Wanted: Chief Happiness Officer

I was flicking through the Sunday papers today and came across an article by psychologist and executive coach, Dr. Timothy Sharp, called Against the Odds.

It was about how easy victories don't bring much satisfaction, whereas well-fought battles invariably do. How true is that! It was an interesting, upbeat article, but what really caught my attention was Dr. Timothy's bio:

"Dr. Sharp is a best-selling author, a corporate speaker and consultant, and Chief Happiness Officer at The Happiness Institute."

Chief Happiness Officer...wow - some job, huh! I checked out The Happiness Institute's site. The company offers coaching and courses as well as happiness books, CD's & tapes and workbooks.

You can even take a free happiness test or sign up to Dr. Happy's e-newsletter. Once you subscribe to the newsletter, you can download a free e-book about happiness.

I'm feeling happier having used the word 10 times so far in this post - imagine how happy Dr Happy, the Chief Happiness Officer of The Happiness Institute must be!

The e-book was based on the philosphy that:

• Happiness is the ultimate purpose in life
• Happiness is achievable, for all of us
• Happiness is determined more by our minds than by our circumstances
• The disciplines that will lead to and enhance happiness (such as helpful thinking and good habits) can be learned and mastered, with practice.

It provides 21 tips about how to incorporate happiness into our lives, starting with Tip #1: make happiness a priority. It's one of those obvious things, but one that's nice to be reminded of occasionally.

It also got me thinking that we are all (or should be) Chief Happiness Officers. We are all utimately responsible for our own happiness - relying on other people to provide for it for us usually leaves us feeling underwhelmed or disappointed.

Dr. Happy's e-book is a timely reminder about the basics of happiness, and definitely worth a read. Check it out!

The road to massage...Part 1

In October 2007, I qualified as a holistic massage therapist, taking about 10 months to simultaneously complete the BTEC Professional Diploma Course in Holistic Massage Practice and the ITEC Diploma Course in Holistic Massage part time, at Essentials for Health.

I'd never actually set out to become a massage therapist, but after I did a Reiki course a couple of years ago, I felt like I needed to learn more about the human body. And so began my exciting and formal journey into holistic therapies.
I researched various schools and options, and decided that a massage course which included studies in Anatomy and Physiology would give me a solid grounding for Reiki and any other related modalities going forward. I eventually chose Essentials for Health, one of the UK's leading massage schools. I did their 1-day Massage Magic workshop to check out the school and its teachers, and loved it! I enrolled virtually straight away in the next diploma course.

I also liked that EfH ran their courses on weekends, and that they offered both the ITEC and BTEC qualifications. The BTEC Professional Course remains the highest level of massage course offered in the UK, and is the equivalent of an NVQ level 4 qualification. That said, the ITEC qualification is currently more widely known throughout the UK and internationally, so it was great that EfH taught both curriculums via the same course material.

The first weekend rolled around, and I remember wondering WHAT I'd gotten myself into. We were shown massage couches and various oils and the teachers were referring to body parts I didn't even know I possessed!

That first weekend, I also met a wonderful bunch of keen, newbie students like myself, who had come from all over the country (and world) and from all walks of life. Some people had already decided that massage was what they wanted to do full time, others were in full time jobs they were bored with and wanted to escape from, and yet others simply wanted to learn how to do massage properly, so they could treat their family and friends. We met our teachers too – fantastic massage therapists with oodles of patience and humour.

The weekends rolled by, usually following a format of one day of massage practice and one day of anatomy and physiology. We learnt how to effleurage (and how to spell it) and knead and percuss and apply friction - all part of an entirely new vocabulary. In the A&P classes, we delved into the structure of cells and the contents of blood, and all the while, I was thinking that I could get by with knowing that the knee bone was connected to the shin bone. Apparently not!

We were told we needed to log at least 100 hours of massage practice outside of the course before we sat for our exams. Although you might think it would be easy to give away free massages, the logistics of arranging massage sessions with mates in between busy jobs and social lives became a major challenge!

Then came the case studies – where we needed to do 2-hour full body massages on 6 different people, for 4 weeks in a row. We were required to write up full case notes describing our client’s lifestyle, what they required from each massage and what the results of each massage were. I reckon I spent as much time writing up those beloved case studies, as I spent doing the actual massages!

The road to massage...Part 2

Meanwhile, the A&P classes were getting torturous. Did I really need to know the structure of arteries and veins to give a good massage? Did I need to know what the fourth layer of skin was called, and how its characteristics differed from the second and fifth layers? My head was caving in with information overload.

While racking up my practice hours, and relieving the stress and improving the wellbeing of my clients, my own stress levels were soaring as the exams loomed. I’ve done exams before – years of them – but never anything that involved the assessment of a practical skill. Well, not since I did my driving test....and let’s not talk about that incident with the pedestrian...

The big weekend came – 2 days of exams, one for ITEC, one for BTEC. Each day contained a theory and practical exam. ITEC was first, and we were assessed with military precision on a 45-minute full body massage. The multiple choice questions were fairly straightforward. I was feeling confident.

The BTEC practical exam was pretty straightforward too – we’d been assessed continually throughout the course, so more or less knew where we stood as far as our techniques were concerned. The BTEC theory exam was another story. It was truly one of the scariest exam papers I’ve ever seen. Some 35 pages thick, the monster written paper tested our understanding of the 13 body systems...inside and out, as it were. Looking back, I can’t even remember the questions. I just remember they were excruciatingly detailed and hard. I was sure I was going to be re-sitting that exam! We all felt the same.

Four days later, in a completely unexpected flash of efficiency, we received our ITEC results – we’d been told not to expect them back for 6-8 weeks. I passed. One down, one to go.

Qualifying under ITEC meant that I could arrange my full professional insurance and begin practicing. I was so elated about getting through the ITEC exam that I had all but forgotten about the BTEC results.

When I received the call from the EfH office to say that I’d passed the BTEC exams, I laughed, screamed, then cried all in pretty quick succession. I realised at that time how much I wanted to get through that exam.

I was asked often throughout that course whether I intended to do massage full time. Up until the end of last year, I’d always thought that it would be a part time interest, but a few more advanced courses later, and some twists and turns in life, and I am now clear that it is what I want to do. Whole heartedly!

Did this course change my life?

Yes.