Nice relaxing massage — to the sound of lawnmowers

[fossilizing porpoise, below clay cliffs, Block Island, photo © 2009 J. Van West]

"That nothing is static or fixed, that all is fleeting and impermanent, is the first mark of existence."
— Pema Chodron, The Places That Scare You, p. 18


April 17, 2009

Jeff ran software updates on my laptop the other day. I can’t do this because it involves using the internet.

The next morning I went to use my computer and it was making this relentless clicking sound and was almost totally unresponsive. I went to restart it but it wouldn’t even do this even though I got to the dialog box. so I did a forced reboot and it was exactly the same situation.

When I went to play music — I had a client coming in and I use my cds copied to itunes for the music system — it took a while for the music to start, then it was having to buffer the song.

So I had no music for that client. Jeff took a crack at fixing it and said if I did a safe reboot that I should be able to use the computer. I did this before my client came in the next day and when I went to use Itunes there was no sound. I could play the songs but the volume wouldn’t work with the safe reboot.

Jeff took another look and said the computer is probably going to require a system reinstallation. Everything was working fine before. Then Software Update brings me up to the bleeding edge of softwareville, thanks to the all-nighters of programmers all over the world, and the computer doesn’t work anymore.

On Stress

"Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness."
— Tolle, A New Earth, p. 41




Snow
Cherry buds
Broomstick
*
Stress: looking at the trees under 9 inches of snow, deeper in places where the strong gusts had drifted it: thinking about what the tree man said. A certain amount of stress is good for trees: wind, snow.

Shaking off the snow from the ornamental cherry with its fat buds, the hawthorne with its freeze-dried red berries, holly, cypress, laurel: snow on, stress. Snow falls off, release. Vacation. Stress plus vacation or release equals the slow building of strength — physical, character.

Stress plus no release equals deterioration. I saw it all right there clattering on the cherry limb with a broomstick. Also that in order to release the tree it was not necessary to shake off all the snow, only some. There was still some snow on the tree.

Same way as people. It’s not necessary to relieve all the stress in order for health and strength to build. It needs to be brought down to a manageable level for the living thing.

In massage it’s the same way. It’s not about curing the stress. It’s about alleviating some of the stress so that the body can function optimally to reduce stress on its own — through circulation or better sleep, for instance.

When does stress become toxic? When the heavy stress goes on for too long, straining the tree or the body beyond its limits. When the stress cannot resolve itself / heal in a day (a workout), a week (a marathon), or a year (childbirth). When there is not the periodic relief of some of the stress to a more manageable level.
*
Life is work. If you’re lucky, and/or are willing to work hard and make some sacrifices, the work is work you love, in a comfortable environment, with a fair amount of freedom and no toxic stress involved.