Be grateful for what you have

[QuestioningMind]

So yeah, I saw this coming... I’m not going back to work from my furlough. I’ve been out of work since Apr. 5. I’m getting unemployment benefits and the federal supplement but it falls short of my salary. Some people are actually making more being unemployed, because of the federal supplement. Go figure.

My boss called to tell me that my position and many others are being eliminated effective Aug. 1. From corporate to the stores to the distribution centers. I am (was) IT Sys Admin). I told her I saw it coming, though it’s no less distressing.

I’ll get 22 weeks full salary as severance, 1 week for every year of employment. The company has historically given 2 weeks per year. I guess this says how badly they’ve been hurt. I can continue the unemployment or if I get another job I can still get the severance... either way, it’s their gift.

I don’t think I’ll go back into IT. Forty years in total is enough. I won’t get the full Social Security amount because I’m only 63 (next month), it would be half my salary, but I could still get another job at the same time.

Idk, maybe I’ll become a mall cop to supplement the SS. I’d get to ride around in a little Fisher-Price car. And I think I’d look kind of sexy in a uniform (as long as I get one that fits right... most of them look like crap ). Or Lowes. I like talking to people and not sitting all day. I’m so ready to do something and try to feel good about myself I even get dressed just to stay at home. How sad is that?

Who knows, maybe my prayers *are* working, just not how I expected, and the Gods have other plans I’m not aware of. Krishna *is* known for his sense of humor and practical jokes. So many people whose lives are ruined by losing their jobs, businesses, savings.

I suppose it wasn’t enough to ****-can over 200 of us from our jobs, some of us with service up to 23+ years, our benefits have been terminated 1 month before our actual termination date. I got a letter today that benefits ceased on July 5. No medical, dental, vision, prescription or life insurance. But the letter did say “thank you for your service”. Uh huh. Paying for it oneself is all but impossible. COBRA is almost $600/month for single coverage, ~$1500 for spouses. The company has graciously offered to pay 50% of it for the first month. I think we can guess my response.

So, not looking for pity or sympathy, just giving a little advice from someone who has learned... appreciate what you have, no matter how insignificant it may seem, or how much of a given it may seem. Anything can happen to anyone at anytime.

The staff knows most of this and why I’ve been scarce. I’m afraid of unfairly lashing out. I’m on a really short fuse these days. My mind is just not where it should be.

“Frank just sits at home
‘Cause he’s got no job
Just plays guitar
And he cries a lot” - mangled lyrics from Offspring’s “The Kids Aren’t Alright”.

I can certainly empathize. Everything fell apart for me career-wise back in 2007 during the last economic disaster. Ended up having to move to another state so my wife could take a better job. Took me awhile to finally find something for myself and we struggled for a bit, but thirteen years later I couldn't be happier. I don't make as much as before, but I do something that I thoroughly enjoy and not just something I endure for the pay check. The truth is I think it ended up saving my life. If I'd stayed with my previous job and all the stress that came with it and the mind numbing commute I used to deal with I'm sure I'd have died of a stroke by now. The experience taught me that instead of living a fast complicated life so that I could afford lots of things that I rarely had time to enjoy because my life was so fast and complicated, it's better to live a slower simpler life with fewer things, but have the time to thoroughly enjoy the things that I do have.

I guess that's my long winded way of saying that sometimes setbacks can turn out to be opportunities in disguise. I know it doesn't help much when you're in the thick of it, but it often turns out to be true. Hope it turns out that way for you.

 

[Jainarayan]

I guess that's my long winded way of saying that sometimes setbacks can turn out to be opportunities in disguise. I know it doesn't help much when you're in the thick of it, but it often turns out to be true. Hope it turns out that way for you.

Yes, things can turn out for the best. I was going to write an email to our HR director saying that maybe this was for the best because she and the former CIO were right that staying on instead of taking the last buyout. They to,d me transferring to this manager was not going to be easy.

My former boss, who is also like a brother to me had left. They asked me if I knew what I was getting into. I said I thought could make it work. And for four years I think I did. But I realized early on I made a mistake. The woman is a horror to work for. Very micro-managing, wants to hear answers she wants to hear, not what is correct, doesn’t know what I do. She inherited the part of IT I was with.

My imagination wants to say this was a perfect opportunity to get rid of someone who was a “challenge”. I was never insubordinate but she didn’t trust me to know my field. So, while I may behind the eight ball now, for what it’s worth, I’m rid of her and her bull****.

Btw, I didn’t send the email. Anything can happen in the future, and it’s not wise to burn your bridges.

 

[Jainarayan]

I would also do that. Problems of life do not bother me, having passed through both, good and bad.

"O son of Kuntī, the non-permanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed." BG 2.14

"O best among men (Arjuna), the person who is not disturbed by happiness and distress and is steady in both is certainly eligible for liberation." BG 2.15

Yep, I been thinking a lot about a number of verses there. I had something of a challenge this morning. Because I currently have no transportation I walk to the store. It’s only a 3-3.5 mile round trip but it was almost 90* by noon. Part of the way back is uphill, and I was carrying a gallon of milk and a gallon of laundry detergent. I just kept thinking of verse 3.9.

yajñārthāt karmaṇo ’nyatra loko ’yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ
tad-arthaṁ karma kaunteya mukta-saṅgaḥ samāchara

BG 3.9: Work must be done as a yajña (sacrifice) to the Supreme Lord; otherwise, work causes bondage in this material world. Therefore, O son of Kunti, perform your prescribed duties, without being attached to the results, for the satisfaction of God.

Like the old nuns in Sunday School used to say “offer it up to God”.

 

[Jainarayan]

Hi, Jai'~
You have SO much knowledge to sustain you through these events, and devotion, too. God has not abandoned you and vice versa. Proof is in the title of your post, for gratitude greases the wheel of grace. Jobs, spouses, pets, homes, etc... these are all karmically fixed the moment your father's sperm entered your mother's egg. Stay calm, be alert, remain faithful to your path and your Lord. Your next steps will be revealed to you in due course of time, and that, too, will be karma. The trick is to remain poised while our karma plays itself out. You got this! OM shantih'.

I agree, I don’t feel abandoned at all. I don’t believe God manipulates but I believe He knows what we don’t and can see what we can’t. I was walking home in the heat this morning, because as I mentioned, I have no brakes on my truck or the money (right now) to get them fixed.

Between episodes of sobbing (not pretty seeing a 210 lb bearded bear sobbing) I muttered the verses
Māta pitā tuma mērē
Śaraṇa gahū̃ maĩ kisakī
Svāmī śaraṇa gahū̃ maĩ kisakī
Tuma bina aura na dūjā
Tuma bina aura na dūjā
Āsa karū̃ maĩ jisakī
Ōm̐ jaya Jagadīśa harē

It gets me through.

 

[Vinayaka]

Old cliche ... one door closes, another door opens.

 

[Sw. Vandana Jyothi]

I agree, I don’t feel abandoned at all. I don’t believe God manipulates but I believe He knows what don’t and can see what we can’t. I was walking home in the heat this morning, because as I mentioned, I have no brakes on my truck or the money (right now) to get them fixed.

Between episodes of sobbing (not pretty seeing a 210 lb bearded bear sobbing) I muttered the verses
Māta pitā tuma mērē
Śaraṇa gahū̃ maĩ kisakī
Svāmī śaraṇa gahū̃ maĩ kisakī
Tuma bina aura na dūjā
Tuma bina aura na dūjā
Āsa karū̃ maĩ jisakī
Ōm̐ jaya Jagadīśa harē

It gets me through.

Fabulous, Jai'!! And I love the pic in my mind of a sobbing bearded bear, drawing closer and closer to his God who loves all His furry friends alike! So many members read this DIR (oops, I thought this was in the Hindu DIR) and don't know Sanskrit, it would be inspiring to translate this hymn for them. (The hair has gone up on my arms, I hold the arati tray and wave the light alongside you....)

 

[Jainarayan]

Fabulous, Jai'!! And I love the pic in my mind of a sobbing bearded bear, drawing closer and closer to his God who loves all His furry friends alike! So many members read this DIR (oops, I thought this was in the Hindu DIR) and don't know Sanskrit, it would be inspiring to translate this hymn for them. (The hair has gone up on my arms, I hold the arati tray and wave the light alongside you....)

Oh sorry, that’s the Vishnu aarti song, just one of the verses (for the curious)..

Thou art my mother and father
Whom should I take refuge with
Lord, whom should I take refuge with
Without thee, there is no other
Without thee, there is no other
For whom I would wish
Oh Lord of the Universe

The whole thing is here Om Jai Jagdish Hare - Wikipedia

We sing it at 7 pm in temple at the Sri Satyanarayana Swami sanctum. I also use it in my daily puja for the final aarti.

 

[Jainarayan]

Old cliche ... one door closes, another door opens.

But ‘tis true.

 

[Vinayaka]

But ‘tis true.

You want more applicable cliches, eh? ... God works in mysterious ways.

I just got a week off from landscaping (Silly, but I think of it as some job.) I had a couple of cold symptoms last Sunday, so we went for Covid testing. You have to legally self-isolate until the test comes in. We were negative, but it took 4 days. So Ganesha gave me a break, or he tested me on the affectionate detachment department.

The positve affirmation "I'm all right right now." also can do wonders.