“Everything you do should be life-giving.”

Last week on my Honeymoon I had an unforgettable experience. My wife Irene and I wanted to pamper ourselves a little bit so we treated ourselves to a nice massage. A man named Willian was highly recommended so we booked him to visit our accommodation for a session each.

When he showed up, Willian had a pure energy about him and a peaceful spirit. We instantly connected. What I wasn’t prepared for was how he was going to basically stand on me for most of the massage and dig his heel into muscles I didn’t know existed. It’s one of those “hurts so good” kind of experiences.

After the massage we had a long conversation about life and his wisdom was profound. As a Colombian man who used to be a pastor in Los Angeles and now is a massage therapist in Hawaii, he talked a lot about how he faithfully listened to wherever he could be of service.

But there was one line he said that I wanted to share with you: “Everything you do should be life-giving”. He elaborated on the two different expressions of this thought.

First is that in the way we contribute toward others, we must be life-giving. This goes beyond the miracle that is creating life and serves as a filter that we can view our actions through. He talked about indigenous traditions and how our actions transcend 7 generations, and we must treat each choice with care and diligence.

Second he talked about how we must do things that are life-giving for ourselves. A lot of Willian’s massage practice is rooted in disrupting pockets of stored energy and getting energy moving throughout the body and ultimately, discharged back into the Earth. I can personally attest to how different parts of my body felt like I was buzzing throughout the session.

This reminds of the language I use about serving the self. If it’s inspiring then its energy giving and if it’s expiring then its energy draining. Simply put, our goal is to do more of what inspires us and less of what doesn’t.

“Everything you do should be life-giving”.

It’s an interesting perspective to take, and my encouragement to you is to explore how this idea interfaces with the choices you make over the next few days.