Solving The Annoyed State of Mind

Long days of cruising down the roads in Bali.. From factory to fabric market, from my beanie hero back to another factory. It sounds sexier than it actually is though. Full on traffic, bikes crossing from left to right, the occasional gravel and let’s not forget the water and construction trucks that bombard their way through the streets. The other day I noticed that I was just really tired and agitated so since I was too late for a surf I decided to get a massage. The luxury of staying here is that a € 4,50 massage of an hour will fit your budget quite easily. So off I went.

My state of mind was weird. Like really weird, I was happy to have had quite the fruitful day of meetings but I was also angry. No idea where my anger was targeted at but it was rather uncomfortable. A massage would make it all better, right??. But nah, it became one of the strangest massage-experiences I ever had. The girl was in a rush and if you are half-naked on a table with rushed hands on your back, you feel awkward.. Her nails dug into my arms, my tiny bum, my legs and I actually almost feared open wounds. Luckily, she dumped such an enormous amount of oil on me that her nails and knuckles could not find grip onto my sun-kissed skin.

It was actually hilarious, now I look at it on hindsight. Every time she started with a new body-part, my anticipation of what this body-part would experience decreased. I just wanted it to be over with. The poor girl. Really, I should not have been on that table. I was just too tired and my head was running race-tracks with thoughts. I could not relax and the girls massage approach literally left me with such annoyance that my state of mind was probably even worse than before I stepped foot into that “spa”. My lesson was learned, I should have listened to my own state of mind and just drive home and take a dip in the ocean, just get salty. That is my cure of understanding what is happening in my head. The ocean literally soothes my soul and thinking massages would do the trick was clearly an illusion.

Don’t Be Annoyed, Just Be Surprised

A motto to live by. A motto that I apply on a day-to-day basis. An advice given when I was around 12 years old by the father of my best friend in High School.. It ensures that you do not stay stuck in the negative but turn it around.

Being annoyed can eat you up inside and it can stay there for a while. Whether someone is completely rude to you or to someone else, whether someone makes you pay the bills all the time or whether someone is always late, being annoyed is a negative emotion. If you turn it around and each time someone “annoys” you, you replace it for “ I am surprised” or say “that’s surprising”, you will notice how fast that negative emotion will fade away. It will allow you to move forward instead of staying stuck in the unpleasant situation. Try it the next time you are “annoyed” and I am sure that you will notice the different energy.