India Journal 2006 #1-June 28, 2006

Well, I am starting this new blog and for now it will remain private, as I really must get all this down on "paper" but there are still those who are unaware of these things and I would not like to trouble or worry them at this early date, so for now, it will just be a place for me to begin with this new journey of mine. Eventually I hope to transfer my previous 3 journals here as well, but this will be lots of cutting and pasting and it will indeed be a project. I imagine in the end it will be worth it however.

So, where to begin this entry. Hmmmmmm....Well, it actually goes back some time to when I came to the definite conclusion that when I retire, with the very meager savings I have and ridiculously low pension I will receive from Bituah Leumi (Israeli version of Social Security), the only way I could truly manage would be to spend a good part of each year in India. Even with my flights, living there would be about 1/2 as much as living in Israel, and even less if I really cut back and live simply. But I could live very comfortably there on about $700 a month INCLUDING my air fair, and that is much much less than it costs me to live here in Israel.That would mean that my savings would last that much longer...at any rate, this idea has been going around in my head for quite some time and it has become obvious to me that this is what I will do.Now, originally, I was supposed to officially retire at the age of 60... 6 months from now, but when Bibi became Minister of the Treasury, he changed all the laws and moved the retirement age up on a gradual scale. My new retirement age is 62 and 8 months, 3 years from now, but I seriously doubt that there is anyway I can continue working and living the way I am now for another 3 years. That would also mean 3 years stolen from me from my life in India, and who knows what will be in 3 years, how my health will be, etc.
Soooooooooooo....
I made the definite decision that I have to find some way of making a major change and getting on with my life.And then of course the serendipities began happening. This all goes back almost a year in time actually when I began projection of these definite thoughts and pictures towards "India at 60" out to the Universe on a regular level.Now, one of the problems involved in doing this type of "part here part there" living is what do you do with your household here while you are away? And where do you live when you are here? I don't own a home and live in rentals always, which makes it complicated. I can't leave my house shut up, or rent it out while I am away as I don't own one, and to keep paying rent for the months I am away defeats the purpose of saving money. So where does my "stuff" go? Well, as I said, things are put into place in mysterious ways and this problem was solved very easily, but quite surprisingly, one day. I was talking to my daughter Shira in Uruguay who will be returning to Israel with her family shortly, after 3 years of living abroad. And she simply mentioned in conversation that when they come back and build their new house (they are evacuees from Gush Katif as well), wherever it may be, they will add on a separate unit for me and I could live with them!! I never thought of this option, never contemplated it, and was astounded when she spoke to me about this, as it is the perfect solution. The few things I own can be kept in a small unit attached to their house, and when I am not there, they can even rent it out if they choose to, and when I am home, I have someplace to "rest my weary bones".Then, the second serendipity came about. I was reading, as I very often do, the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree Travel Forum, and came across someone looking for people to work for a few months in his travel agency in Manali. I will make a very LONG story short...after some correspondence he offered me a full time job there as his partner and office manager if I could come live there. I will leave all the details out, but in the end, I decided to take a months leave of absence from my current job and try it out first to see if it suited me, and him, before making any hasty decision. All this was set to happen in July of this year, but in the end I decided for many reasons to postpone it to September, as many family upheavals are taking place this summer (Shira and family coming home from Uruguay-homeless and jobless, Aviva moving to Boston to open a clinic there, Shlomit moving in to live with me, Elisheva and family moving to Kfar Pines) and felt it would be better for me to be here at that time.So postponed it to September, have not yet mentioned this at all at my work place, and the initial plan, up until about 1 month ago was to still take a one month leave of absence and see what the job was like. I had taken into consideration that if my place of work was unwilling to give me a month's leave, I would go anyway even if I had to quit. Then, if things didn't work out in India, I could come back and collect unemployment until I got my life back into order again. So, I went out and booked a ticket for September 15th and for awhile all seemed fairly straightforward.Several months ago, during the winter, I began feeling overwhelmed by my work. Not the job itself, as I generally enjoy the work day here, but by the fact that it had taken over my life. I get up early each day, around 6, to do my "morning stuff"-Qi Kong, pranayama, sun salutations and some other simple easy yoga asanas for the stiff morning body and meditation, and if I have time, even some Reiki-and get home from work around 6:30 in the evening. I began finding that I could do NOTHING else with the day. No dancing, no yoga, no visiting my kids, nothing...just eat a light meal, get into bed, and be alseep by 8:30-9:00 in the evening on a regular basis. And then I found that I couldn't even get up any more at 6 and found myself skipping my morning stuff on many days, and this was really bad for me. Terrible way to spend a life but I thought perhaps it was due to the winter which is always energy depleting for me. But winter, and spring, have come and gone...it is light until quite late in the evening, but I am still in the same situation.I have given all this much much thought, deliberated, meditated, asked for guidance, clarity, direction, wisdom form the Universe, G-d, my guides, the angels...and have finally made a serious decision about exactly where my life will be going now.Once I made the decisions, the rest was easy. I first wrote to the guy in India asking for further details re: eventual salary, working conditions etc., in the event I stay on to work for him, and after all kinds of elegant hemming and hawing, it became apparent that the guy was just out to exploit people and had no serious intention of paying me any form of working wage which I could live on in India. So if I would have to live from my own money, why would I want to work? Soooooooo....I will be QUITTING my job the end of August or September, going to India as planned with the ticket I have, but will stay for 3 months, in the place where I always pictured myself spending these days, McLeod, with good friends, good food, my wonderful mountains etc. When I get back, I will begin collecting unemployment and at the same time, will probably begin a job where I will work from home, as I saw a friend of mine doing on the computer(I went especially to her house last week to see what it is she does and it if it suits-and it does), earn about 1/2 of what I need to live on doing that and then perhaps begin again developing my clinic at home for extra money. I basically do not yet have all the details, and I don't need them. I know WHAT I must do, the "hows" will be provided by Higher Powers who have greater intelligence than I do to decide what is best for my Higher Good and how this will all fall into place. So, as Reiki teaches me, and as I repeat daily with my morning stuff, "Just for today I will not worry".So, this is pretty much the first episode in this new Journal. I am off to India (will probably move my ticket up to October since Abdellah will be arriving in November and want to spend time with him as well-perhaps even go to Mysore with him to check out a new place-and that will still give me time for myself before Abdellah arrives...), will speak to my boss sometime this month about my plans, will let my parents know probably in August to give the least amount of tension and worry over my being away (just let them continue to be well-the last few days have been hell with my father in the hospital again...but that's for another journal-not here)...Shlomit will be living in my house by then so I will have to find a way to cover the rent for those 3 months that I am away...and hopefully, when I get back, all else will already be in place for whatever is meant to happen next.Namaste