is approaching, is such a beautiful piece of acting that I’m going to link this here.  Giancarlo Esposito is one of my favorite actors.  Who can forget his masterful work in “Breaking Bad”?  Esposito truly plays complex and dark characters as if he was truly evil.  He isn’t and I digress but, if I ever meet Mr. Esposito in person, I will still be very, very cautious. (Yikes!)

Back to our story.  The Control Room door opens.  Dramatically, the black robed and hooded igure steps in the room to remove his cloak hood and reveal himself as Luke Skywalker – a young Luke Skywalker.  Oh…how my heart just skipped a beat watching the Luke Skywalker of my childhood engage with The Mandalorian’s crew.  What a fulfilling ending to this season!  I’ve watched the end scene three times now and will probably watch it a few more times.  There are certain scenes in movies and television shows that are so iconic, they must be watched a few times to be fully absorbed.  Remember the final blow to the Empire in Star Wars?  Or, the iconic final dance number in Dirty Dancing with Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey.  Swayze’s character utters the famous line that “nobody puts Baby into a corner” is just repeated on its own and most folks know the reference.  (That is, most folks my age but I digress.  You get my point. Oh, and for those of you keeping track, I had a fine time rewatching that Dirty Dancing scene again for this post.)

This final scene from Season Two of The Mandalorian was one of those scenes I had to rewatch but not necessarily only for the obvious reason.  Oh, yes, the scene was an exciting one for fans of the Star Wars saga.  What impressed me was that the Jedi never went looking for the fight; he/she let the fight come to him/her.  When the fight reared its arms to punch, the Jedi dodged to the opposite side to avoid the punch which put him in a better position to duck and shift his weight to combat from the opposite side.  In other words, the Jedi waited for the other to be the aggressor so he could respond to the action in a way that was not reactive but responsive.  When the aggressor Death Trooper hit left, the Jedi gave way to give him access to the open spot that the Death Trooper made through it’s aggression.  Perhaps one could say that he waited for his opponent to make their first move before he responded.

Waiting for an action where clear response is necessary is the key to many of life’s challenges.  If you believe that you control your destiny, you will always be striving to get ahead of what appears to be “bad.”  “Bad” is emphasized here because that is a judgment based on one’s values to “bad” to me is not necessarily “bad” to someone else.  We’ve heard the saying to wanting to “get ahead” of the situation; I use this term quite often in my daily life.  Many times, “getting ahead” means identifying the common root cause of an event to be able to prevent the event or the resulting response from said event.  As humans, we may be actually doing this on the regular without the realization that, if we just let life flow a bit, we may ride the situation a while to find out a very different alternative.  This “flow” is an energy that we interpret as thoughts, emotions, feelings, or any other more esoteric energy.  Many times, the interpretation is based on our own frequency of where we are at the present moment.  Like, if you are frustrated, you may only see those things that are frustrating you because the energy matches the frustration.  This is how the power of positive thinking is derived.  Think positively and you’ll only notice the positivity.  If we only knew that what we surround ourselves with and immerse ourselves in each day may “set” this frequency and you don’t even understand that this is happening.  We may have been taught that these energies are external from us, that are happening to us.

What if these events are happening FOR us?

Would we be so quick to try and control these events?

I began to realize that life is happening FOR me is an easier way of living – for me.  I emphasize the “for me” because I believe each of us needs to find our own approach.  Living with the realization that life is happening FOR me is such a relief that I have been working to see this in all aspects of my life.  The “FOR ME” gives me a feeling of an observer which takes all of my emotion and thinking outside of myself.  So, today is the beginning of February and many of us here in the northeast are planning to hunker down due to inclement weather.  What if this is happening FOR me? What can I do to make this belief be my normal energy?  More on this in our next discussion.  For February, stay warm, enjoy your cocoa, and be thankful for your blessings.  In life, it is ALL a blessing.  Peace and prospertity to you all.