Kairos
“This is the right time, and this is the right thing.” – Sir Thomas Moore
I’ve been thinking a lot about time. How time has been behaving and how I relate to it. I thought this month was my 20 year anniversary of graduating from massage school but it turns out it was actually last month! I’ve been a professional massage therapist for 241 months and over 10,000 hours of massage but I’m still learning everyday. I feel so lucky to enjoy what I do and to be able to still be practicing.
I’ve thought I graduated in October for so long, I can’t believe it was only 12 days after 9/11. What a weird time, we were all in a bit of shock that month. I flew home to visit my family for a few weeks right after. I could just bring my table with me. So much has changed.
I’ve worked at spas and chiropractor offices. I ran a chair massage business in Whole Foods for over 18 years. I’ve done massage at almost every music venue in Denver. I’ve had 4 offices, taught in massage schools, done pop ups and volunteered. I had a baby, bought a house and graduated from college. Massaged Grammy winners and houseless neighbors. I’ve traveled to offices, conventions, people’s homes and festivals all over the country doing massage. I’ve taken hundreds of hours of continuing education and luckily, I still really love learning about and practicing bodywork. I’ve been able to ride the waves of a great recession and pandemic too?! Couldn’t have predicted all that 20 years ago.
I have to add I have received regular (1-5 x a month) bodywork all these 20 years too. I don’t think I’d still be practicing or be in such good shape if I didn’t also practice what I preach. It allows for me to feel good in my body.
The truth is this 20 years has flown by but there have also been some moments during a massage session where each minute seems to last forever too. Time is weird. Have you noticed it being weird too? Much more age of Aquarius. . . flowing, glitching. . seeming to move differently in some way.
Have you heard about kairos? A client recently told me about it. The Greeks had 2 words for time: chronos and kairos. Chronos is the chronological sequential linear aspect of time, while Kairos “signifies a proper or opportune time for action”. Kairos is knowing what is most appropriate in a given situation; like saying the right thing at the right time or being in the right place at the right time. Kairos is timeliness, appropriateness, decorum, symmetry, balance—awareness of the rhetorical situation or “the circumstances that open moments of opportunity” (Kinneavy; Sipiora; Vatz; Bitzer; Hill 217). Kairos is crafting serendipity, like when the sun comes out at the end of a romantic comedy after all the conflicts have been resolved. (Kate Pantelides)
I took a Timeline Jumping Tour Guide class with Pea the Faery and I’ll be honest I’ve had a difficult time practicing because it’s difficult to explain, like it’s some Loki TV fiction but after learning about kairos, I think that’s what it is! It’s about becoming aware and conscious of where you are NOW, finding the Kairos and hopping on the path (timeline) of where you’d like to get. If you’d like to help me practice send me a dm. I’d like to practice a few more before adding it to my offerings.
Thanks for the support for these last 20 years and cheers to 20 more?! Though my son said maybe robots will replace me soon so who knows. . .
xo
p.s. my books are open! make an appointment!
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