Massage And Hammers

 

This blog on massage starts out with some words I read, not by a masseur, but which could come under the DBO. That’s the Department of the Blooming Obvious, to moderate the ‘B’ of it. There was (or still is) such a column in a newspaper.

I read that to have a massage, an author choosing this as a random thing, one needs to have a physical body. This is true! It would seem flimsy and wispy if one was trying to massage a spirit or soul without there being a physical body present.

Yet having a bodily massage or other treatment, as mentioned in some previous blogs, can also have an effect for good on one’s spirit or soul, or both, though we cannot see spirits or souls as tangible things.

 

Abraham Maslow, pictured above, (1908-1970), an American psychologist, is known for ‘Maslow’s Hammer’, or it may be called ‘golden hammer’. This is phrased as ‘if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail’. Some aspects of this won’t apply to massage of course. For example, you won’t be hammered or forced into any treatments.

Massage need not be as a hammer, in that it is not the only treatment available, though some may wish to have massage only. There is also waxing, threading, etc, and different types of massage – see the ‘Home’ web page.

 

At a church a Vicar said to someone at the end of a service, ‘Good to see you; not seen you for some time’. The person replied, ‘I’ve been with you all in spirit’. The Vicar replied, ‘That’s nice, but bring along your body more in future. That’s better than a lot of invisible spirits floating around’.

So we can do so for massage or other treatments. Come along in person, compos mentis, being ‘all there’. If not having been for some time, masseur may say, ‘Great to see you, you’ve changed a bit’. You may reply, ‘Well, it’s still me; it was the same me when I last looked in the mirror anyway!’

Beneficial Massage

 

The fees that are charged for massage or other treatments by masseurs are one type of capital. This also appears in accounting records.

There is social capital, which is a type of capital relating to society, interactions between people, etc, of a beneficial nature. We may be practising it without even knowing of the term. 

It is shown in examples such as opening a door for someone; returning a lost item to someone; giving someone directions; loaning something, not necessarily always financially, without a contract. 

These and many other things may be between people we may or may not know. If the term sounds a bit business-like, we could say it means being kind, helpful, loving one another, even in the simplest ways.

 

The ‘capital’ part, in a simplified and informal way, though dated, can be in saying ‘That’s splendid. Capital!’ That may sound a bit high-brow, or as an alternative to ‘How jolly’ or ‘How spiffing!’ It is used to express approval, satisfaction, or delight, all of which you will hopefully experience in a massage.

Massage can contribute to social capital, and our response to it, or to other treatments such as waxing, threading, liposuction, etc, may not be of upper-class expression, such as ‘spiffing’ or ‘top-hole’, but of ‘excellent’, ‘first-rate’, etc, which are equivalent meanings.

 

One could expand on the ‘language’ of capital, such as investing time and money in massage or other treatment, and of reaping rewards such as having positive experiences.

The masseur will be interested in the financial type of capital but will promote social capital also. You won’t be just clients from whom a business wishes to take money, though of course a massage service is a business.

There will be the ‘people-person’ aspect also, of any worthwhile masseur. You will get your ‘money’s worth’ and will hopefully benefit holistically in areas of body, soul, and spirit – a somewhat frequent claim in recent blogs, but true. Not that masseurs and therapists claim this is so with no back-up, as there are testimonials from clients which show and comment on the positive benefits.

 

Come along sometime, or for another visit, to see for yourself, and have a massage or whatever you may wish to socially capitalise on, i.e. take the chance to gain advantage or benefit from.