Mindfulness, Test Anxiety, and Tea

Using Mindfulness As A Way To Answer Questions.

During the pandemic many were forced to work from home. No longer were some forced to drive from home to office and back home. Daily commutes evaporated much of our quality time with ourselves and loved ones. This newfound freedom allowed many to enroll in some form of online education, to complete the degree they so longed for many years ago. 

After finding a suitable school and registering for classes sooner or later the inevitable test would present itself. 

People don't like tests, especially when we don't pass them. We feel that the instructor judges us. We also judge ourselves to harshly. As a result test anxiety creeps in and robs you of the performance you're certainly capable of, if you prepared studiously.

Anxiety is living in the future and as mindful practitioners you know that the future does not exist, only this precious moment.

So how do you minimize the anxiety before a test? 

Acknowledge that you're feeling anxious. Don't try to shove anxiety into some dark corner of your mind. What happens to any emotion when its been bottled up too long? Imagine a tiger who has been in a cage for many hours on a bumpy trip. What would you do when released? 

Instead sit with your anxiety, invite it to tea. As you sit, breath in, pause, and slowly exhale. Do this several times before and during your test. The more you get to know your anxiety the less afraid you become.

But as you prepare for your wonderful studies here are several testing suggestions I offer as you drink tea with your new, harmless friend:

First, this test doesn't define you. Pass or fail, you are still the loving, caring, and wonderful person you were yesterday and will be tomorrow. Don't let a a few questions from perfect stranger rob you of this peace.

Second, take your time. We live in a fast paced society and this pace seems to inundate every facet of our lives. But speed is the opposite approach you want to take. Be slow. Be methodical. Skip questions and come back to them. Take the same approach here as you would holding hands with your significant other or enjoying a sunny day in the park.

Third, write or draw what's described or listed in the questions. Too often we rely on the visual images in our head. This can lead to missing key components of a question. When you write or draw what's being asked you'll find you might have skipped an important aspect of the question.

Fourth, preparation. Practice with questions already given to you in your text book. When you're familiar with these practice questions you'll begin to notice certain recurring themes and verbiage. These themes and wording will show up again on your test. 

And the fifth, ties in with the fourth suggestion - have confidence in yourself. The more you get correct with practice questions the more confident you'll feel when you take the real test. Don't second guess your answers either. You're two-thirds likely to change your correct answer to an incorrect one. 

I've administered many tests in my past and these suggestions are the culmination of mindfulness and effective strategies. I know they are successful tips too.

Wishing you peace and ease,

Vladimir

Blue Lotus Meditation and Mindfulness Center is a registered 501(c)(3) religious organization.

Maintaining Your Practice While Travelling

Mindfulness On The Road

It is often easier to keep a steady mindfulness practice when we are in our familiar settings like home or work. But what about while traveling?

With travel for work and leisure beginning to resume after a long and necessary pause, we can often find it challenging to maintain our meditation practice.

Although challenging this does not have to be the situation or a barrier to your practice. On the contrary, as mindfulness practitioners we understand that meditation can be done anywhere and during any activity. Meditation is not always sitting in a lotus position, quiet and still for a period of time.

For example, suppose you are on a business trip and you are attending a conference or seminar. As you walk from one location to another you can easily practice a walking meditation. Look around you, there are many wonderful observations to been seen in the architecture or even the indoor floral arraignments.

Or perhaps examine the floor, is it carpet or tile? What are the patterns, if any? Think about the care the workers had to use to place the tile or carpet down. This skill is how they earn a living to care for themselves and family.

What smells are around you? Are there vendors selling food? Maybe you can smell hotdogs or popcorn? Consider where these foods came from and the process in which it took for it to get here. Know that the vendor themselves is providing you a service so that they may support themselves as well.

As you sit and wait for the speaker to come on stage to talk think about how your body is feeling in the chair? Or perhaps your feet if you are standing.

At night when you return to your hotel room affords a wonderful opportunity to quietly meditate and reflect on the days activities and feelings.

Or perhaps you are on vacation with your family. Maybe you went to a large amusement park in another state. Lines are something one typically encounters here and provide a unique opportunity to practice patience and meditate as well. 

Everyone is waiting to form what will hopefully turn out to be a pleasant memory, one that they too can share in the future. Maybe you can smell cotton candy? 

One recollection I have is seeing birds and squirrels running around trying to scavenge food that has been dropped. Do they eat this reward right away or do they bring it back to a nest to feed their offspring? 

In the mornings, perhaps you will need to rise a little earlier to have your solitary mediations.

Both of these situations have taken us from our mindfulness and meditation routines but this is exactly why we have undertaken them in the first place. These changes in routine provide a gentle illustration of impermanence too. 

And these adjustments to our routine also offers us helpful insight as to where we can improve our practice as well. Remember to bring gentleness and openness to your practice wherever you may be and take the lessons given and use them to improve your wellbeing.

I wish you peace and ease,

Vladimir

Blue Lotus Mindfulness and Meditation Center is a registered 501(c)(3) religious organization.

Walking With Gratitude

Cultivating Gratitude For Connection

Gratitude allows us to connect with others on a level that is very granular down to the very essence of what it means to be a loving being. Loving towards yourself. Loving towards others.

In many societies showing self-love and kindness towards others is regarded as a sign of softness and is something to be shied away from. But when we embrace gratitude, let go of hardness, we are able to see the beauty the world truly has to offer.

But how can we walk with gratitude? How can we cultivate and foster gratitude within?

First, let's ask what is gratitude?

Gratitude is having a sense of happiness or appreciation with what we have in the present moment and for the gifts we receive. Gratitude does not lie in the future because we cannot be grateful for what we do not have. 

If someone has a lot they may find it hard to be grateful. But the same may hold true for someone who has very little. And yes, this may even hold true of someone who is in between, neither extremely wealthy or in dire poverty.

Gratitude does not depend on one's home, car, career, income, geographic location, political affiliation, sexual identity, or marital status. Gratitude originates with a sense that everything is a gift and that all we have is impermeant. It could disappear at any time without notice.

So what are some ways or actions we can employ to foster gratitude and graciousness?

We all begin our days with waking up and this is a wonderful time to include gratitude into our morning routine. Before getting out of bed you can start with a simple ‘I am grateful that I have woken up’. This is truly something to be grateful for because sadly many people today will not. You could follow this up with I am grateful for the shelter I had last night, the fresh air I am breathing, and the clothing I will put on. Start with and keep it simple. Then set the tone for the day with an ‘I'm going to do my best today’.

Waking up affords you the opportunity to do so much good. For example, perhaps you’re meeting a friend at a coffee shop later, maybe you could, without announcing it, pay for their purchase.

Each morning is a fresh start from the day before and is truly a gift.

Overthinking can easily diminish our sense of gratitude. When we overthink we play so many unlikely scenarios in our imagination that it begins to overwhelm us. This causes undo anxiety and stress about the future and it’s a future that is non-existent.

So how do we begin to stop overthinking?

By looking at what we do have right here, now.

For example, suppose it’s a few days until your next payday. You’re hungry and you open the refrigerator and you see a half o head of lettuce, some condiments, and a half a jar of pickles. Your first thought is ‘I have no food, what will I do? ! I’m going to starve’ 

But is that entirely true? No, it isn't. You have overthought your present situation to a ‘catastrophic’ outcome. You do have food. It may not be the amount you want. The variety you’d like. But it is food and what you have is more than what most have. This is where overthinking has dominated and diminished your gratitude.

To tie in with the previous example of food let’s consider eating. This is a practice best done alone or with someone of the same mindset. It’s an opportunity to consider all that goes into the food you’re about to eat, from the Sun, rain, and soil, to harvesting, shipping, stocking, selection, preparation, to eating.

Everyone involved in this process has done their part to ensure that you, at this very moment, get the necessary nutrition your body requires to live. This certainly is something to be grateful for.

You can embody kindness and selflessness in all acts you perform and with all gifts received. When we give to someone with sincere generosity we are promoting the growth of compassion and selflessness within.

Acts of kindness and generosity never need to be grandiose. Instead focus on doing the small acts such as buying a coffee for the person next in line, letting someone merge on the freeway, asking how the cashiers day is. Recognizing someone's existence as a living being is so very vital to promoting kindness we all want to experience in the world.

Lastly, we can change our perspective from one entitlement, that no matter how hard we work, or good we may think we are, or effort we put into a task, that we are not entitled to a reward or recognition. Instead, appreciating all rewards we receive can be viewed as a gift. This appreciation begins with the moment we wake up and open our eyes. You were not promised this day.

When we change from the entitlement perspective to one of graciousness and gratitude the world looks different. We’re able to see much more of the kindness that truly exists and not the apathy and sarcasm and indifference that seem to make the headlines.

So as you go out into the world don't compare what you have with someone else. What you have and what they have is impermanent. So walk with gratitude with what you have, share your compassion with others, and give the gift of yourself to others. This is how we can develop and share the Buddha nature we all carry inside. 

I wish you peace and ease,

Vladimir

Blue Lotus Mindfulness and Meditation Center is a registered 501(c)(3) religious organization.

Right Thought And Thinking Traps

Fostering Right Thought For Wellbeing

Why do we oftentimes support others more than we do ourselves? Do we feel others are more capable than we are?

Recall the Noble Eightfold path – Right Thought. Wholesome thoughts that serve to uplift us. Now, that doesn’t mean not to evaluate with honest reflections on mistakes, that’s how we learn. 

But Right Thought can mean we search with sincerity so we can improve ourselves, not belittle ourselves.

So what are thinking traps? Thinking traps are ways we process , rationalize, or justify actions or results thereby holding us back from being truly connected with ourselves and our surroundings. They are traps that do not promote nor foster Right Thought.

I’ve selected five that I feel are most common although there are a few more to consider.

i. Mind Reading

This is a common trap that a lot of people do and it is still very detrimental. Mind reading is when we assume we know what others are thinking or what they think of us. 

We may misinterpret an innocuous look or gesture and have mentally determined an outcome.

Try to recall a situation in your life when you had a preconceived notion of an outcome (positive or negative) and the person did the opposite.

For example, as you sit with friends as a restaurant you 'just know' that this attractive person is looking at you intently but you soon realize you're sitting under the TV.

ii. Fortune Telling

Although similar to mind reading this is more situational mind trap. Here, we've already determined the outcome of a particular situation.

It doesnt necessarily have to be what we would consider a negative outcome and could easily be a positive result as well. 

For example, I just know I'm not going to get that promotion so I wont even try. Or, this teacher is so easy I wont study for their exam.

Or another example, you 'just know' that Tabitha will forget to bring a side dish to our company picnic. But as you approach the table, she's unwrapping her dish.

Both of these examples result in an outcome opposite of what you had 'predicted'.

iii. Black/White Or Binary Thinking

This thinking trap is dangerous on several levels. For one, it doesn't allow you to accept a middle ground. Very few events in life are binary. But the dangerous aspect comes from others and ay also be a sign of a manipulative and controlling person.

When one is only able to consider such binary outcomes from a situation one is minimizing another persons perspective of the situation, particularly intention. 

For example, if someone offers you assistance in a task they are not very proficient with and as a result does not perform it well the black and white thinker would be quick to point out the faults instead of the loving, supportive effort offered.

iv. Fallacy Of Fairness

You think you know what is right or fair. If someone gets something you feel you're entitled to as well or they're not deserving of you may feel that the world is out to get you. 

Going through life judging what is fair and what is not, one may become angry, resentful, unhappy to the beauty that surrounds you.

For example, currently the US Government is considering some form of student loan forgiveness. There are some individuals who have successfully paid off this debt and feel that others being relieved of all or some portion is unfair.

In ones lifetime, there will always be some person or group of people who receive a benefit that you may not have. Certainly there have been times when you were the beneficiary and others were not.

When we are happy for someone else that elicits compassion for others as well as yourself.

v. Always Being Right

You or others may go to great lengths to prove yourself right and someone else is wrong. Being right was more important than being kind.

This is very often seen in social media posts where two people, most likely unknown to one another, disagree on a result or comment and one goes on a search to find some small piece of evidence to support his claim.

This is a misuse of your time and energy.

Protecting ourselves from harm, physically and mentally, is an evolutionary self-preservation product but we have also been conditioned by society to be negative. Too much positivity, empathy, and compassion and you are labeled 'soft'. As a result our mind tells us to 'hold back' resulting in limited growth and imbalance.

Developing Right Thought, cultivating what is wholesome and good mentally, is necessary to avoid Thinking Traps. Once we are able to recognize these traps we are able to flourish and embrace the positive life we are capable of having.

Wishing you peace and ease,

Vladimir


Blue Lotus Mindfulness and Meditation Center is a registered 501(c)(3) religious organization.

Starting A Mindfulness Practice - Part II

10 Activities To Get You Started - Part II

So were you able to incorporate or try any of the first five activities?
Wonderful!

Now, lets continue with the remaining five.

6 - Eating

As you may have guessed now we’ll add eating to our practice. When you eat, eat at a slow, deliberate pace, mindfully appreciating each bite. 

We’ll continue with the green pepper from before.

How does a cooked pepper taste different from a raw pepper? Are there similarities or differences?

What about the aroma? How does it feel as you slowly chew? 

Are there areas that are still crisp and others softer?

As you swallow does it leave an aftertaste?

And as you eat this pepper know that it is giving you life sustaining nutrition, feeding your
body with all of the essential vitamins you need to live and help others.
This cycle is normal and is repeated every day.
I told you there’s a lot to a green pepper.

7 - Journaling

Journaling is a wonderful way to review and recount our day. Where you can write about a particular incident or your day as a whole. Did you work on a specific goal?

How were you feeling? Sad? Excited? Anxious? Happy? Did a particular thought or memory enter your head?

Journaling also provides you a record so that at the end of the year when you self-reflect you can see where you've improved and where you may need additional growth.

 
You don't need to write in it every day. Three or four times a week is enough if you like.

8 - Move Slowly

As you’ve probably experienced many times in your life already, it can be fast paced. This fast pace results in the disconnection from ourselves, to others, our surroundings, and life in general.

There oftentimes seems to be such a rush to get to the next destination or complete the next project.

That’s not to say that some destinations are not important, you certainly want to get to the hospital quickly if you’re having a medical emergency. 

But rushing to get to the store, not so much. Your items will still be there.

When we rush we tend to miss what is important and tend to make mistakes.

Remember, each moment is very precious as it will never happen again.


And that is a beautiful realization.

9 - Pause

Pause between thoughts and actions. Much like there is a pause between each inhale and exhale, both actions that require a transition between two ‘doings’.

Consider a time where you might have said something you should not have. Perhaps it was an argument with a friend or spouse. Perhaps you got a little too excited and ‘Let the Cat Out of the Bag’ too early for a surprise.

Learning to develop the sacred pause will take time but you can begin to work on this by relaying one response per breath.

For example: John doesn't know his office mates are giving him a surprise birthday party during their afternoon break and that you volunteered to get his cake during your lunch.

John asks you to go to lunch with him but you quickly respond that you need to go to the bakery to get a cake. John knows his birthday is coming up and puts two and two together.

Instead of the quick, knee jerk response, breathe in, pause, exhale (this gives you the sacred pause) and you could reply ‘thank you but I have other plans for lunch today’.

Being mindful in our conversations is a very effective way to communicate as well as considerate of others feelings.

10 - Meditation

Of course meditation would make the list.

I once heard someone say that meditation isn't for everyone. I disagree with that conclusion because it is.

A calm mind is just as necessary as eating, drinking, breathing, sleeping, and loving. Without a calm mind we are subject to what’s called ‘monkey mind’ all of the unnecessary chatter and distractions that detract us from living a connected life.

Some are hesitant to start meditation out of fear they don't know how to meditate. My friends, if you are breathing you already know how to. The breath is the basis of meditation. 

Are there different breathing techniques, yes, and I cover some of them in our video on our YouTube channel.

As mentioned earlier Western science is now beginning to understand what Eastern knowledge has been promoting for 2000 years at this point.

Mental clarity, positive social and emotional maturity, stronger and more meaningful relationships with yourself and others, caring and empathy towards yourself and others, health benefits too. 

All of these are manifested through a meditation practice of 20-30 minutes a day.

So there you have it my friends, 10 ways to begin your mindfulness practice. Remember, mindfulness is a positive lifestyle choice that you’ll find rewarding as you go along. 

You’ll find out that you might forget to be mindful during one of these activities and that’s OK. It is fine to catch yourself, and say, I forgot this time, but next time I won't. Self-compassion is very important.

Remember this is new to you, you’re going against many years of societal conventions. It took me several weeks for the simple tasks to stick but now they come second nature. I hear that little voice inside me saying ‘slow down, observe’.


Wishing you peace and ease,

Vladimir

Blue Lotus Mindfulness and Meditation Center is a registered 501(c)(3) religious organization.

Starting A Mindfulness Practice - Part I

10 Activities To Get You Started

One of the most frequently asked questions I receive from people interested in starting a mindfulness practice is ‘How do I start? Wanting to improve your mental wellbeing and physical health is such a wonderful and rewarding intent.

Mindfulness has received a lot of attention lately as Western science has finally caught up to what's been known about the practice for well over 2000 years, ever since Siddhartha Gautama, more commonly referred to as Buddha, sat underneath the Bodhi tree so long ago.

Mindfulness is a practice like yoga, golf, painting and anyone can practice it no matter their religion. 

Mindfulness is all about the present moment, that’s the only moment that exists. The past has left, never to return again, and the future doesn't exist either. Everything that occurs in life, eating, laughing, crying, joy, fear, reading….whatever it is, happens only in that very special moment. That’s why it’s very precious.

I warmly invite you along so I can show you 10 very simple ways and activities that you’re probably already doing and incorporate them into your mindfulness practice.

1 - Laundry

We all do laundry and this is a perfect way to begin your mindfulness practice. As you take each item out of the dryer, one by one, with no rush, remember to be in the moment. 

Look at each article of clothing - look at the colors and patterns. Are they solid colors, stripes, or maybe a particular design on it? 

How do they feel? Are they still warm from the dryer? Is it a terry cloth towel? Or linen? Perhaps denim. 

Are there buttons or snaps to fasten them? Maybe a zipper?

Are they pants? Or shorts? A t-shirt? 

What do they smell like? Can you smell the laundry soap or fabric softener? 

As you begin to fold each item do so with deliberate care. Notice your hand movements too. Are the corners even? Is the fold symmetrical? 

Remember, take care of your clothing because they take care of you and your precious family in the wind, sun, rain, cold, heat.    

2 - Cleaning

Cleaning is a way we can show care for the items in our home as well as for our loved ones. From vacuuming the floors, to mopping the kitchen or bathroom, to dusting our furniture. This is another wonderful example of how you can include mindfulness into your daily routine.

When you spray furniture polish on the coffee or end tables do you follow a particular pattern? What is the aroma of the polish? Lemon maybe? Does it fill the room with freshness? 

Are you using a paper towel or cloth towel? What hand do you remove the dust with and what hand are you applying the spray?

Is the item made of wood? Can you see the grain of the wood? What kind of wood is it? Pine? Oak? Cherry? Or perhaps it’s glass.

Do you see the streaks as you move the cloth across the surface?

Notice that you’re cleaning with great care and not rushing to completion. You’re removing dust that has fallen from the air and rejuvenating this important item that provides a useful function in your home.

If you’re mopping, what fragrance do you notice? Pine? Lemon? Lavender? Or maybe something else? Know that as you mop you’re removing dirt and bacteria from your home protecting you and your family from illness. 

Cleaning is another way to show yourself and your family that you love them.

3 - Walking

Walking is another way to start a mindfulness practice. Whether it’s on your lunch break, from your car to your door at home or work, a walk in the park or beach, or even grocery shopping. 

The important consideration here is pace. Don’t rush to get to your destination or from item to item or aisle to aisle. Slow deliberate steps. This may be challenging at first but you’ll get used to it. Breath with each step you take. 

And with each step look around you, what do you see? Birds flying? Trees swaying in a breeze? Or perhaps other people like yourself going to or from a store or on the trail? Whatever they’re doing it’s just as important as what you’re doing.

Are there any particular smells? Did it recently rain? Or maybe there's a hint of rain in the air.

What about sounds?

Go ahead and pick up something you see, anything, and study it with open curiosity. Even if you’ve seen 100s of them before - you’ve never seen this very one. This item is as unique as you are and it has a place here just as you do.

4 - Pets

Your pet, a loving and caring being, has been there for you. Do they greet you at the door when you return home with excitement? Maybe as you lay on the couch after a hard day they sit with you. Both of you are enjoying each other's company.

But now, let’s add mindfulness to this. As you stroke them, how does their fur feel? Or maybe they have feathers? Birds like to be caressed too.

Do you notice any grey hairs on them if they’re older? Or maybe they have spots or are multicolored.

Do you see these changes nearer the root of the follicle?

Do different parts of your friend's fur have different textures?

Do they need a bath?

If you don't have a pet, that’s OK too. Think back to a time when you last were around an animal. How did it make you feel? What do you recall about this encounter? You’re invited to explore this more and see where it may lead you.

5 - Cooking

During the lockdowns in the early part of the pandemic many people started cooking more often. And cooking can be very intricate which means this too is an excellent way to incorporate mindfulness into an important activity. We’ll use a green pepper as our example but of course you can use anything you want.

As you hold the green pepper look at the rich color it has. Are there any color variations over its surface? Are there three or four knobs at the bottom?

How does the stem look?

How does it smell? Sweet? Earthy?

Think about its journey to your hand. All the way from a seed planted in the field, to sprouting, to harvesting, to shipping, to being stocked at the store, to your selection. Imagine details along each step of the way.

As you cut the green pepper, feel the knife slice through. How much pressure did you need to use? Was there a new fragrance as a result of opening it up? How are the seeds positioned?

Take a bite from a piece you cut. Explore the taste.

Begin to cook slowly and notice the change in textures from crisp to soft.

How about the aroma? Does it excite your senses as you deeply inhale?

There’s a lot to a green pepper when we observe mindfully.

These are the first five activities you can incorporate into your mindfulness practice.

Give them a try if you're not already doing them and let me know what you think of them in the comments below.

Wishing you peace and ease,

Vladimir

Blue Lotus Mindfulness and Meditation Center is a registered 501(c)(3) religious organization.

Enjoy The Rain: Accepting Praise Or Compliments

Opening To Positive Commentary

A nice gentle rain can be refreshing and nurturing in times of drought. Praise and compliments can be thought of as our rain as well.

Think about a time when someone offered you praise. How did you feel?

Were you joyful that you helped someone? Proud of the task you completed? Or maybe no particular response at all. 

Perhaps you held a door open for someone with full arms, instrumental in finishing a team project, or maybe you helped someone carry a package up a flight of stairs.

These are some of the situations when someone could offer you a warm ‘thank you’.

Consider what was your intention to help at that particular time and then how did you ‘feel’ when acknowledged?

Oftentimes we respond with ‘no problem’ or ‘sure thing’. Although these are acknowledgements they're not positive acknowledgements. They’re bland, with no love, compassion, or gratitude behind them. 

These types of responses diminish the value of the other person's praise and your actions.

Sometimes when we receive praise we’re not sure how to respond, it’s not something we’re taught how to do in society. 

But let’s look at a few reasons as to why we might not respond more wholeheartedly.

• Ego is one of the main reasons. We know we did a kind act for someone but we often hide our gratitude under the guise of ‘no big deal’ when inside we’re happy that we could help.

• We’ve minimized the importance of helping someone else in a time of need. Most of life is built around small events not large. 

• Maybe we feel unworthy to receive praise. Perhaps you might think that it’s a part of your job or responsibilities to help others, like in a retail environment.  

How we return praise for acknowledgment is very important to a positive mindset.

Consider a small child who has that toy table with those little shapes, square, circle, triangle, and star, that they push through the corresponding hole. What is their expression when they match the shape and hole? It’s one of joy and excitement. What do you say to them with this monumental accomplishment? You clap, and very happily respond with ‘good job, I knew you could do it’! This boosts their confidence. 

Or maybe you have a dog who likes to play fetch. Again, how do you respond when they return the stick or toy? They’re so happy, their tails wagging vigorously, and are more likely to repeat this behavior.

So how do we accept praise gracefully and with openness? 

We can begin by valuing the other person's opinion and intention. This would be considered ‘Right Thought’ one of the Eight Noble Truths. The person's intention is to reward you verbally for your effort and assistance. It’s offered with sincere gratitude. This person saw the kindness in you and you helped them. This too, is one of the Eight Noble Truths, Right Effort. 

Think about when you offered praise to someone what were your intentions. You offered them praise and it wasn't malicious or deceitful. It was genuine and from the heart.

And remember, how you felt when you offered praise, is how they’re feeling towards you at this moment.

So when someone genuinely offers you praise, know that it’s coming from a place of gratitude and let it rain and nourish you as well.

I’d love to hear your comments, so please feel free to do so below.

I wish you all peace and ease,

Vladimir

Blue Lotus Mindfulness and Meditation Center is a registered 501(c)(3) religious organization.