Christmas Carnage

I imagine that at one point - or a dozen points - throughout this holiday season that your house looked like this too. Wrapping paper that had been measured and folded with painstaking precision to create a lovely package now lay upon the floor shredded, discarded, forgotten. Bows are strewn from hell to breakfast to be trampled upon unheeded, unwanted, unappreciated. Those presents looked so pretty all stacked there beneath your shimmering Christmas tree, but what counts is what's inside.

Hmmmmm...

What counts is what's inside...

Perhaps I should listen to myself. I had no idea that that was what was going to come out this morning. I thought I was going to write about the fact that I feel shocked to go from 24/7 Christmas music - since November 1st - to no Christmas music as of midnight. Feels weird and I thought that was going to be my topic of interest today.

Instead, I give myself a reminder that the encasement of the gift is not what is important but, instead, it is what is on the inside. And, yes, when I wrote it, I meant it in a purely commericial, retail sort of way. But it hit me and it hit me hard.

What counts is what's inside...

That applies to me and you and you and YOU.

What counts is what's inside...

My beauty is inside. My extra large trappings were created by me to protect me from hurt and in a bizarre attempt to hide my beauty. Somehow I have tricked myself into believing that my outside - my body - is who I am.

And... well... now isn't this just ironic?!!!

Last week I had a conversation with a client of mine...

Me: Let me know if any of this deep work makes your arms or hands tingle or go numb.

Client: Deep? This is considered deep?

(informational sidenote here... I am a Licensed Massage Therapist. However, although I became an LMT first, I am really a Reiki Master. That is where my love is. I have focused my business toward energetic healing and interactive, support-full awakenings for my clients. And while I do not do full-body, naked Swedish massage anymore, I will do focused massage on troubled areas. That being said, I have never been a "deep" massage sort of person - in either the giving or receiving.)

Me: *grinning at my client's crown* Well, yes. It may not feel deep to you because I am not using deep physical pressure. I have found a lot of trigger points in you that feel like they go right into your core. When I am working with them, I am following them all the way in and they go way deep. Even if it doesn't feel like it to you, it's deep work. You may not recognize it, but your body does.

Client: *skeptical look on his face* Hmmmm... interesting. How can that be? Aren't I my body?

Me: *matter of factly* No. You are your soul. *remembering a quote from our similar religious upbringing* Remember, your body is a temple. It is just a building for you, for your soul.

Client: Hmmmm... interesting...

Okay... and with that conversation being shared, you can now see the irony in today's post.

What counts is what's inside...

Okay... I hear ya.