{"id":4938,"date":"2013-04-02T23:14:09","date_gmt":"2013-04-03T03:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/blissblog\/?p=4938"},"modified":"2017-12-14T20:38:02","modified_gmt":"2017-12-15T01:38:02","slug":"jedi-in-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/04\/jedi-in-training.html","title":{"rendered":"Jedi In Training"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a id=\"overlay_image_anchor_543363\" href=\"\/photo.php?imageId=543363&amp;searchId=11561adf14265be6e62463ff8b1b622c&amp;npos=3\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/everystockphoto.s3.amazonaws.com\/yoda_starwars_toys_543363_m.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I am proud to be a Star Wars geek. I watched all of the episodes, although I do have a special place in my heart for the first three released in the later 70&#8217;s-early 80&#8217;s. The first\u00a0movie entitled <strong><em>Episode IV\u00a0 A\u00a0New\u00a0Hope<\/em><\/strong>,\u00a0was released in 1977 which was the year I graduated from high school. I actually heard the soundtrack before I watched the film. I had been visiting my friend Joan Wesley in NY and her brother had the music on tape. Having\u00a0been fascinated with\u00a0sci-fi as a kid (I really DO believe I was an alien baby left on my parents&#8217; doorstep.) I loved the hero&#8217;s journey it offered and I was swept into the tale. I imagined myself a Jedi Knight and was fascinated with the Force. Years later, as a Reiki Master (still a Jedi in training at this point in my life), I describe Reiki as the &#8216;life force energy that permeates everything.&#8217; \u00a0Sometimes I use Jedi mind tricks; watch out.<\/p>\n<p>Tonight on the way home from my job as an addictions counselor, I was listening to Kids Corner on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.xpn.org\">WXPN<\/a> and they were playing Weird Al Yankovich parodying one of the more recent films\u00a0in the Star Wars franchise. The song was called The Saga Begins and it sets the stage for young Anakin Skywalker to morph into Darth Vader. I was boisterously singing along and shortly afterward pulled into the parking lot of a local supermarket to pick up a few things. As I was walking in, from the other door dances in a boy of around 8 or 9, accompanied by his smiling mother. He was garbed in, of all things, a Yoda t-shirt, with the words Jedi Master emblazoned on it, and wearing a headpiece of what at first looked like ram&#8217;s horns. When I asked, his mom informed me that they were Princess Leia&#8217;s hair rolls (remember them?). Shorts and flip-flops and a plastic rain poncho completed the outfit. Amazed but not surprised, I told them about the song that I had heard moments earlier. I complimented him on his fashion taste.<\/p>\n<p>What gave me such a chuckle, besides the rapidity at which I had manifested a Star Wars connection; the Force is indeed a powerful energy, was how accepting his mother was of her son&#8217;s get up. She thanked me for being willing to engage with him in our shared interest. I wish more parents were as supportive of their child&#8217;s out of the box thinking, rather than attempting to have them fit a particular mold. Perhaps, as a result, this young man will become a Padawan (Jedi knight initiate in the first stages of training\/apprenticeship) and be right up there with my favorite little green sage whose image and likeness decorated his t-shirt.<\/p>\n<p>May the Force be with you.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=hEcjgJSqSRU\">The Saga Begins<\/a>-Weird Al Yankovich<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I am proud to be a Star Wars geek. I watched all of the episodes, although I do have a special place in my heart for the first three released in the later 70&#8217;s-early 80&#8217;s. The first\u00a0movie entitled Episode IV\u00a0 A\u00a0New\u00a0Hope,\u00a0was released in 1977 which was the year I graduated from high school. I actually&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":233,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2,33,28,19,14,4,31,16,179],"tags":[2985,2986,2983,279,1273,2984,5258,371,2982,2979,2988,2981,62,2980],"class_list":["post-4938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-attracting-what-you-desire","category-bliss","category-creativity","category-drama","category-empowerment","category-how-to-invite-bliss","category-inspiration","category-movies","category-my-personal-bliss","category-parenting","tag-anakin-skywalker","tag-darth-vader","tag-jedi-master","tag-kids-corner","tag-nyc","tag-padawan","tag-princess-leia","tag-reiki","tag-reiki-master","tag-star-wars","tag-the-force","tag-weird-al-yankovich","tag-wxpn","tag-yoda"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Jedi In Training - The Bliss Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/04\/jedi-in-training.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jedi In Training - The Bliss Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I am proud to be a Star Wars geek. I watched all of the episodes, although I do have a special place in my heart for the first three released in the later 70&#8217;s-early 80&#8217;s. The first\u00a0movie entitled Episode IV\u00a0 A\u00a0New\u00a0Hope,\u00a0was released in 1977 which was the year I graduated from high school. I actually&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/04\/jedi-in-training.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Bliss Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/snuggleyoga\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-04-03T03:14:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-12-15T01:38:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/everystockphoto.s3.amazonaws.com\/yoda_starwars_toys_543363_m.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EdieWeinstein1\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Jedi In Training - The Bliss Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/04\/jedi-in-training.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Jedi In Training - The Bliss Blog","og_description":"I am proud to be a Star Wars geek. I watched all of the episodes, although I do have a special place in my heart for the first three released in the later 70&#8217;s-early 80&#8217;s. The first\u00a0movie entitled Episode IV\u00a0 A\u00a0New\u00a0Hope,\u00a0was released in 1977 which was the year I graduated from high school. I actually&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/04\/jedi-in-training.html","og_site_name":"The Bliss Blog","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/snuggleyoga","article_published_time":"2013-04-03T03:14:09+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-12-15T01:38:02+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/everystockphoto.s3.amazonaws.com\/yoda_starwars_toys_543363_m.jpg"}],"author":"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@EdieWeinstein1","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/04\/jedi-in-training.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/04\/jedi-in-training.html","name":"Jedi In Training - The Bliss Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/04\/jedi-in-training.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/04\/jedi-in-training.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/everystockphoto.s3.amazonaws.com\/yoda_starwars_toys_543363_m.jpg","datePublished":"2013-04-03T03:14:09+00:00","dateModified":"2017-12-15T01:38:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#\/schema\/person\/edcd643a643a9ca91adb1e8f9e177386"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/04\/jedi-in-training.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/04\/jedi-in-training.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/04\/jedi-in-training.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/everystockphoto.s3.amazonaws.com\/yoda_starwars_toys_543363_m.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/everystockphoto.s3.amazonaws.com\/yoda_starwars_toys_543363_m.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/04\/jedi-in-training.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Jedi In Training"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/","name":"The Bliss Blog","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Edie Weinstein","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#\/schema\/person\/edcd643a643a9ca91adb1e8f9e177386","name":"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/0d6\/0d6cd7619da51a9a40cc705280e88f9cx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/0d6\/0d6cd7619da51a9a40cc705280e88f9cx96.jpg","caption":"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW"},"description":"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW is a colorfully creative journalist, inspiring transformational speaker, licensed social worker, interfaith minister, editor, radio host, BLISS coach, event producer, Cosmic Concierge, the author of The Bliss Mistress Guide To Transforming The Ordinary Into The Extraordinary and co-author of Embraced By the Divine: The Emerging Woman\u2019s Gateway to Power, Passion and Purpose. She has also contributed to several anthologies and personal growth books. Edie has interviewed such notables as Ram Dass, Wayne Dyer, Debbie Ford, don Miguel Ruiz, don Miguel Ruiz, Jr. Marianne Williamson, Grover Washington, Jr. Noah Levine, Shirley MacLaine, Dennis Weaver, Ben and Jerry and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She calls herself an Opti-mystic who sees the world through the eyes of possibility. Edie is the founder of Hug Mobsters Armed With Love, which offers FREE HUGS events on a planned and spontaneous basis. www.opti-mystical.com.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.opti-mystical.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/snuggleyoga","https:\/\/x.com\/EdieWeinstein1"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/author\/eweinstein"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/233"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4938"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9145,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4938\/revisions\/9145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}