UpClose & Personal - Steve Capellini

In this issue of the Massage Adventure in Up Close & Personal, I would like to talk about avocados and mankind’s perennial search for meaning.

Yes, life can be hard, convoluted, and filled with almost unbearable uncertainty at times, but if you’re like most LMTs I know, you also have a strong sense beneath the surface of all this uncertainty that something precious and appropriate is going on, something very certain indeed. Life has a way of feeling almost “predestined,” especially when we are doing something that we know we’re supposed to be doing in some grander scheme of things.

Thus, on a recent trip to Cape Cod, I felt strangely fearless while boarding a six-seater Cessna and heading into a raging storm on the way from Boston to Provincetown. I knew I had to be there, though. My soul was taking me there, because I had promised some people I would help them open their day spa, and I knew that’s what I had to do. Of course, when the plane turned almost sideways and bucked up and down like a demented beast, I got concerned. But I knew I had to be there nonetheless.

You have the power of certainty on your side when you know you’re aligned with what your soul drives you to do. The problem for many of us is finding what that something is in the first place. I believe that’s what draws most of us to massage–-a tugging of our soul at the strings of our consciousness, wanting to take us someplace, wanting to create experiences for us, even though we might have no way of understanding what each of those experiences means while they’re actually happening.

This cycle of events (getting a soul tug, heading in a direction, knowing it’s right, and then having unexpected adventures as a result), is what I call the “massage adventure.” It never ends as long as you stay connected to the profession. In fact, it never gets any less extraordinary and surprising. And this is what brings me to the topic of avocados.

On Tuesday, I am heading to L.A. to film a satellite media tour as a spokesperson for the California Avocado Commission. Of course, we therapists know that avocado oil (expelled from the pit and processed in 55-gallon drums in big processing plants), is sometimes used in massage. But is that the reason the Commission has hired me to speak on their behalf? No. Instead, I’m there as a spa expert to tout the benefits of the fruit itself, unprocessed, placed directly on the skin.
The Avocado Touch

Did I know that I would end up on a sound stage in L.A. talking about avocados to newscasters around the country when I was first studying massage? Obviously not. But do I know that this is precisely, in some strange way, what I am supposed to be doing right now? Absolutely. It’s all about following your soul tuggings. I encourage you to explore them, wherever they may lead, as long as the following criteria are met:

Does the direction you’re heading jive with your overall mission and vision for your life and career?

Is it of healthful benefit (physically, emotionally, or spiritually) to those who will come in contact with it?

Does it keep you inspired and interested to grow further and look toward the future?

Is it based on a “hunch” or gut instinct and come somewhat by surprise rather than through cold analytical planning?

If these points describe you on the present manifestation of your unique journey, you can rest assured that this is your soul looking for itself in the world, and that you will most likely find it. I fully expect to see my soul in the lens of the camera, staring back at me somewhat startled there as we begin taping the avocado segments next week.

Through this and other adventures, I’ve met some incredible people, each on their own adventure. If you can become someone who embodies the bold attempt to follow your own soul tuggings, without fear or uncertainty, others will gravitate to you, and things will continue to happen that absolutely mystify you. And delight you too.

Go for it! And let me know what happens on your adventure…

Steve Capellini

www.royaltreatment.com

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