The California El Camino Real in June

I have been trying to figure out how to notify my friends, family, clients and readers about my upcoming life event.  I have never really been much of a PR type, so I guess I don't really think much about such things.

I wrote a letter to a dear friend and when a couple of others read it, they both seemed to think it explained things very well.  The person who it was sent to has promised to give me a detailed response on Monday, so I am waiting for that...

So I am copying a slightly edited version here, leaving out personal information only, I hope this explains what I am trying to do and why I will be a little out of touch for the next 6-8 weeks.

For those who would like to help financially, please click this button:

Blessed Be!
ॐ शान्ति शान्ति

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Hey ---,

Got busy running errands and trying to finalize details for my trip.

I started looking for a job, but was having difficulty figuring out more about what I wanted, other than NOTHING in the Limo biz… LOL It became fairly apparent to me that I was really just looking for something to do until I figured out what I really wanted. The only thing I really wanted was to follow my Spiritgeek path and try to reconnect with what seems to have gotten lost over the years.

Now that I think about it, I have realized that I didn't loose it, but I suspect that I put it away for safe-keeping while I explored this world from the perspective of the majority. I've always suspected that we are most often so unhappy because we never really learned to be happy. There's a certain amount of truth in that, but I have also come to realize through the last 25 years or so that we are addicted to our misery and we, obviously, do not have to be. So for me, it is now time for me to reclaim what I have put away and figure out how to pass that along, or determine that I am barking up the wrong tree and find it is only a symptom of the real problem, possible…

The first thing that I need to do, is to shed this addiction and the persona that it has created and return to the "I" (pardon the awkward grammar but I suspect you know what I mean). The opportunity has presented itself and I just "know" that I need to do it now, or it will never happen. I started getting hints from the Universe, the largest being a resurgence of a long-held wish to just walk, get away from everything that I have allowed myself to be addicted to, it's like heroine really. I have thought about walking across the Southern US for years, planned half-a-dozen routes from LA to Ma's Ashram in Florida. I would still like to take that trip, but I fear the first 1000 miles of desert to start, especially in the Late Spring and Early Summer.

The El Camino Santiago in Spain, the Way of St. James, made several appearances in my life from books to television mentions. If you are not familiar with it, it's a 500 mile trek across Northern Spain that has been followed for over a thousand years. If I had the money, I would like to have walked the El Camino Santiago, so I figured that until I can, I would do something a bit more local, it will just have to wait till later. I was going to just walk up the coastline when a friend recommended doing the Mission Trail Friar Serra took with the California Mission System he founded from San Diego to Sonoma.

I'm going to document the trip and stop at several related places along the way, SRF's Hermitage in Encinitas, the Mother Kali Temple in Laguna and other religious and spiritual locations on the way and currently plan to end my journey in Nevada City, CA about 150 miles Northeast of Sonoma at Ananda Village, founded by Kriyananda, a student of Paramahansa Yogananda. That part has not been decided on as of yet.

--- has offered to help me monetize the trip if I document it. As he put it, "Do this to reclaim your life, then let's allow it to pay for your life." So I have help on that part.

There are a few benefits for doing the Mission Trail, I have a stop every few days, the longest gap between missions would be about 3-4 days so I can check in regularly even if no other locations present themselves en route.

I really need some time away from "my life" and the more I think about it, the more I am looking forward to it. I expect it to be one of the most difficult and testing things I have ever done, but I'm open to the Universe making it a bit easier at its discretion. LOL

The putting together of the resources has been an interesting experience in guidance from above. I have bought several items for the trip and just picked up the one that seemed or felt right. I started to get some "buyers remorse" since I was putting my life in the hands of some of these items, so I started researching them. I have been consistently blown away with how fantastic the reviews on the items have been, all high praise from people who camp and hike regularly. You would think I actually knew what the hell I was doing…

Also, several other "hints" have presented themselves to me as of late. Nearly everyone that I call family is having an exodus from Los Angeles and I have been ready to go elsewhere for a while, just no idea where that would be. I am still contemplating that, but a couple of possibilities have presented themselves already.

On a more practical note, I know this sounds insane. We are taught to be part of a system that I have never really been a part of, just playing the game and it has gotten extremely tedious. If I honestly thought that I could be what I know I have within and still be as integrated in traditional life, I would be more than happy to do it, I suspect it would be much easier on my feet.

I have been trying to do both for several years now and have just been feeling more and more trapped in what I know to be false.

[...]I suspect it should only be a few months, the walk is going to take about 2, unless I run into a collection of spiritual adventures along the way and I suspect that I will land on my feet if I am truly following Source.

Blessings of (Apparent) Disaster

I found this in my drafts folder, from several months ago, like last October.  Well, it seems that I had not learned my lesson as of yet, it was a disaster, but before we get into that, look at how it started...

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I know, I am running a bit late with this posting, but I wanted to let the Universe finish what it was doing for me before I started spreading around too much of the energy into the world, a friend calls it the Law of Silence.

So, if you read my posts (see "Blessings in Disaster" post, Sept 16, 2013), you know that I and my former employer were not having a great time and I "officially" got fired on September 13^th, a Friday (see, it IS a lucky day). I cannot say that I was particularly upset, I was pretty sure I was on my way out the door shortly anyway and it actually did save me that "talk" where you give notice and spend two-weeks in that awkward place of being at work, but on the way out.

In steps the Universe to see if I have learned my lesson from the last time I went through this about three years ago.

The following Monday, I went by my old office and picked up my last check and had a conversation with the Office Manager where we discussed that I had no hard feelings. In fact, I like the guy who fired me, in a social context, but I just cannot see submitting myself to his way of running his company. After leaving, I headed to the bank to deposit my check. As I was crossing the parking lot a loud bang was heard from my passenger front wheel area. I pulled over and took a look, and could not see anything wrong.

When I started to move the car though, it was apparent that something was not right, a loud grinding noise could be heard coming from the same wheel and things were not good. I parked the car and took care of my business at the bank and decided to take the car to my neighborhood mechanic, about 4 blocks away.

The car said, "No!" and the grinding became seriously worse. I pulled over, parked and called for a tow.

When the tow arrived, he asked me to back the car a bit so he could lift it. I managed to get about 3 feet in reverse when the front end of the car took a dip on that side. When I got out and took a look, the wheel looked like Doc Brown's DeLorean on takeoff at the end of the first "Back to the Future."

I was in a bit of a quandary, I love my car, but I just lost my job, have limited funds and a potential killer of a repair bill coming. I had decided that I could afford $400-$600 to fix, any more than that and I may have to pass on it. When the shop called me later, I was glad to hear it would be $522 (should I have said $200-$300?).

This was when I was sure that I was going through a test, would I allow financial panic to make me run back to a toxic situation that I just could not handle anymore, would I lunge at the first job that came along, or would I listen to intuition and follow where the Universe was trying to guide me.

It is at times like these that we often find out where our friends are in their paths to growth, I know that all the people that seemed to be trying to turn me into a huddling mass of quivering fear meant well, they love me (OK, they like me and a few barely manage to tolerate me). I am also aware that a fair amount of the fear they were radiating was not really about and for me, but where they would respond if they were in my shoes.

I am often amazed how much of our day-to-day interaction and response to others is not really about the "others", but ourselves, that is another blog entry for another time.

Being a reasonably responsible person, I filed for Unemployment as a safety measure and started looking for a job (yes, I did take a week off to de-stress and have a little me time for a change). I had a few responses but nothing that really caught my eye and definitely nothing that caused Spirit to react.

After a week or two, I decided to start hitting up the restaurants that might have need of waiting staff, I used to enjoy waiting tables many years ago and I am very good with most people. I had started following my "application plan" when I received a call from a friend of a friend that was looking for a dispatcher.

Before I could reach the person who had referred me, the person with the job offer called again. I told him that I was not really planning on getting back into the limousine industry, he asked me why and I told him that my last few companies had all managed to suck all the fun out of doing something that I actually enjoy. He said he understood, he had been in the same place a few times over the years, but that the company he was calling for was a potentially unique situation. We spoke a little more and he asked if I would send him a resumé.

About 15 minutes later, I received a call asking if I would be available for an interview later that day, I said sure and we scheduled an appointment. I hate interviews; I always feel nervous, self-conscious and gawky. This interview was the exact opposite, I was mostly at ease, confident and feeling really good about it (Lynn Grabhorn would call it a "warm and fuzzy"). I walked out with a new job, well at least as soon as corporate finished processing my background check.

Due to the usual HR person being temporarily unavailable, it took a little longer than usual, but I started six days later and it looks to be an amazing opportunity in an environment that I find extremely to my liking.

There are some other details of other aspects of how it all came together that I cannot disclose publicly, but they blow my mind.

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As hard as we fight it, all things happen in our lives for reasons we often do not get, though to be direct, most are not looking. If we are a "victim" of our lives, it is not because the Universe has it in for us, it is either a choice we made, consciously or otherwise, or the repercussion of action we have already put forth.

My last few "jobs" in the limo biz in LA are a perfect example. No matter how many times I go through this, I seem to be a touch slow getting the point. I do not even want to admit how many times I have repeated this same lesson. Don't get me wrong, the problem is not the universe, it is me. I know what the lessons involved are, I have bored my friends to death going over it again and again, my bad (thanks for putting up with my less than stellar performance)!

I could go into the details of what happened this time, LOL, but they are not really that important. What is important is that the same general pattern occurred and its level of difficulty was exponentially more, what was I expecting?

In the final analysis, the details are not the point, they are only the method by which I was shown the lesson, again. Once again it was just more painful than the last time, pain does really seem to be our favorite method to learn by.

I think I have it down this time, but then I have said this before and panicked when the final came along shortly thereafter. Hope springs eternal!