spacer

No Gumpy Boy, Life Is Like A Thai Massage

Written by Jonny November 15th, 2009

As much as I enjoy the inspirational epic of a film that is “Forest Gump”, I believe that comparing life to “A Box Of Chocolates” because, as Mr Gump so eloquently puts it, “You never know what you are going to get” is fundamentally flawed. Wait wait, let me explain, put down the pitch fork.

This will also be my last post for a week or so as I am off exploring again. Will return to blogging a week next Tuesday, try not to look too disappointed. I know, there there.

Continue reading →
Close
spacer
No Gumpy Boy, Life Is Like A Thai Massage
As much as I enjoy the inspirational epic of a film that is “Forest Gump”, I believe that comparing life to “A Box Of Chocolates” because, as Mr Gump so eloquently puts it, “You never know what you are going to get” is fundamentally flawed. Wait wait, let me explain, put down the pitch fork.
The reason I believe this is that firstly, it is far too simplistic a concept to describe this mysterious shoe box collaboration that is the complexity of life, and secondly because it is human nature to distrust anything that seems too good to be true. I would, therefore, suggest that life could be more accurately compared to a Thai Massage.
Life is Like a Thai massage – It has some truly pleasurable bits, some truly painful bits , some bits where you are not sure if it is pleasurable or painful, at some point a woman will walk all over you, and hopefully, if you play your cards right, it will finish with a happy ending.
Lets break this down like an old skool and rather untalented beat boxer.
It Has Some Truly Pleasurable Bits
I think you will agree that at times life can be great, even better than great – sometimes as great as waking up on a Saturday morning and thinking its Wednesday but then realising that is is indeed a Saturday and thus no school. (Same concept applies to work for my slightly older / wiser readers)
Life, like many aspects of a Thai Massage, is a wonderful thing. A beautifully thing with many, many pleasure filled moments contained within. Pleasures such as waking up next to the one you love, succeeding in your passions, exploring new experiences with friends, developing meaningful relationships over Sushi and eating vast quantities of chocolate icecream.
These pleasurable chunks are the nutty highs of life – they do not last forever and neither are they meant to. Too many of them and, like a Snickers bar gone wrong, the whole experience is ruined. These are the aspects of life that make it worth living, because these are the very peaks of happiness, which are the counterbalanced to when life can get rough.
It Has Some Truly Painful Bits
(Which, incidentally, are part of the package and will benefit you)
Life is not one big joy ride at the fairground with icecream afterwards.
There are times in life when it really does seem to be following a rather uncannily resemblance to Jacks and Jills unfortunate downward decent from the hillside.
There can be hard times in life, much like the aggressive muscle kneeding to the inside of the leg that a Thai massage never fails to deliver. But fear not, for although these times are painful and might bring a tear to the eye, (in the case of a Thai massage I rather more physical tear), these are the times that are doing you the most good and they give the counterbalance to the pleasurable times.
Without the hard times in life, there would be no room in humanity for compassion, for growth, for reflection and for the wealth of emotion that comes with sorrow and disappointment. A good life, like a good Thai massage, is about balance and thus life needs to contain its painful bits, as well as it’s pleasurable parts. One just hopes that it contains more pleasurable than painful.
It Has Some Parts Where You Are Not Sure If It Is Pleasurable Or Painful
The highs and lows of life are easy to spot, but what about the majority of life that resides in the murky middle ground of your existence like a blurred picture sighting of Big Foot.
Most of life is made up of this decidedly undecided middle ground where it could be either pleasurable or painful, depending on your viewpoint. Life in this particular case, allows you to decided which you are experiencing.
In these cases of indecision, one would be sensible to always side on the pleasurable team. We, as humans, define our own reality and much of our happiness far more then we would like to accept. The effect of circumstance on individuals has been shown to have very little real long term effect on the well being of said person. Those that have won the lottery or have lost an arm, for example, very shortly after the initial high or low, return back remarkably quickly to the level of happiness and enthusiasm with life that they had before the incident.
Knowing this then, let us always look on the positive side of life and see things through rose tinted glasses so that when we are not sure if the situations should be pleasurable or painful we will always focus on the pleasure, as much as my lovely massage Lady Paula seems to be intent on causing me pain.
At Some Point A Woman Will Walk All Over You
Lets not be sexist, this can relate to a guy as well.
At some point in your life it is likely that you will open your heart to someone, fall in love and all that other good stuff that goes along with it. I read somewhere jelly beans are included so you know its going to be good.
It is one of the major viewpoint stops in the journey that is life.
Of course, opening up like this leaves you exposed to having various elements of your anatomy trampled on quite severely and more than likely, this will happen to you.
Fear not, it is not something to worry about, it is part and parcel of the insanely illogical practice of falling in love, and well worth it considering the returns of loving someone and being loved in return.
I know from experience, not the love kind but the Thai massage variety, that having a woman walk all over you can be very painful indeed, even though it is doing a world of good. Get ready for your walking session as I am sure it will be both the worst, and the absolute greatest emotional roller coaster of your life. Strap in people.
It Will Finish With A Happy Ending
Lets not beat around the bush here, we all know what I am talking about.
It seems to me that everyone, once you wade through all the crap, dirt, left over coke cans and old mangy cats of life, is searching for one fundamental truth – the key to happiness.
Now I don’t have all the answers and in fact I probably have far less to offer than most, and so I won’t insult you or your varying levels of intelligence by trying to point out what will make you happy in life as, like I frequently had to tell my A level maths teacher, I genuinely have no idea.
Wether it be Religion, Relationships, Success, Passions or any host of other things that bring you happiness (Bananarama Sundae Special for me – You may be seeing an Ice cream theme running here as I have eaten a lot of it recently) life is about pursuing these things relentlessly.
Just remember that, unlike the 70s films of past years, the goal is not to have a happy ending, as by then it is too late. The real goal is to have a happy journey, however you work out the best way to ensure that.
Here’s to your happy ending, I mean journey. Ahem.

As much as I enjoy the inspirational epic of a film that is “Forest Gump”, I believe that comparing life to “A Box Of Chocolates” because, as Mr Gump so eloquently puts it, “You never know what you are going to get” is fundamentally flawed. Wait wait, let me explain, put down the pitch fork.

The reason I believe this is that firstly, it is far too simplistic a concept to describe this mysterious shoe box collaboration that is the complexity of life, and secondly because it is human nature to distrust anything that seems too good to be true. I would, therefore, suggest that life could be more accurately compared to a Thai Massage.

.

Life is Like a Thai massage – It has some truly pleasurable bits, some truly painful bits , some bits where you are not sure if it is pleasurable or painful, at some point a woman will walk all over you, and hopefully, if you play your cards right, it will finish with a happy ending.

.

Lets break this down like an old skool and rather untalented beat boxer.

.

It Has Some Truly Pleasurable Bits

.

I think you will agree that at times life can be great, even better than great – sometimes as great as waking up on a Saturday morning and thinking its Wednesday but then realising that is is indeed a Saturday and thus no school. (Same concept applies to work for my slightly older / wiser readers)

Life, like many aspects of a Thai Massage, is a wonderful thing. A beautifully thing with many, many pleasure filled moments contained within. Pleasures such as waking up next to the one you love, succeeding in your passions, exploring new experiences with friends, developing meaningful relationships over Sushi and eating vast quantities of chocolate icecream.

These pleasurable chunks are the nutty highs of life – they do not last forever and neither are they meant to. Too many of them and, like a Snickers bar gone wrong, the whole experience is ruined. These are the aspects of life that make it worth living, because these are the very peaks of happiness, which are the counterbalanced to when life can get rough.

.

It Has Some Truly Painful Bits

.

(Which, incidentally, are part of the package and will benefit you)

.

Life is not one big joy ride at the fairground with icecream afterwards.

.

There are times in life when it really does seem to be following a rather uncannily resemblance to Jacks and Jills unfortunate downward decent from the hillside.

There can be hard times in life, much like the aggressive muscle kneeding to the inside of the leg that a Thai massage never fails to deliver. But fear not, for although these times are painful and might bring a tear to the eye, (in the case of a Thai massage I rather more physical tear), these are the times that are doing you the most good and they give the counterbalance to the pleasurable times.

Without the hard times in life, there would be no room in humanity for compassion, for growth, for reflection and for the wealth of emotion that comes with sorrow and disappointment. A good life, like a good Thai massage, is about balance and thus life needs to contain its painful bits, as well as it’s pleasurable parts. One just hopes that it contains more pleasurable than painful.

.

It Has Some Parts Where You Are Not Sure If It Is Pleasurable Or Painful

.

The highs and lows of life are easy to spot, but what about the majority of life that resides in the murky middle ground of your existence like a blurred picture sighting of Big Foot.

Most of life is made up of this decidedly undecided middle ground where it could be either pleasurable or painful, depending on your viewpoint.

.

Life in this particular case, allows you to decided which you are experiencing.

.

In these cases of indecision, one would be sensible to always side on the pleasurable team. We, as humans, define our own reality and much of our happiness far more then we would like to accept. The effect of circumstance on individuals has been shown to have very little real long term effect on the well being of said person. Those that have won the lottery or have lost an arm, for example, very shortly after the initial high or low, return back remarkably quickly to the level of happiness and enthusiasm with life that they had before the incident.

Knowing this then, let us always look on the positive side of life and see things through rose tinted glasses so that when we are not sure if the situations should be pleasurable or painful we will always focus on the pleasure, as much as my lovely massage Lady Paula seems to be intent on causing me pain.

.

At Some Point A Woman Will Walk All Over You

.

Lets not be sexist, this can relate to a guy as well.

At some point in your life it is likely that you will open your heart to someone, fall in love and all that other good stuff that goes along with it. I read somewhere jelly beans are included so you know its going to be good.

It is one of the major viewpoint stops in the journey that is life.

.

Of course, opening up like this leaves you exposed to having various elements of your anatomy trampled on quite severely and more than likely, this will happen to you.

.

Fear not, it is not something to worry about, it is part and parcel of the insanely illogical practice of falling in love, and well worth it considering the returns of loving someone and being loved in return.

I know from experience, not the love kind but the Thai massage variety, that having a woman walk all over you can be very painful indeed, even though it is doing a world of good. Get ready for your walking session as I am sure it will be both the worst, and the absolute greatest emotional roller coaster of your life. Strap in people.

.

It Will Finish With A Happy Ending

.

Lets not beat around the bush here, we all know what I am talking about.

.

It seems to me that everyone, once you wade through all the crap, dirt, left over coke cans and old mangy cats of life, is searching for one fundamental truth – the key to happiness.

.

Now I don’t have all the answers and in fact I probably have far less to offer than most, and so I won’t insult you or your varying levels of intelligence by trying to point out what will make you happy in life as, like I frequently had to tell my A level maths teacher, I genuinely have no idea.

Wether it be Religion, Relationships, Success, Passions or any host of other things that bring you happiness (Bananarama Sundae Special for me – You may be seeing an Ice cream theme running here as I have eaten a lot of it recently) life is about pursuing these things relentlessly.

Just remember that, unlike the 70s films of past years, the goal is not to have a happy ending, as by then it is too late. The real goal is to have a happy journey, however you work out the best way to ensure that.

.

Here’s to your happy ending, I mean journey. Ahem.

Posted in Lifestyle Design

17 Comments

Tagged with Freedom, Happiness, Life, Living, Personal Development

17 Comments

  1. spacer Kevin says:
    November 16, 2009 at 11:16 am

    You forgot the part where you could possibly wake up in a bathtub of ice missing a kidney.

    Reply
    • spacer Jonny says:
      November 17, 2009 at 3:15 am

      That is true Kev, very true. Best not to fall asleep if at all possible.

      Reply
  2. spacer Ideas With A Kick says:
    November 16, 2009 at 3:09 pm

    Hilarious as usual. And interestingly enough, very insightful.

    I think you made a very good point that in the and, it’s all useful. Too many of us hope for a smooth, care free life. We think this is the ideal. Life is more of a roller-coaster in my perspective. It has ups and downs, but once you get off, you wanna get back on again. I hope this didn’t sound very kinky. spacer

    Eduard

    Reply
    • spacer Jonny says:
      November 17, 2009 at 3:19 am

      Maybe not so much Kinky as Cliche Eduard, but I know what you mean.

      Reply
  3. spacer Nate says:
    November 16, 2009 at 7:50 pm

    I love this. Life has ups and downs, that is just the way it is. We can either cry about it or suck it up and appreciate everything that happens as an experience along an exciting journey.

    Reply
    • spacer Jonny says:
      November 17, 2009 at 3:32 am

      Spoken truly Nate. Now I am off to further my research at the massage parlor.

      Reply
  4. spacer Doggy says:
    November 17, 2009 at 11:32 am

    Hi,
    Where are you from? Is it a secret? spacer
    Doggy

    Reply
  5. spacer Schmidty says:
    November 17, 2009 at 2:36 pm

    Love the Analogy Jonny, and actually very accurate in both descriptions spacer

    Reply
    • spacer Jonny says:
      November 18, 2009 at 5:52 am

      Love the use of a capital “A” on Analogy Schmidty

      Reply
  6. spacer Jonny says:
    November 17, 2009 at 8:10 pm

    Doggy,

    I know this is spam mail but it is one of the more creative I have seen so I approved it. Readers propably not worth clicking on it though.

    Reply
  7. spacer Steven says:
    November 17, 2009 at 9:55 pm

    Damn it, I clicked on Doggy. The name was just too damn attractive, it made me think of the puppies I killed.

    Anyways Jonny, another creatively approached post you have here (so glad you didn’t use rollercoaster as the life simile).

    I watched Forrest Gump and I too thought that his phrase was a bit fishy, because it doesn’t matter what you get…you get sweet awesome chocolate, and life in reality is just too crappy to be like sweet dark milky smooth chocolate…*drool*.

    But I never thought of Thai Massage when I first saw it, because life for me back then was more like…a bitch. But now it’s just more disciplined spacer

    Great usage on the Thai Massage, made me think and crinkle.

    Steven

    Reply
    • spacer Jonny says:
      November 18, 2009 at 5:54 am

      Hi Ste,

      I feel we are at the stage in our relationship where I can call you Ste. Glad you liked the post, I probably would have writen about life being like a rollercoaster and then subsequently shot myself in the head had I not been in the middle of being trampled by a loverly Thai lady when inspiration struck. That and secretly I am jelous of Forest Gump, Ping Pong Champion and Shrimp millionaire…come on.

      Reply
  8. 44 Creative and Adventurous Bloggers You Should Know - Free Pursuits says:
    November 18, 2009 at 1:38 pm

    [...] Site tagline: Witty, Entertaining and Depressingly Helpful Jonny says: “I own three things I cannot live without – – My MacBook Pro, My Cannon DSLR and my Fossil Watch – everything else is disposable…” Why you should check this blog out: Jonny is currently living in Bangkok, supporting himself working less than 6 hours a week online. He does that by following principles he created called “Light Touch Living.” Most recent post: No Gumpy Boy, Life Is Like A Thai Massage [...]

    Reply
    • spacer Jonny says:
      November 18, 2009 at 6:54 pm

      I definately reccomend checking this post out on Free Pursuits as many of you may be on there and it is a great overview of some fantastic lifestyle designers. I bribed my way onto the list but lets not talk about that right now.

      Reply
  9. spacer Greg says:
    December 28, 2009 at 10:18 pm

    Good post man, pretty funny. I think I’m the only guy in Thailand who doesn’t like Thai massage – half the time I come out feeling more fragged than I was when I went in. Just give me a soft mattress and a stack of DVDs and the same result is achieved – a sleeping Greg.

    Reply
    • spacer Jonny says: