Memoirs of a Masseur September/October 2024
“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away”, Pablo Picasso
Last month, I entered my fifty-third year of living and have been contemplating the essence of my motivation when I wake up each morning. I discuss this with my peers, the moment when consciousness returns after a night’s sleep, what is “it” that gets one out of bed. For me the answer is simple and unwavering. Creating positivity and to keep spreading the gift I have as a bodyworker, for it is an addiction. My tenured twenty-six years of physically manipulating bodies is also a workout and a meditation. I am a slave to it. I desire to do it every day and the physical, spiritual, and mental energy involved is simply a part of me that continues to grow. Whether it is one hour of work or seven, I am whole heartedly there to give everything I have. Each booking comes with gratitude, and each encounter with my clients is an opportunity to share and learn and the result is always two humans that feel better. I am often drained even wounded after my big days, yet I want more. Trust me on this it is not my earnings that keeps me going. How many massage therapists do you know that are financially cruising through life? The entrepreneurs in my field open spas and become managers and owners. The grass root individuals massage on and earn their gratitude from each client. None of us are wealthy but in the world that I live in, that we live in, our gift is sustainable. The two dozen massage therapists I know never talk about income. We talk about our growth as practitioners and about the systems and commissions that try to control us.
For any government worker or a suit slave to the system this might sound strange. I never wake up and grind out my day with thoughts of the finish line pension and what is to come. I muster energy to give to my next client and hope to make them a better person by laying on my massage alter table. I desire to relax them, to de-stress them, to help “tune-in” their frequency. It is my oath and my direction for over a quarter century. I’m serious, massaging the world a day at a time has brought me riches beyond my dreams and so I dream bigger. My type of passion for any type of work that you the reader may have I applaud you as well. If it isn’t there now, change it up and seek out your desires. Find your gift and interweave it with your dream and go for it. Train your body and mind to be unwavering and be prepared to suffer until it is realized. It is not a complicated equation. You do not want to be courageous when there is no risk.
Tenacious. Unwavering. Laser focused. At any age. Every step is a moral decision. Independently employed is an option for everyone. I even found it without social media but now I am showing my age. Don’t let all the questions of how, outweigh the energy of your desires. I warn that the path must be as true as the day turns to night. Discipline and sacrifice can realize all dreams. Drugs and alcohol and “retreats” based on yoga or ayahuasca or fasting or veganism might help but confidence is the major player. Trust funds and living easy are detrimental and can derail the goal. A state of liberation is the gratitude of one’s dreams, and the hard work that follows. I can feel with every client I massage if they are satisfied with the lives they have chosen. Be the person who is unafraid to make the hard decisions. It is never too late. Embrace faith. Give your gift away….
(Todd can be reached on WhatsApp at 506-8830-7727 or at [email protected]. Todd runs a brand new, tree-top Bed and Breakfast in the heart of Manuel Antonio with his amazing photographer wife, Sarah Yunker. The website is sarahtoninbnb.com. Their off-season is spent traveling the world and finding more dreams to turn into reality.)