Last night, I was sitting in bed sending healing to our country. I often do some healing – for myself, our home, Jim, clients & friends – and for our country and planet. The energy that came through me was so wonderful – it felt like peace. Like we are all getting along and respecting and supporting each other. Just a “life is good and all is well” feeling. And, I thought of a poster I saw in a Maui airport several years ago, called “What is Aloha?” by Pono Shim & Ramsay Taum.
“What is Aloha? What is this special “spirit” that is universally spoken of? For some of us it is more than a greeting, but rather a life force that defines who we are and why we are here.
Auntie Pilahi Paki, who was a “keeper of the secrets of Hawai’i” tasked several of her students to be prepared for the future when the world would be in collapse. She spoke of the time when Hawai’i would have the remedy to save the world and the remedy was “Aloha.” In 1970, at a Governor’s conference, she introduced modern Hawai’i to a deeper understanding of “Aloha”
A – Akahi – meaning kindness (grace) to be expressed with tenderness;
L – Lokahi – meaning unity (unbroken), to be expressed with harmony;
O – ‘Olu’olu – meaning agreeable (gentle), to be expressed with pleasantness;
H – Ha’aha’a – meaning humility (empty), to be expressed with modesty;
A – Ahonui – meaning patience (waiting for the moment), to be expressed with perseverance.
A secret of “Aloha” is that a person cannot do one of the principles without truely doing all, and if you are not doing one you are not doing any. So, to be “Living Aloha” is to live all of the principles. An even deeper meaning of “Aloha” that Auntie Pilahi Paki shared with us can be found in a quote from our Queen, “ To gain the kingdom of heaven is to hear what is not said, to see what cannot be seen, and to know the unknowable – that is Aloha. All things in this world are two: in heaven there is but One.” (From Queen Liliuokalani, 1917)
Aloha is to be in the presence of life, to share the essence of one’s being with openness, honesty and humility. It is a way of being, a way of behaving, a way of life. It is a commitment to being real. It is a commitment to accepting others and giving dignity to who they are and all they have to offer…”