The Way of The Masseuse - B
Mental Massage
In 2014, still maintaining love for my massage abilities, I continued to search for a possible home for my wilting willow tree to be planted. Though the leaves were drooping, and the green had seemingly left. I held on to the dream, the goal, and the dwindling ambition of being an “Amazing Masseuse”. And though my searches proved to be unfruitful for what seemed like forever, I eventually finally found a newly forming establishment and once again began working in massage. It was bringing back all my old ambitions and visions of making something bigger out of it. However, I was now pregnant with my youngest daughter. So, I had to stop massaging and was blessed to be able to spend some time being pregnant, and then at home with my new baby.
I missed doing my work so much that when I finally returned it was with a newly evolved frame of mind. I learned how to truly form bonds with clients and began formulating the mastery formula of “The Way of The Masseuse” massage technique. I looked back and remembered all the people I gave less than exemplary massage work to and had to find forgiveness in myself for not doing my very best work. For not being my truest self.
I learned that self-discipline is key even when I’m exhausted or working through pain at some level. I demand and command and push this body to render dedicated work. I’ve learned to stay ready in the way that I can respond to people in the best possible manner to hopefully benefit them. Remembering my life goal to remain loyal to the commandment to “Love one another”. My views are molded by a strategic and unbelievably powerful force called self-awareness. Some do not believe they have the same force or that this force doesn’t care about them, and that’s a scary thought.
But more, I think people are simply jaded by the misuse and perversion of specific words or the idea of what “service” really means. The words we use maintain meaning with regards to many aspects and can be misunderstood at any moment. So, forgive them and renew you and your mind. Your mind is strong yet can also become your own enemy at times. So, love it for what it is, but don’t be afraid of what it might be or how it might control your actions. Be strong in the knowledge that it was created for YOUR ‘greater good’ and to serve the goodness within YOU.
Because YOU are so important to all of US who are here with you. DO NOT become one of the people who no longer feel things or care about things the way a healthy minded individual does. I speak from experience. I was once the undisciplined, under achiever, weak in my undefined purpose. Uninspired. Unhappy with myself and un-goal oriented. Often uncertain, which reflected in my life habits of changing jobs and relationships. Never finishing my projects. I was very successful at failing partially or just falling short.
It all depends on what you believe “success” to be.
We each must stop looking for the ‘quick fix’ and be ready to work hard and choose to maintain a higher level of self-discipline and self-control. Practice seeing what you know is loving and maintain a want for making those things become reality. Work toward changing the things you can change to be better, and you’ll grow in love and harmony with that spirit.
Be an achiever and refuse to identify with accepting failure! Because failure only happens when you stop working toward the goal. Even moving a small inch IS progress. Stop dwelling in the failed past. Don’t convince yourself that you’re still the same old you, as you once were, in that old seed laying field of failed growth. Know you have changed even if only in the tiniest way. Be practical and methodical by assessing your goals one by one, then pull toward yourself a small piece of work to devour with confidence and focus. Self-discipline is a choice, so choose to use it. Don’t start out by trying to run a marathon after being a smoker for 20 years, start easy, with small goals to accomplish. This way, you’re guaranteed to finish what you begin and then move onto bigger goals. Eventually you’ll grow into the daily habit of living with purpose and achievement.
The only difference between you and those times when you look down upon yourself, is your resulting beliefs. Believe you can’t fail if you walk knowing you create ways for those things that seem unpractical, to become possible. Focus your attention. Sacrifice yourself via resisting the want to be acceptable vs. phenomenal. Push your ‘need for rest’ out just a little further, know that eventually when you do relax it’s gonna be very well deserved. TV time, leisure, and chill zones are rewards for short periods of ease and recuperation. Use these small things as your first rewards of positive immediate satisfaction from having been disciplined.
Develop your patience. IT is THE foundation to self-discipline. Accept that you won’t give up. Not ever. This is true commitment, like a marriage. But towards your goals. Be good to yourself, speak kindly to your inner child, remember that you are your own parent and be the parent you’d want to know is raising your very own child. Being you and loving yourself is a commitment both necessary and detrimental. Accomplishment takes time. Time is your friend so be willing to wait. Do not waste your time though. However, do give yourself some breaks on occasions. Do not give up, learn to be relentless and very stubborn. Always go back to work and even if you are upset that you felt you’d wasted some precious time in the past, don’t live in that regret. Look upon it and forgive yourself for it. Bandage it and it’ll heal in time.
Work a little harder this time to make up for anything. Let the difficulty of your past occurrences be the things that you love and appreciate by seeing them as the weights you now utilize to train your most useful mental muscles. The mind of a disciplined person is different from that of the failing person who accepts misery where they are, instead of seeing their surroundings as the place to “come up out from.” Begin to be uncomfortable in that usual comfort zone. Become excited to learn how to implement your thoughts and actions in becoming better, becoming the best you have ever been on a steady path of growth toward your ideal self.
Because ‘success’ is knowing you are getting better daily. You got this!
The greatest part of massage is artistry. Art is like religion has always been… personal. Not everyone can value a specific “piece” or part of a piece, but the existence of the piece’s importance is generally based upon personal beliefs, weighed, or valued by the eyes of the beholder. You become the scale. The way you value anything will rise and peak through having personal knowledge of or to, the artist. Love is art. But one must believe in “truth AND love” to practice the daily conquering of all forms of hatred, starting from within. Working to not become one with it nor serve it to another is a much-needed work to do.
Hatred is like a seeping, moving glob of dark destruction and if it touches you rendering weakness in your stance of living in love and truth, it’ll overtake your mind and body. And blind obedience to it will ensue. Quickly making you hurt yourself and others in many clever ways. The path is wide tremendous and its favorite way to destroy, is to make you hurt those you love the most and then keep them away from you by making you keep yourself away from them. Self-isolation can become a form of self-abuse rapidly when used for purposes based in fear, anger, or covetousness.
But to see this truth clearly, one must hold an image of an idea of an “all Loving being”, in the mind. A bases for comparison.
Kind of in the same way that we each must individually decide upon the importance of a piece of art, beyond the dependence of another stating that it holds such and such value. Because another’s idea of value is just as unguaranteed as another’s idea of success and it’s not uniquely yours. Which would mean your personal relationship with “it”, is dependent upon another’s view. In this way, we can know the value because it’s all in how you hold it.
Many people hold religion and all its known practices, words and or actions, as a part of their lives. They may or may not live completely in replication to its level of “superiority”. But they do follow in that direction, attempting to think and act as they believe demonstrates this conviction. And though this can bring about many positive practices, our beliefs are the core power to who we are and will become. Therefore, respect for another’s recognized beliefs allows me to be filled with gentility and peace for those who practice the teachings of aspects of religions I may not understand or agree with.
This practiced view allows me to love people regardless of my personal views or differing value system. I can appreciate who people are, not who they want to be like. In my observation on the behavior of people via personal interaction, pass by interpretations, documentaries, public television, radio shows etc., as well as my own life, I notice some people valuing negative things. Fallible things. But that doesn’t stop me from being who I am and choosing to respect them.
However, it is worth explaining that worship of a fallible god is a practice of using your existence in a false way and will only push your existence backwards and away from joy, peace, and happiness. Obey Love because it won’t render outcomes of fear, pain, imprisonment, control, or slavery. Though I’m happy to belong to God, it is always my own choice. But allow me to explain in depth. It goes deeper than just not holding too high a value for superficial things. An undisciplined mind will return hate with the thought that it’s okay because “they” were hateful towards us first. And this practice will always render our own lives to be esteemed with suffering and confusion. In turn, we can only see sorrow surrounding us and then we become handicapped to the ability to believe a beautiful life can exist, let alone happen for us or to us.
But when we can see people here in this reality who live very beautiful lives, we know it’s possible. Though it all depends on what we think beauty is. And we must grasp love properly to possibly see that we can achieve this joy as well. Because beauty is in the eyes of the beholder and what you think a “beautiful life” looks like, may be focused upon physical or visual attractions and possessions. And that’s a very dark view of beauty. A blinded view. And when you can’t know that you don’t know that you can ‘not’ see, you won’t know that you’re blind.
Especially if you believe we’re all helplessly mislead and nothing matters or no one matters to your mind because a beautiful life to one with this way of thinking, only seeing with physical eyes, will look for comforts and riches, laziness, and ease. Non work. Thinking the rich whom no longer “have to work” are those with beautiful lives.
Once again, one’s view of a beautiful life vs another’s view and opinion, is going to be based upon a chosen set of beliefs.
Though society leads everyone, we each choose whom we serve daily and someone who has chosen to die within the dark glob of hateful blindness to love, works to maintain a completely taken over mind and has fully succumbed to accepting that goodness is badness and now they think the dark, IS THE LIGHT. They see all thing backwards.
I recognize many people with this taken over mind frame, often blame God for their lives without even having a slight thought that their unhappiness or lack of joy could possibly be from their own decisions. Not realizing even, the tiniest of decision weighs upon us daily. Holding us down, keeping us in the dark. But we must recognize God is still with us even in that darkness, he is here always. Attempting at all moments to influence our sight once again.
Even psychopaths, who have no emotions, are taught what love is by actions. That’s why most psychopaths become murderers if abused; they become what is impressed into them. Whereas a person with emotions can become damaged but not end up wanting to impose it onto another. Even still, some psychopaths become politicians who seem to want to help organize the world based upon separating out the dangerously negative people into prisons which are supposed to help them learn to see, somehow. But just like regular people, politicians can be just as murderous and most are allowing the privatizing and capitalizing on, of prisoners and their ill behaviors and actions towards others.
It’s all a dark spiraling vortex of non-loving interactions and I don’t agree with the treatment of people in prisons and suggest we begin to change, or we’ll continue the cycles of abuse which currently exist. Although I trust in the possibility of goodness within us all, and I understand God has perfect filters that kick in after death for the soul. Hence the greediest people wishing to escape death, won't. So, prisons aren’t the most important aspect of stopping these kinds of behaviors. And “justice” is something we can understand. My Spa Paradise can help people to love themselves away from harmful activities.
The courts and such do not serve us justice, they simply separate those who fall within the boundaries of their own created rules, and some of those rules appear to only protect SOME people but at the same time they can hurt innocent people while sweeping up the “guilty” ones. Which makes it an obviously flawed system of capitalizing on “sins”. So, we need to face this system is not perfect and continue working to evolve its positive intentions. Remembering to keep positive actions as the law of our internal society because this work only brings more self-understanding and unity with the people who seek it. By standing for love we naturally stand and work against the opposite of it.
Seeing your true work starts with understanding ‘Love in action’, because there are some people who think Love/God is not here BUT COMING BACK or that he IS destruction and hatred for those deemed guilty by their shared views of unforgivable actions. This thought process leaves one living in a 'hell type view' of this place and unable to fully accept the blessings others can bestow upon them with Love while we are here. Hoping for hell upon others for many different unloving reasons won’t ease the pain of confusion about your purpose in this existence. Thinking you live in hell and that this existence, this reality, belongs to hatred is a trap.
Be free in the knowledge that many of us here who work to shine a loving light upon the darkness of the shadows people cast upon each other with their actions or non-actions.
Non action or the refusal to help others ie, “indifference”, is just as hateful an action. I can’t help but see that so many people generally have good intentions but backwards practices which do not make sense, yet they haven’t the urge or desire to change those things about themselves let alone beginning to change how they see things. Preferring to see that others are doing wrong and need to change. They, or should I say ‘we’, do not stumble upon backwards ways of thinking, we are taught with words and actions. We also teach ourselves after childhood is over via soft programing.
Whom we have become shows up when we trip and fall ungracefully. Awareness of ourselves becomes trust in our decision-making abilities. Knowing right from wrong and that you are correct in your views can bring colossal levels of confidence resulting in joy for life. When we see people or races claiming to be exceptionally “Godly,” even placing within their own societal mind, that they are “God’s chosen people,” we will not deny what we see because truly God’s chosen people are those with the least possessions, the most persecuted, and made to feel the worst. Yet still maintaining the worshipful attitude and behavioral practices of being kind to others and forgiving others as well. That’s love.
We must remember why thoughts shape feelings and beliefs shape our actions. Dr. Herbert Benson wrote a book called, ‘Timeless healing, the Power and Biology of Belief”. And when I read this quote below, my spirit jumped with joy in knowing these words can encourage so many people out of every single view of hopelessness and negative thoughts or positions in life.
“Some patients, though conscious that their condition is perilous, recover their health, simply through their contentment with the goodness of the physician.” Page 35
You see, it all falls under the thought of what ‘trust’ truly is. It’s the most important piece of gaining peace of mind, heart, and soul. Trust is what keeps us going. Trust in ourselves can save our lives. We must also remember that calling ourselves by a religious title or even maintaining a specific ritual of habits, will not mean you are closer to God than another who might happen to prefer to not call themselves by a religious title, or go to a church or practice the same habits. God IS in everyone. Some just know it more than others. Those that know something you may not know, should be listened to and respected. And if we feel anger forming and start wanting to not hear what’s being said or the initial feelings stirred up are negative ones, that’s generally called Cognitive Dissonance. It’s what happens when you cannot be okay with others’ opinions differing from you or your opinions.
Some become angry because anger is a resulting emotion of not wanting to be seen in comparison to whatever light is being shone on them, and we all know practicing hiding anything at any time, is a practice of doing what we KNOW to be wrong. Words and how we choose to believe, are extensively important to us and our psyche. To our development of understanding what things as being either ‘good or evil’.
Love is sacrifice. It's an action of literally killing the old self and putting the new self to work. Though some believe they should commit suicide to be a kind person. Believing hateful thoughts from the mind saying, “you’re horrible, no one loves you, you’re a problem for everyone, this is never going to get better, kill yourself because that would be best for everyone.”
Right? Wrong!! Allow me to further explain. Just as a public-school teacher must have a plan to assure success of teaching, so too has God a lesson plan for each of us in each of our respective lives.
After going through so many issues and problems with just about everything, I came up with a process I follow when feeling super upset about having to face consequences or difficult times.
(First step) Acceptance. Admittance to myself that I did wrong and even if I think I wasn’t the one who’s in the wrong, I’m here in this, and somehow, I must get through it so it won’t get through me.
(Second) Accept the need for this lesson.
(Third) Plan out the approach for living through the consequences of said lesson.
(Fourth) Identify the pain and fear but do not become a part of it. Allow it to flow past. Cry if needed. Speak out loud. Stop feeling like we’re going to die in this:
Identify the coming consequences and envision how to live through them. See ourselves accepting them and work through them. Recognize ‘self’ in the equation. Change from the old ways which put us in need of the lesson in the first place. Trust in what we know about how Love is molding us and then take a deep breath and remind ourselves WE are an agent of God and move forward. Always praying about our feelings.
(Fifth) The Test – Clean yourself up and begin walking with the new you who now knows way more than before.
(Sixth) The confirmation – Knowing who you are is trusting you walk in Love.
(Seventh) The practice, now go forward into your life and apply all you’ve learned – Be humble.
From this break down, I know no matter how bad things can get, no matter how much they truly hurt, I must trust in the lesson plan because if what I want is to learn, then learn I shall indeed. And I want to learn to be more understanding when I see problems so that I can do my best at approaching and presenting possible solutions.
I was lying in bed one day, telling my middle daughter how scared I was of the future because as much as I hate lies and lying, I had lied about a few things in fear of possible outcomes from telling the truth. And so, I knew that my suffering was in fact a cause of my inability to trust in Truth and so I chose… to lie. And now I must go through this lesson and its consequences and face the reality I laid out for myself, and its freaking scary man.
I was afraid of what will come of it because I felt I’d basically taken my armor off, and left my entire soul exposed to the terrifying darkness within this reality. And this fear I was experiencing came because I chose, to NOT trust in God. She told me that it sounded like I was going through a car wash, and suddenly I envisioned this whole process and started describing to her my view of her analogy:
So, imagine that in life, everyone is driving inside cars. Our bodies are our cars. And with us here is an ancient knowledge of a “Love spirit,” who can literally drive the car for us if we want it to. This spirit of love was here as a human man for a short time, so most people refer to “it” as “him,” and he is known as, Jesus. Now, if I won’t choose to also know this knowledge and so refuse to let Jesus drive, and instead say, “No Jesus (truth), I got this, I’ll drive myself to where I need to go.” I’m choosing to drive myself headfirst, straight off the side of the road. Off HIS desired path for me. And when I do this, I’ll always end up getting all kinds of dirt and filth on and within my car in the process. Getting into accidents, caught in ditches etcetera.
The fact is, I’m all banged up and end up stuck on the side of the road crying because I’m afraid, until again he reminds me to just, let him drive.
But once he drives me, he must first take me through the car wash to get all the filth off, and I must pay for that wash. And to my sad desperate, fearful mind, the wash symbolizes my consequences, unavoidable but then he reminds me that he already paid for me and there’s nothing to worry about, “let’s just get going”. And so, I get out of the driver’s seat, and he begins driving me again.
Does this mean if I invite the spirit of love back in to guide my life, I won’t have to face any consequences of what I’ve done to myself when I decided to take the wheel?
No. It just means I won’t be alone through the whole process of learning how he can get me out and clean me up and strengthened by the forgiveness of my own faults. He helps me to forgive myself. This is why I need to make sure to just let him drive me always, because every single time I decide ill drive myself and do what I want, I’ll always come to find my driving capabilities on this ‘highway of life’, are nothing compared to the one whom created the highway in the first place.
But if I won’t choose wisely and look to him to drive me, the sadness I feel when facing that my children were in the back seat of my car the whole time during my detour, and it hurt them too. Leaves them to also suffer more by watching me in the resulting pain from my choices to do as I wanted vs. what I knew I should not have done but did because I wanted to.
This molds me into a humbled individual going through the car wash again and again.
This must be what it’s like to live with the tree of knowledge. Because my new choice to stop obeying myself and start doing what I know to be loving, transforms my guilt into gratitude. Feeling gratitude for the ability to no longer spend my lifetime hurting myself or my loved ones.
Yea, so I need to make sure I’m careful in this car. Because this journey is an assignment and I have a responsibility to those I love and myself. I’ve got to be disciplined in doing what I know is right and stop causing us all pain and more unnecessary suffering.
When I was done telling my analogy story, I looked over and my daughter (my little baby who was about thirteen years old) was sound asleep. Go figure, my sweet little baby fell asleep ‘in the back seat’ as I learned my lesson.
I finally realize why our outlooks are so imperative to our day-to-day interactions, approaches, and choices. While some may choose to launch attacks or bombs at us, we choose to prepare by caring enough to, “tread lightly.” Trying to understand other people. This action is in preparation for loving them without conditions, the way God wants us to Love. One step at a time. People may or may not know they are attacking you, but being ready is the key to being able to withstand those occurrences. We can literally come out of attacks unscathed.
This applies greatly to our work fields, our careers, and our family life. For me, in my work field, the most amazing Masseur can give their very best to an unappreciative person whose aim is to find things to not enjoy during the session and yet that person probably treats life in the same approach. But I won’t absolutely know that for sure, so I’d have to simply respond without being offended or taking their inability personally and know that how I respond to them is completely MY response-ability.
I’m not here to test their abilities I’m here to train mine. So, I simply need to keep this in mind and have complete trust in my work, by knowing my approach is always filled with care, and take this as an opportunity to show how I can remain focused in the face of this negativity. In the face of this attack, I can think behind it and see with compassion instead of annoyance or anger. This practice of doing my very best keeps me knowing my work is always good, keeping me from self-doubt.
When I know me and what I practice, I know you and what you practice. And my response can always be the same. Love and understanding. This is why massage is an aspect of life, necessary for a life of service not luxury. For how can touch be reserved for those with money to pay for it. Like if nurturing things of God are luxuries only for those with much? They’re not. I know I have a lot to give so I can give much and those with much should give much or commit to greed and waste away in it.
Humans not only need touch, but we also crave it. Did you know the word “of,” means, Connecting value to one whole and one part?
It’s the “Connector relationship.” The complete fulfillment OF a necessary and healthy relationship. If a single word with only two letters can represent the very element and only way in which one completes another and is so obvious that it can be removed and the two words that it connects still makes sense as to what they are to “do” with each other, then the relationship is quite strong.
Massage, when viewed properly is generally the glue that holds the aspect of sanity together with self-care. Have you ever wondered what makes ‘crazy glue’, “crazy”? Or how the reasoning of “crazy,” is being depicted as 'strong' in this t