This About page contains brief biographical information about Michael Kalyaano.
In this life I have been a restless man who never quite settled or felt at home anywhere.
Where is Michael now?
Since mid January, 2020, I stay in Glasgow, Scotland. I am entitled to live and work here as a British citizen.
Please contact me if you wish to meet face-face almost anywhere in Scotland while this notice is on the website. Note that I would also consider travel to other locations.
Please don’t mind the panic in the news media and in government announcements if they don’t directly affect you.
Ancestry
My ancestry is mostly Irish. According to the latest DNA analysis, about 80% of my ancestors came from Donegal, Ulster, Northwest Ireland and Southeast Scotland. Those ancestors might have lived in Ireland during the past ten thousand years, after the glaciers melted. Perhaps before ten thousand years ago, my ancestors lived in other places in Europe.
I believe in rebirth/reincarnation. Maybe in other lives, I incarnated as human among people in Africa, the Americas, Asia and elsewhere. Maybe I also incarnated in other realms.
Parents and childhood
My father was born in Scotland and my mother was born in England. While young in Australia, my parents often moved house within Western Australia because my father sought better working conditions and remuneration. As an adult, I continued moving within Australia and internationally.
Youth
Most of my teen years were at Port Hedland. After working for a couple of years for a mining company I travelled to Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand in 1981-84.
Buddhist monk in Thailand 1982- 1984
In Thailand, I had some adventures and then became so interested in meditation that I ordained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand during 1982-84. After two years training (in meditation and mindfulness and other themes), I resigned and returned to Australia to study and work. Although I resigned as a monk in 1984, I remain a follower of the Buddha.
Since 2008, I attended many meditation retreats for 2-3 month periods in Myanmar and Thailand. In 2010, I stayed in Sri Lanka, studying and meditating for 5 months. There is more information about this period of my life on the mental development page and in some blog posts linked on this website.
University and employment 1986-2015
I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Asian Studies (1989) and a Master of Arts in public policy (1992). From 1992, I began working as a public policy analyst for various Australian governments in Canberra and Perth, Australia.
In 1997, I worked for a year as an administrator at the Australian National University. I received a scholarship (paid education fees plus basic living allowance) and researched public sector management reform for 3.5 years (public sector management reform in Thailand) between 1998-2002.
In 2014, I moved to Wellington, New Zealand to work in for the New Zealand Qualifications Authority for fifteen months. In January 2016, I quit the NZQA and travelled around the South Island of New Zealand on separate trips with one of my sisters and then with my mother.
Most of my career as a public policy analyst or project manager was on education policies. I also worked on policies and projects for:
- indigenous affairs,
- transport
- industrial development
- health
- veterans affairs
- welfare budgeting
In government and university, I supervised and mentored many people.
Travelling since 2016
In March 2016, I flew in stages from Wellington, New Zealand to Lima, Peru, I travelled around Peru for 5 months and enjoyed an amazing period of opening my heart and mind.
During 2019, I lived for various periods of time in the following towns/cities:
- Glasgow, Scotland
- Dublin, Cork, and Skull, Ireland
- Utrecht and Eindhoven, Netherlands
- Cairo and Abydos, Egypt
- Oviedo, Ibiza and San Sebastian, Spain
- Montreal, Canada
As of January 2020, I am living in Glasgow Scotland.
I would like to set up a “home” base where I could rest between travels. This base could be almost anywhere though I prefer temperate climates and close to mountains and lakes or rivers.
I remember owning and riding a Honda XL500 trail motorcycle in 1980-81. Now I would like to own and ride an ‘adventure’ motorcycle such as a KTM 890 Adventure R on trails and roads all over Europe. I am particularly interested in riding the Trans European Trail (TET) I am curious about traveling outside Europe, including North Africa, South America and Central America.
New livelihood?
During the four years, January 2016 to February 2020, I lived on savings without any income at all. Now I am looking for a new way to support my livelihood outside of the 9 to 5 corporate environment. Drawing on my previous life and work experiences as well as relatively new interests in healing, I created this website to attract attention and share information.
As a follower of the Buddha, especially the early teachings, I am mindful about livelihood.
“A lay follower should not engage in five types of business. Which five? Business in weapons, business in human beings, business in meat, business in intoxicants, and business in poison.”
The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha A5.177
The main point of this guideline is to avoid livelihoods that cause harm to other living beings and oneself. I discussed this topic in a broad way in a blog post. Right livelihood is one of the eight factors of the Buddhist Noble Eight-fold Path. Right livelihood assumes right speech (no lying or gossiping) and right action (no killing, stealing or sexual misconduct).
As a follower of the Buddha, following ethical conduct in all areas of life and forms the basis for developing serenity of mind and wisdom.
Ideally, I will have a livelihood that contributes to raising human consciousness to higher levels. My attempt to start a business based on healing, mentoring and travel didn’t succeed.
Attempting to find paid employment in 2020-22
I applied for many jobs in the English and Scottish governments as policy analyst, project manager and administrator. I applied to be an administrator or cleaner with a NHS Scotland hospital. I applied to sell pastries at a fast-food store. I applied to serve in a grocery store. I had many interviews but was unsuccessful. In over 3 years of applying for paid employment (writing in March 2023), I have not been offered a job. I spent my savings and I have lived on welfare payments from the English government.
In mid-2022, I attempted training as a carer with Enable Scotland and as a volunteer advisor with the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB). I had a crisis on the second day of training with Enable and exited the program. I do not recommend anyone work with Enable Scotland. I had a different type of crisis with CAB. CAB has been unable to help me as a client, though I am finding some of the information about Scottish and English social welfare is useful and interesting. I am currently considering whether to continue CAB advisor training.
Mental Health
I have experienced anxiety as long as I can remember. I was depressed as a teenager though never officially labled as such. I experienced trauma many times in my life.
I grew increasingly anxious from 2020 until the end of 2022. I seems that since the beginning of 2023, there are some gradual improvements and I am optimistic there will be a major positive shift for me.
When I set this website up in 2019, I imagined I might be able to help others, but since early 2022, I realized that I am also one who needs help. I am attending psychological therapy and hoping to get social work assistance soon.
My physical health is good. I eat well and exercise every day. I sleep ok. I meditate every day. With help from a men’s suicide prevention support group (Mind the Men – MTM), I recently received a free gym membership for an unspecified period of time. I no longer attend MTM’s group meetings. The culture of the group is not compatible with my values and beliefs.
Healing and meditation and mindfulness
I posted more about my background on the healing and the mental development page.
Writing books
Since October 2016 while traveling, I began writing fiction and non-fiction books. So far, I have not completed a full draft of any of these projects. Two draft novels feature women discovering and using their powers for the greater good. The non-fiction books are about Dharma and good advice. There is also a draft auto-fiction book. Many ideas for writing fiction and non-fiction books are waiting for my attention.
Maybe if I was settled and not looking for income or focused so much on recovering mental health balance, I might write more.
Logo
This website launched with a five point star logo inspired by ancient Egyptian wall murals.
I changed the logo on 19 November 2019 to a mandala design at the top of every page on this website and on my business cards. I published notes about this design on a separate page.
Contact
Please contact me by using the contact page.
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