Kathleen Donnelly Israel - Wisdom on the Camino

Welcome back to Series 3 of the 5 Star Wellbeing Podcast!

We begin the series with a bang as I interview Kathleen Donnelly Israel, author of "Wisdom on the Camino: A spiritual Journey Sharing Forgiveness and Possibilities to Inspire the Rest of Your Life."

Kathleen shares her philosophies and her adventures with us, for a very uplifting conversation.

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Music by Ian Hildebrand

Transcript

Arwen Bardsley: 0:00

Okay, so welcome everybody. Welcome back to series three of the 5 Star wellbeing Podcast. I'm delighted today for episode 50 to Welcome with Kathleen Donnelly Israel who is an author. She's written a book called wisdom on the Camino. Kathleen wrote this book to chronicle her adventures as a 70 year old or has she likes to say a 70 year young which I absolutely love, widow and grandmother. She walked along the Camino Santiago de Compostela. pardon my pronunciation, you can correct me in a moment Kathleen, which is 500 miles across northern Spain and she walked that solo along the way, and Kathleen shared her life philosophies with people that she met. These were philosophies that Kathleen had developed, having studied with many masters mainly virtually or online whilst she was carrying with her caring for sorry for caring for her husband over 17 years. So welcome, Kathleen, really delighted to have you as my first guest for this series. I would love to just start off with a bit about you your background, your origin story, you know how it came about that this is what you did? As a 70 year old? That would be wonderful.

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 1:23

Yeah, I'm so happy to be here. Thank you. I was born in San Diego, California, I still live here lived all my life in San Diego. And I was I had a troubled childhood. My, my father was alcoholic rageaholic child molester. And so I had some pain and sorrow in my life that I needed to deal with. I tried to deal with it most of my life. And then finally, when my husband was ill, I had plenty of time, because I had to be here. So I went online in the evenings and studied with enlightened thought leaders to to heal myself from my sadness. And I had a just a regular childhood I Well, we went to the Catholic schools and, and I went to Catholic High School, all girls school, and I met a girl named Judy. We were in grade school in high school together. And while I was caring for Ron, she went on the Camino, Santiago de Compostela. And I saw that she was doing something very special for herself. So I decided that when Ron was done with his disease, I would do the Camino also. So that's how I decided to do it. Ron, and I had, we were married for 48 years, we had five children. Now we have 11 grandchildren. Most of them are in Texas, in the US, and so anyway, it I, I took care of Ron i in the beginning of his disease, I was trying to find ways to cure him. And I even sent 50 $50 to a man in Australia to get a cure. He said he had a cure. So I sent him$50. And he sent me the cure, but Ron wouldn't do it. And

Arwen Bardsley: 3:39

What was it? Was it Homeopathics or something?

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 3:42

Yeah, he had some exercises. It was uncanny. He said that. People with Parkinson's disease, they usually lost somebody in their life of the opposite sex. And they had a childhood, an illness, like an injury to the lower part of their leg early in life. And it's so weird. Ron had the scar on the back of the bottom of his leg from an accident with a motorbike or something. I just thought, wow, you know, so I bought a couple of cures from him. And anyway, so Ron, Ron wanted me to accept him the way he was, he did not want me to be his healer. You want to be his caregiver. And so I just had to honor that. And so, you know, I became his caregiver. And he was okay for quite a while. He actually rode his bicycle to Spokane, Washington from San Diego. That's like 1800 Miles while he had Parkinson's disease and because our son When he went to college, my husband had to quit his job so we could not. You know, we couldn't help John in college and so we had to, he was a salesman, he sold Cutco knives. And so he donated$1,000, to the Parkinson's disease Foundation. And they sent Ron a letter saying, oh, you know, honoring, you know, John's donation, and Ron said, Oh, I'm gonna have to do something for John. And he said, I'm gonna ride my bicycle to his graduation. So he rode his bicycle. And anyway, that was a crazy thing. He, me and the guy across the street went with them. And you know, we had a motorhome. And we, we would pick up Ron in the evening and bring him back to the motorhome and then take him out to where he was in the morning. And he could continue.

Arwen Bardsley: 6:02

So, so So you've had a few adventures in your life?

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 6:08

Yes. When I was, like, 19 years old, I went to Hawaii. And I was a counselor at a Girl Scout camp on the Big Island of Hawaii. So that was pretty exciting. I went all by myself, and I went to school in Switzerland for a couple of summers. And so I went there all by myself.

Arwen Bardsley: 6:31

Okay, but what about walking, hiking? Is that something that you did throughout your life?

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 6:38

Yes, Ron and I, when we went on vacation, we would just hike everywhere. And like everyday when he in the evening after dinner, we would take a hike in our neighborhood. We ran a whole we weren't we ran a marathon together. Except for he was an athlete, and I was not. So he ran it in three hours. And I ran it in five and a half hours.

Arwen Bardsley: 7:03

I would just be so grateful if I actually finished a marathon. I can't see it ever happening. So!

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 7:10

you know, you're a finisher. And that's, that's great.

Arwen Bardsley: 7:13

Yeah, exactly. And you mentioned you brought up your your Catholic upbringing. So I'm, I'm curious about how, you know, have you stayed a practicing Catholic? What did your faith have to do with your journey as well?

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 7:29

Yeah, I, I, I retained my faith in my life. I didn't go away from my faith. I think, because of the troubled childhood. The church was like, my safe place. And so I didn't feel like I had to rebel against it. And I didn't, you know, I really, a lot of my friends, they're like, oh, gosh, how can you send your kids to private to the Catholic school? Don't you know what they did to us? And I'm like, Yeah, I don't think I was paying attention. When I was a kid, because I was tuning out though. Actually. I don't I you know,

Arwen Bardsley: 8:05

well, you, you know, you had other priorities for being alert and, and protective of yourself, you know, outside of school. So yeah, maybe in school. Yeah. It was just like a big breath of relief.

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 8:20

Yeah, I think I was pretty much tuning out at home. And at school. I just tuned out when I was a kid. I think probably people thought I was stupid or something, but I just couldn't handle reality.

Arwen Bardsley: 8:34

And did you work outside of the home?

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 8:43

Well, that was difficult. I did work outside the home. I when I actually, when I got married, I had I was just completing for your three years of a four year degree in college. And so I didn't have an education, you know, so to speak. And I, I was a stay at home mom, when my kids were little. And then when my youngest son got old enough to go to preschool then I got a job. I I used to volunteer a lot, because people would watch my kids if I was volunteer, like I was a volunteer swimming instructor and, you know, I, I taught religion and art and all kinds of stuff that people would watch my kids when I did that. And so that was a little bit of getting out for me.

Arwen Bardsley: 9:39

Yeah, a bit of adult, you know, conversation and stimulation.

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 9:44

Right. I got my degree when my daughter was in college, actually. And so I was a graphic designer. And I did that for about 10 years and then I I studied transformational breathing and became a facilitator, so now I teach transformational breathing.

Arwen Bardsley: 10:06

So, before I get into the journey, then seeing as you've brought that up, can you tell us about that? What is it?

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 10:11

it's a full diaphragmatic breath. And what I do is I do a breath analysis, I have my client lay down, and I watch their breathing, and I see where their restricted breathing patterns are. And then I can help them breathe in those areas, because we hold our sadness or our trauma in our body on a cellular level. And, and we, like, if, if we had our heart shut down, you know, lost, you know, from loss or something, then we don't breathe in our heart area. Because our, our, our body knows if I breathe there, I'm going to feel the pain of that sadness. And so we don't breathe there. Or maybe if we had our, our freewill shut down, then we don't breathe in our belly. And because our body knows if I breathe there, I'm not going to, you know, I'm going to feel those feelings again. And so. So I can see that and then I have affirmations that I help people get through and kind of, you know, get over their sadness. And it's really amazing. Some of because I use Louise Hay's, book, "you can heal your life", and it has illness, and what causes it and affirmations. So I use those affirmations.

Arwen Bardsley: 11:44

I love Louise Hay. And so is it a particular breathing technique? Or is it more just making people aware of breathing fully and completely into all those areas that are basically the energy centers of the body?

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 11:57

Yeah, yeah, I get them breathing in a very special way, they have to open their mouth, you can't hold on to your anger with your mouth open. So usually, we should breathe with our nose because it clean clear, cleans the air, yes, really, and our nose cleans the air. But during the transformational breathing, you breathe with your mouth open. And also, if you blow the air, then inside our mouth, we have these uptake things. And so we can uptake the carbon dioxide as, as it if you blow, then you accumulate air in your mouth, and then you let it out, you know, slowly. But if you just have your mouth open and just go, you know, as an exhale, then you're just getting rid of air. And so. So it's a circular breath. So right after they breathe in, they breathe out. And after they do that they breathe in. And the metaphor for if there's a space between breathing in, the metaphor for that is they're having difficulty taking in, their good. And if there's a space before the exhale, the metaphor for that is they're having a hard time letting go of all that does not serve them. So when we close those up, then that can that can be very beneficial for the client.

Arwen Bardsley: 13:26

That's amazing. I've never heard of that. So it's it sounds really useful. Is there? Can people access information about that, or ways of doing it online?

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 13:38

Yeah, there's that we can do. We used to only do in person breathing sessions, but since COVID, we had to go to online breathing sessions,

Arwen Bardsley: 13:50

especially important during COVID Given that it's a lung issue. Yeah.

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 13:53

Yeah. Well, you know, I, during COVID, I was taking MMS, which is a it's a substance that it actually it, it doesn't touch your aerobic cells, but the anaerobic cells, it steals an electron from them. And so you know, they always said that COVID is a weak cell, because it's not aerobic. And so, you know, it can just knock that out. Yeah, I use that during COVID. And so I wasn't afraid of getting COVID You know,

Arwen Bardsley: 14:38

did you get it?

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 14:40

I did get it but I wasn't taking the MMS during that time. I was visiting my son in Texas and when I got home I had it and my son said oh, yeah, you probably got it here. I think I had it last week. I'm just like, Okay.

Arwen Bardsley: 14:54

Thanks for that mate. All right. So is MMS. Like it's a supplement, can you get it? Anywhere?

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 15:04

You know, the last time I saw it was on etsy.com e-t-s-y.com. They have it. They have had it on there. You. The government doesn't like us to have it. Yeah. They don't want us to be able to heal ourselves. Yeah. Yep. And so they call it water purifier, but it's M-M-S master miracle solution or something like that. And the website for that. He doesn't sell it. But he will tell you about it is Jim humble.org.

Arwen Bardsley: 15:46

Okay.

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 15:48

I think he has both of them. Okay.

Arwen Bardsley: 15:50

I haven't heard of that either. You're Just such a wealth of information, Kathleen.

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 15:56

Yeah, I, you know, I did the Camino, in Portugal last year in in 2021. And it was, you know, COVID was still going on, and I brought the MMS with me. So I just took it every morning.

Arwen Bardsley: 16:15

So, well actually, before I ask you that, can, are you able to give us a quick demonstration of transformational breathing. If you can't, don't worry.

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 16:27

you could just open your mouth. And, okay, I want you to think about your lungs, at the bottom of your lungs is your diaphragm, right? It's hooked on to your bottom of your lungs. And so this is a full diaphragmatic breath. So when you breathe in, you lower. Just think about it, lower your diaphragm to let the air in. So you go. And when you lower your diaphragm, it pushes your belly out. So they call it belly breathing. But you know, the airs not going in there. It's just, you know, when the diaphragm goes down, pushes the belly out. So you breathe fully in with your diaphragm. just take in a lot of air. And then when you exhale, you just relax the diaphragm. And don't blow I see you blowing there. Don't blow open your mouth. Yeah, like that. Because you don't want to uptake the carbon dioxide. So yeah, just breathe in and lower your diaphragm and breathe out and surrender all that does not serve you. So breathe in and breathe out. Just the relaxation to exhale is the relaxation.

Arwen Bardsley: 17:53

So is it quite fast, then the exhalation?

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 17:58

The way you make,it's not a fast breath. But it's not a real slow breath either. But what I like to say is, if you want to make the breath longer, take a longer inhale. The exhale is just an extra it's just like cleaning your glasses or you know,

Arwen Bardsley: 18:18

yeah, so it's almost like a sigh.

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 18:20

Yeah, it's a sigh and it's a relaxation of the diaphragm. It's not a pushing. So you're going to push down with your diaphragm to take the air in and relax the diaphragm to let the air out. Let's do a few of them and, and you right after you breathe in, you breathe out and right after you breathe out you breathe in. And anyway,

Arwen Bardsley: 18:55

thank you so so what do you think of all these, you know, kind of breathing, relaxation, breathing techniques where they do like, especially in yoga and it would be common where they say breathe in, pause, breathe out, pause.

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 19:10

It's just a different thing. The transformational breathing is designed to integrate your trauma, the circular breath to integrate your trauma. Any sort of breathing that you do is good. I I personally think that breathing is for getting the air in. You know, so if you're breathing and they're telling you not to take air in. I'm like questioning that.

Arwen Bardsley: 19:38

Yeah, right. Yeah. Yeah. And it's I also think it's like, you know, energetically and you know, in the kind of metaphysical world of Louise Hay that you know, it's breathing life in you know, it's it's breathing energy in and it's breathing, lifeforce in it's not just air, isn't it?

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 19:57

Yeah, the Kundalini.

Arwen Bardsley: 19:59

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Activating the kundlini. Absolutely. So we better get on to your actual journey along the Camino. So,first of all, because you talk about that you shared your philosophy and your knowledge along the way. But what, what drew you to studying those things whilst your husband was ill? I mean, other than you had time, so why not? But you know, there were a million things you could have studied or done instead, what what was it about that

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 20:36

I had so much trauma as a child, and I had been, you know, going to a therapist, I never went to a therapist until I was like, 35 years old. And I had a car accident, and, you know, the, they made me take all these tests, Doctor tests, and everyone, they kept losing my, my paperwork. And I was just like, what, you know, it made me crazy. And so I had to go to a shrink because I was going crazy. And, and so, then I just started, you know, over the years, I studied expressive arts therapy. So we had to be in therapy to be a therapist, you know, and so I did that. The art, the expressive arts therapy, and I just studied and I still had pain, I was still a sad person. And I just kept trying to, you know, these people online, they tell you, they're going to cure you. And I'm like, okay. All right. So I think God was leading me and to my healing, because I would get one healer, they would come on and, and I would maybe buy their program. And then I would do the work. And then after a while, it wasn't interesting to me anymore. I think that's because it raised my vibration this high, right? And then God would send me another one. And then I would buy their program, and it raised me a little bit higher. And just over the years, I got rid of all kinds of really terrible stuff. And so one of the things that I learned was the Ho'oponopono Do you know what that is?

Arwen Bardsley: 22:25

Yes But please explain it for people who don't? Yeah.

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 22:29

Okay, well, it's Hawaiian healing technique for the family. And it's like a prayer or an incantation. And first you say, I love you. And I love God, God loves me. God loves the other person, the other person loves God, if you can say, I love them, they love me then say it, but if you can't, that's okay. I love you. I'm sorry. And it's not I'm sorry, I did something. But I'm sorry, the situation between us exists. The situation here, I'm sorry, it exists. Please forgive me for what's going on in me that caused me to attract this. So I have buttons to get pushed. And I wouldn't know where they are. If this person hadn't, you know, ruined my day or whatever they did. You know, so thank you for showing me this. So I could heal. And then and, and then the big I love you, I love God, God loves me. God loves the other person. Maybe you can say I love them by them. But I use it as a soaking prayer. And I know that I don't know if you believe in this, but I somebody told me I had all these hangers on all around me because they were so attracted to my sadness. And all these sad. I mean, people did not like me, I think their spirit when they saw me coming were like, you know, get me out of here. Because I had all these sad hangers on around me. And I got rid of them. And it was so great. One night I was. I was like I was we were on vacation. And I was in bed and I was trying to sleep. But of course my monkey mind was bringing up all the sad stuff and and so I was doing the Ho'oponopono and I was feeling shame. And I'm like, well, this isn't about shame. I must be doing it wrong. So I was kind of analyzing what I was doing. And so when I said I'm sorry, please forgive me. Then I said, I forgive me. And I forgive it up. And then I just felt like this refrigerator sized pain come out of my heart and go up to God. And I was just like, Wow, that's great. And so all night long I you know, I kept having these sad thoughts and I would do the whole the I call it my extended Ho oponopono and so was doing the extended Ho'oponopono. And I think that's how I got rid of those hangers on. Because I, you know, I released them, too. And so that was great. And I shared that with people on the Camino. That was one of the things that I shared with them. And

Arwen Bardsley: 25:19

I, and there any. So yeah, I was gonna ask you if you had any sort of key aha moments when you were studying these, you know, philosophies. And that was, so that was obviously a big one. Were there any others And were there any other sort of philosophies or techniques or modalities that you learned that you know, we would know about or that we should know about?

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 25:44

One of them is about worrying, when we have had trauma or something bad happen, and then it kind of informs us about how to worry about things in the future. And so what I want to say is that we need to make up a good story, because worrying is making up a sad story, and then believing in it. And so we need to make up a good story. Because if if we make up a sad story, and we believe it, and then we're worried about it, and we tell that other person, we're worried about them. And sometimes it's like, of course, I'm worried about you, I love you. But actually, it's like, of course, I'm worried about you, I have all these, this trauma that's informing the way I'm thinking about you. And so it can actually be a curse, because we're actually sending negative vibrations to that person. And, and so we need to make up a good story. Because there are endless possibilities. I mean, if we see something sad, and then we think the next time that sort of situation comes around, then we're going to be thinking, well, we're not going to do that, because that might happen, you know, but that just limits us in the possibilities that exist for us in our life. There's endless possibilities. And it's better to send good vibrations to other people, when they want to do something, than to send bad vibrations to them. I think it's just very important.

Arwen Bardsley: 27:27

Yeah. And especially, I think that's a big one, especially for parents. You know, never like my mom's always said, You never start worrying about your children. It doesn't matter how old they are. But yeah, I so agree that it's you know, it's almost like you're, you know, you're putting bad juju on them. If you're if you're worrying excessively, rather than thinking about all the wonderful things, outcomes.

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 27:56

People who, people who have a lot of good things that happen in their lives, they think good thoughts. You know, the people who are thinking sad, terrible thoughts all the time are, are attracting more of that. So we need to clean it up, and be kind to ourselves by not just not thinking those things anymore. You know, I had, you know, a pretty sad story all my life, from my childhood. And somebody told me one time, they said, why don't you just make up a good story? Make up a, you know, you didn't have to think that. And I was just like, well, that wouldn't be true. But you know, what the sad stuff is just evidence of what you've brought into your life. That was sad, you know, and the reason why it came in was because you were thinking sad stuff. So we, we can change it, we can change it, we just have to find something good to think about. And then build on that. Gratitude is good. Praise is good. You know, They both will change up the vibration.

Arwen Bardsley: 29:05

Yeah. And I think gratitude is a big one that you know, even if it's something very small that you think is just an ordinary thing, like, oh, you know, I saw a beautiful bird on my walk today. Or, oh, you know, I got to drink my cup of tea while it was still hot today. Just those tiny things of trying to bring that into, into your awareness into your being in the moment. But even if you can't do it in the moment, you know, I think it's a beautiful practice to at the end of the day or beginning of the day thinking about the day before you know what's happened in the last 24 hours that you can be grateful for, even if it is those tiny, everyday things, and that is going to lift the vibration as you say, lift the energy and attract more of that.

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 29:56

Right. That's important. It's very important. I mean, I was bringing in all kinds of sad stuff all my life with my sad story. You know, I won

Arwen Bardsley: 30:09

and how did you change that around? What did you change it to?

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 30:15

You know, I had? Well, she was a coach one time, and I was telling her I can't forget this, you know, I can't forget this. And she said, Okay, so imagine you're walking down the street. Turn the corner, when you look back, your old life isn't there anymore. When you turn the corner. When you look back, you're looking at something else. And she said, just turn the corner? Don't Don't look back at that anymore.

Arwen Bardsley: 30:47

But so does that mean that you just don't look back? Or that you look back, and you can see, you know, the sunny street behind you kind of thing. You know, like, what does it

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 30:57

Yeah, yeah, but you know what, now? Now, when I think about the people that hurt me, and people did hurt me in my life, but when I think about them, I think about that I had attracted that in, if I hadn't been having a low vibration, I wouldn't have attracted that in so I can take responsibility for it. I'm not blaming myself, but you know what, I'm taking responsibility for it. And, and I prefer to not be a victim. I prefer to take responsibility for the vibration I've been sending out all my life that brought in all this blankety blank stuff, you know? And I prefer it. I mean, I'm not, I'm not doing the guilt thing, or anything. I just prefer to take responsibility for my actions that brought in all that stuff. And I honor myself as a valiant Spirit, who decided to come into this world and raise my vibration.

Arwen Bardsley: 32:06

Yeah, because, yeah, speaking about spirits. And in my other way of looking at it is that these, you know, so called bad things that happen to us? Are, they happen for a reason as well? And you know, so you were, you had that sad vibration for a reason, you know, your Spirit knew that you needed to learn something. So that's how you were for that time. And then you've learned other things, and you've changed.

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 32:41

Thank you, God.

Arwen Bardsley: 32:42

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Or whatever higher power you like to think about. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, yep. So, so you said your friend did the Camino. But before your friend had done it? Had it been something that you had thought about? Or, you know, hoped to do at some point?

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 33:02

No, I, you know, I watched there's a movie "the way" out. It's about the Camino. But I just thought it was kind of silly. And, and so I wasn't really thinking I want to I never thought I wanted to go to Spain, Spain wasn't on my list. And, but I really love Spain, now that I've been there. They're very progressive society. And, yeah. It's very beautiful.

Arwen Bardsley: 33:35

And so you walked it solo as well. So my other question was, you know, was that distinct choice? Or was it just that no one was able to do it when you wanted to do it with you?

Unknown: 33:49

You know, I, I, I decided to do it by myself. I did ask people if they wanted to go and nobody could go. And my sister in law. I didn't ask her because she has a problem with her hands. And so she gets cold hands. And I thought, well, it's going to be cold, you know, it's not going to be good for her. But you know what, she told me that the reason why she decided not to ask me to go is because she wanted me to have that time for reflection. And she knew if we were walk, walking and talking together, we wouldn't have had that. The other thing is you don't walk the same path as somebody else. So if you go together, you know, somebody's gonna have to walk slow for somebody, or, you know, so I think going by myself was a good idea. I read all kinds of books, lots of people go alone, and I wasn't afraid. And I have, like four guardian angels that I know personally. And so they came with me. So I wasn't afraid.

Arwen Bardsley: 34:55

Yeah. Wonderful. So so how did you prepare then? So that You know, at least you weren't worried about being underprepared both, you know, I guess, equipment wise. And you know, what, where were you staying? And also did you train? You know, did you do lots of walking preparation?

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 35:15

Well, the reason why I knew I could do it is because I used to walk three days a week with my friend to Vera, and we walked along Mission Bay in San Diego, and we walked five miles. And I didn't even break a sweat. So I thought, well, I can walk five miles before lunch, five miles after lunch, I can do this. I'm not worried about it. And then Bernadette, my sister in law, took me out. And she said, Kathleen, you're going to have to walk up mountains. So she went and found all the mountains in San Diego, and we walked up the mountains. So I have that. And Ron died in August, and around January, I was done with all the paperwork from his desk, you know. And so I, I thought, well, I better get ready. And so I watched all kinds of YouTubes and, and I went to a what do you call it, a lecture at the library about packing light for the Camino. And I just got a lot of advice from a lot of people. I, the lady at the library, she like had a shirt and she said, had another shirt. And she said, this is a regular shirt. This is a shirt that light enough to take on the Camino. And it was made out of some miracle fiber that was very light or something. And so I so I started ordering online, all these clothing. And if I would get it in and it wasn't very light, I would send it back or, you know, I just accumulated everything. I had my list of everything I needed. There's all kinds of YouTube about how to pack for the Camino. And I bought long sleeve shirts. I wrote in, you know, long sleeve, sun protection shirt, you know, lightweight. And then I would, you know, pick some out there. So I really liked my clothes. I didn't want to wear sunscreen, so I wanted to have long sleeves. And if you get the what do you call it? The smart wool. It's not heavy weight. And you can just even if it's warm, you

Arwen Bardsley: 37:30

Yeah, yeah, that's right. And also you don't can still wear it. need to wash it and it dries really quickly. If it gets wet. It's amazing isn't it.

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 37:38

Yeah, yeah. I took Two Smart wool shirts, and, and I got three pairs of pants, I took two changes of clothes and the clothes on my back. So I had three changes of clothes with me. And that's all I took in the sleeping bag and some food preps like a spork. And you know, a few things.

Arwen Bardsley: 38:06

And so were you camping, or were you staying in accommodation?

Unknown: 38:10

Yeah, the Albert gate. They have albergues over there. And they're a giant room with full of bunk beds, and they have a kitchen and a restroom, bathroom. Some of them are co Ed, some of them have the bathroom for the ladies and the bathroom for the men. But they're all you know, whatever they're going to provide. And they're, they're set up by like a family or a municipality or a church for some volunteer organizations. And they set up these albergues and they're very cheap. They're like five to 12 euros a night. And then sometimes they provide food. And you pay extra for the food. And then sometimes they'll have a kitchen and there'll be a grocery store in the town so you can get your food and cook it. And yeah, it's every town is different, what the amenities they have. And then the albergue you know, if there's no real restaurant or grocery store in town, then they provide the food it just comes with the feel

Arwen Bardsley: 39:17

amazing. And so but do you have to book in or do you just turn up?

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 39:22

Yeah, that lady at the library told me book the first three nights? So, I did. And she said to stay at the billary in St Jean Pied de Port that, which is where the French way starts. So I did and then when I was there, it was snowing on the Pyrenees. So I couldn't go over the Pyrenees. So my next two reservations I couldn't go to them was against the law to go over the Pyrenees. They didn't want to have to rescue anybody. And so those two nights I didn't have a reservation and then After that I reserved like one or two nights ahead. And I would call up and say, hero, una cama. Para esta notae. You know, in my really great Spanish.

Arwen Bardsley: 40:17

You didn't learn Spanish before you went you? Oh, you know, try and do some?

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 40:21

Well, I mean, you know, I live in San Diego, it's right next to Mexico. So, you know, I? I know Spanish a little bit. I didn't have any trouble.

Arwen Bardsley: 40:33

Okay. Yeah. And so what, how many miles or kilometers? Were you working? Walking on average? Or did that really vary?

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 40:48

Yeah. So, um, I had a book, and it had the altitude for, you know where I was. And so I would notice how high if I was going to have to climb a lot of mountains, then I could maybe only do 10 kilometers that day. 10 miles? Yeah. 15 kilometers. And then if it was, if it was just flat, I could go further. So then I would like the book is great. Like each town, they have the amenities at the top, how many albergues there are, they list them? The phone numbers, you could call them? It's really great. And, and so I would, you know, see how far I thought I could get that day. And really, in the beginning, I was doing 10 miles a day, basically. And one day, I got done with 10 miles, and it was before lunch, and I thought, Well, gee, I guess I'd better walk further, you know, so that at that time, I was maybe walking maybe 15 miles a day. So that was good, because you get buff while you're there. You're walking when you get better. You know?

Arwen Bardsley: 41:59

Yeah, amazing. And was it the same in terms of the accommodation and stuff in port? The Portuguese part that you did?

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 42:07

Well, it was during COVID. So there weren't as many I had to stay in hotels more. But regularly, I'm pretty sure there are enough albergues. But I'm an old lady, and I can't walk 35 miles in a day. And some of those albergues, they were like 35 miles apart. And I would be like, I took the bus back to the albergue before, you know, and then I took the bus back in the morning and started walking again. So sometimes I had to do that it wasn't really as fun as the French way because there were albergues they were all you know, they were open and, and during COVID It was a little bit difficult.

Arwen Bardsley: 42:54

Okay, right. And what made you decide to go and do that the second journey?

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 43:03

Well, you you kind of get bit by the Camino bug. And you just have to go back. Some people love the French Way, and they'll just do the French way over and over again. I wanted to you know, cuz I'm coming from the US. It's a long way. And I didn't want to just do a short camino. So I started in Lisbon and walked to Santiago. A lot of people start in Porto, and it's not as far

Arwen Bardsley: 43:33

so how far was the one that you did?

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 43:36

It was like 489 miles. Wow. That because I continued to Finisterra. So I, I when I did the French way, I wanted to go to Finisterra. But I got sick. And I you know, I just ran out of time. Yeah, I didn't. I needed to just leave there, you know. And so I didn't I just took the best of Finisterra the first time.

Arwen Bardsley: 44:03

Right, right. Okay. Yeah. I remember doing the Cotswolds way in the UK when I was in my 20s. And right at the end, we just like we we set out with no none of the right equipment, not the right shoes, like you know, being early 20s. And yeah, right. And we got the bus on the last day. We were like, Nah, that's enough just to get the bus.

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 44:33

I did take the best when I did the French way. I it was gonna be nine miles walking on the freeway. And I was just like, I don't want to do that. And so I took the bus that day. I did walk like 17 kilometers and then I took the bus to Burgos. I want to Villa fria and then I took the bus to Burgos.

Arwen Bardsley: 44:59

So are you going back again?

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 45:02

Yeah, I want to do the northern route. I don't know if I'll do it this year, I might wait till next year and then have my 75th birthday on on the Camino.

Arwen Bardsley: 45:12

That would be fun. Yeah

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 45:13

, yeah, I was gonna go this year, but I think I need I've got some other projects to do. And I want to write the book about Portugal too. So I think, I think I don't know, unless I get everything done by then.

Arwen Bardsley: 45:28

There's not that much of 2022 left now is there?

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 45:32

Yeah, well, yeah. The I was going to go in April of this next April to the northern route ride on the northern coast of Spain. And I just think I love the ocean. So I think I will love that.

Arwen Bardsley: 45:49

And so tell us about the book as well, before we run out of time. So you know, what, why did you decide to write a book and

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 45:58

This is my book "wisdom on the camino, a spiritual journey, sharing forgiveness and possibilities to inspire the rest of your life"? I self published on Amazon. So as a number one bestseller in three categories. Yeah. And so yeah, I wrote the book in three months, actually joined the self publishing school, give them a bunch of money, and they helped me they hold my hand while I read, wrote the book, showed me how to do it and stuff. And I'm so glad I did that, because I don't think it would have happened if I hadn't done that.

Arwen Bardsley: 46:41

Right, and why what you know, was the initial spark that I you know, you wanted to write a book,

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 46:47

okay. So I wanted to write the book about the teachings that I mean, I studied for so long online, with those enlightened thought leaders, and I just thought, I had developed some philosophies of my own, and I wanted to write a book about it. So then I just didn't want to be teachy. And so I remembered I told people on the Camino about all those things. So then I wrote the book about walking the Camino and telling people about those things.

Arwen Bardsley: 47:16

And so two last questions, then really, I guess, number one is, can you I know, you've already talked about some of that, can you put your, you know, sort of key philosophies into a nutshell for us? And secondly, is, I suppose the answer would be that you want people to get those things from the book, but anything else that you particularly want people to get from the book?

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 47:41

You know, I have, I have a prayer, I want to tell you about a prayer that I have, that I shared with the lady in Burgos, she helped me find the Camino, she let me walk with her. And then she showed me where it was, because I didn't know where I was in Burgos for like, a couple of days, and I didn't know how to get to the Camino. And so she was telling you about some problems that she had. And I told her about this really great prayer that I say, and that prayer is, Dear God, please make everything turn out. Okay. And then you let God make everything turn out. Okay? So, I always say this, when I just, I, I'm done. I mean, I can't fix it. You know, I can't make it better. There's, I can't figure it out. And then so I let God figure it out. And miracles happen when I say that. It's incredible.

Arwen Bardsley: 48:37

I love that.

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 48:39

Yeah. And just, I believe that I came in, like I was, before I came in to this earth, I was a low vibrational spirit with God out in the universe. And I had heard that you can raise your vibration if you come in to the world and be a human because humans can do unconditional love. And so there I was, I, you know, got born into my parents family with this low vibration, and I was just attracting bad stuff from the beginning. I mean, really, before I was born, I was attracting bad stuff. And and so I just, I just spent my life and I, I, I noticed that I always wanted to be good in my life. I wanted to be a good person. And things just went wrong all the time. And the worse it got, the worse it got, you know, just with my low vibration, I was attracting and all this terrible stuff. But I honor myself as a valiant spirit to come in here and try and raise my vibration. And really, you can't do unconditional Love unless you have adversity, because it's easy to love the people that love you. So if you have, like kind of a haywire life then you can actually do unconditional love. You can love the people that haven't been nice to you. And and so I think that's it in a nutshell. You need to love the people in your life no matter what. And that particular unconditional love raises your vibration. So when you get out of here, you can take that wonderful high vibration with you, into the spirit world.

Arwen Bardsley: 50:45

Yeah, yeah. Thank you. So obviously, people can get your book on Amazon.

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 50:53

Yeah. You just put in wisdom on the Camino and it comes right up.

Arwen Bardsley: 50:56

Okay. And is it in bookshops as well? Or is just on Amazon, you know,

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 51:02

just on Amazon right now. I haven't figured That other part out yet?

Arwen Bardsley: 51:06

That's, that's perfectly understandable. And do you think that the Portugal one will be coming out sometime soon?

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 51:17

Yeah. Yeah. I have. Yeah. Yes, I have. I've started the you know, you have to write down an outline and stuff started on that.

Arwen Bardsley: 51:32

Yeah, wonderful. Well, is there anything else that you wanted to share? Before we finish up Kathleen?

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 51:41

I just, I just want everybody to know that it's very important to raise our personal vibration. Because we can really change the world. Imagine a whole world full of sad people, and what that's doing to the collective consciousness. But if we each take care of our own vibration, you can raise it with unconditional love with praise, praise of God, praise of other people. And also, you know, gratitude, you can raise your vibration. And I just really recommend that. People who are like maybe can't get out or they're stuck at home, and they're thinking their life is not worth anything anymore. If you can raise your vibration, and add that to the collective consciousness. What a wonderful thing. And it's all collective. It you know, it does matter. Every single one of us, it matters.

Arwen Bardsley: 52:45

Yeah, we're all connected. Absolutely. Yeah. Well, thank you so much, Kathleen, it's been a really lovely conversation. I've really appreciated you coming on and giving us your time and your wisdom. And I'd really encourage people to hop onto Amazon and get the book wisdom on the Camino.

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 53:05

I just thought of something. There is a gift from my book, that people told me that I should put my love my pictures. And they said, You should put the pictures in your book. And I'm like, Yeah, and it's going to be $50. Right. And so I made a website with my pictures and they're in like galleries and portfolios for the chapters. So you can go to the chapters, you just I'm sorry, you have to double opt in. That's just the way the world is. Now you can opt in it's in the book says read this first, but it's not very big. But it's right across from the table of contents. And so you just have to go to my website and opt in and they'll give you the password.

Arwen Bardsley: 53:51

Okay, and then you can see the photos relating to each chapter? Yeah, okay. Oh, wonderful. That's really good. Okay, well, once again, I appreciate your time. Thank you so much for coming on. And I'm sure everybody will get a lot from this conversation.

Kathleen Donnelly Israel: 54:11

Thank you. I really enjoyed talking with you.