Tag: Aloha Spirit

Thoughts on Love of Life and the Art of Awareness

Hālau ʻĀha Hūi LanakilaLeave a comment

CHANGE-INEVITABLE

Acclaimed Nobel Peace Prize author, Albert Camus, once said, “Those who prefer their principles over their happiness, refuse to be happy outside the conditions they seem to have attached to their happiness.”

Indeed, our principles tend to harden into habits and although habits give shape to our inner lives, they can mutate into the rigidity of routine and create a kind of momentum that, rather than expanding our capacity for happiness, contracts it. In the trance of routine and principled productivity, we end up showing up for our daily lives while being absent from them.

And, like my friend RevDruanna Johnston has shown us on FB, few things break us out of our routines and awaken us to the living substance of happiness more powerfully than travel. What gives value to travel is fear. It breaks down a kind of inner structure we have created through our “daily grind” of work and remaining in familiar surroundings. One can no longer cheat — hide behind the hours spent at the office or at the plant (those hours we protest so loudly, which protect us so well from the pain of being alone). Far from our own people, our own language, stripped of all our props, deprived of our masks (one doesn’t know the fare on the streetcars, or anything else), we are completely on the surface of ourselves. But also, soul-sick, we restore to every being and every object its miraculous value.

For my part, my entire life has been undergirded by the ethos that happiness is our moral obligation. My love of life also carries with it a silent passion for what would perhaps escape me, a bitterness beneath a flame. Each day I leave this cloister I call home … like a woman lifted from herself, inscribed for a brief moment in the continuance of the world … and have come to realize that there is no love of life without despair of life. Absolute bliss necessitates an equal capacity for contact with absolute despair.

Where am I going with this? My emotions are not just the fuel that powers the psychological mechanism of a reasoning creature: they are parts, highly complex and messy parts, of this creature’s reasoning itself.

What counts is to be human and simple. No, what counts is to be true, and then everything fits in, humanity and simplicity. When am I truer than when I am the world? My cup brims over before I have time to desire. Eternity is there and I was hoping for it. What I wish for now is no longer happiness but simply awareness.

Have a great week, Everyone. I love you … Aloha! heart emoticon

For The Homeless ~ Blessing Bags, Created by YOU!

Hālau ʻĀha Hūi Lanakila1 Comment

BLESSING-BAGS

Have you ever heard of a Blessing Bag? Read below and make a few. Keep them in your car and when you see someone on the street corner, give them one. I know there are lot people who panhandle for a living but there are also those who are really down on their luck and could use a few necessities and a huge Blessing. Give it a try…….you will love the feeling it gives you just knowing you made someone very happy.

 

STUFFING YOUR BLESSING BAGS

Gallon Size Ziploc Bag – This is key for several reasons:

Helps to keep everything together & in one place so they can easily access the supplies in their bags/backpacks
Keeps the items from spilling/leaking onto their personal items in their bags
The bags can later be used for other storage options within their bags – storing toiletries, snacks, etc

Hand-Warmers – we put a couple packs in, especially during the winter, but even for those chilly evenings in the spring/summer/fall these would be very welcome. We buy a pack of 40 at Costco for around $15 ($.38/pk) & then we have these on hand for blessing bags as well as camping, winter sports, etc.

Bag of Quarters – These are nice to include for washing clothes at the laundromat (we just put them in a snack-size Ziploc bag to keep them contained in a smaller area

Bottle of Water – Mini water bottles work great so they don’t take up too much space or if you can fit a regular size water bottle

Band-Aids – these are something that may often be needed but may not be something they would be able to spend money on or think about having.

Baby Wipes – a small pack of baby wipes would be a great one to include to help with feeling clean & fresh

Hand Sanitizer – another great option to help them feel cleaner

Wash Cloth – buy an inexpensive wash cloth to include

Toiletries:
*If you have a lot of items to include in your bags, travel-size toiletries work great

Toothbrush
Toothpaste (travel size if you have a lot of items to put into your bag)
Floss
Soap (we bring home soaps from hotels if we don’t end up using all of them)
Deodorant
Shampoo/conditioner (these are also great products to save from hotels if you don’t use them as they’re the perfect size for these bags)
Comb
Personal hygiene items if you’re making a kit for a woman (tampons, pantiliners, pads, etc)
Sunscreen (depending on time of year)
Chapstick
Personal Items:
New Socks
New Underwear
Inexpensive gloves
Non-Perishable Foods:
Granola Bars
Energy Bars
Tuna/cracker packs
Trail mix
Raisins
Peanuts
Fruit cup/ applesauce cup (& include a spoon)
Gum/hard candy
Hot Cocoa/Spiced Cider Mixes or on-the-go coffee mixes
Courtesy http://www.thriftynorthwestmom.com/blessing-bags-assemble-…/

WHAT IS A MYSTIC?

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DOLPHIN-SMILE

A mystic is not a magician or a crystal-ball-gazer. A mystic is rather a person who has had an experience of God’s love so unmistakable that it changes him or her forever, imparting a confidence that cannot be shaken, a humility that cannot be doubted, a freedom that exudes love and gentleness and authenticity. A mystic knows from experience, not books, that we are each beautiful beyond our understanding, loved beyond our capacity to love, united beyond our perceptions of difference and division.

Temple orientations on Maui, Hawaiian Islands | Patrick Kirch – Academia.edu

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Academia.edu is a platform for academics to share research papers.

Read the entire paper here: Temple orientations on Maui, Hawaiian Islands | Patrick Kirch – Academia.edu

Hawaiian Sovereignty | Tlahcuilo Anahuac – Academia.edu

Hālau ʻĀha Hūi LanakilaLeave a comment
rainbow_nautilus
Just like many other geographical spaces that have been colonized, the Hawaiian Islands began as a sovereign and independent entity with their own societal structure and customs. After the initial invasion of western civilization beginning mainly in the late 18th century, native Hawaiian culture was destroyed through foreign societal and legislative systems, eventually leading to the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian government on January 17, 1893. After two illicit attempts by the U.S. to acquire Hawaiian sovereignty by a treaty of annexation, theHawaiian government was forcibly overthrown …

Source: Hawaiian Sovereignty | Tlahcuilo Anahuac – Academia.edu

HAWAIIAN CREATION | Devin Blanch – Academia.edu

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In the beginning there was only endless darkness.Out of this darkness, two beings were born; the male Kumulipo, whose name means “The essence of darkness” and the female Po’ele whose name means “darkness itself”.
These two created all the creatures of the total darkness; the shellfish that live at the very bottom of the ocean floor,the plants that grow during the dark of night and the grubs that burrow in the earth. As these creatures were born the dark became slightly lighter.The first beings gave birth to the male Pouliuli whose name means “deep darkness” and the female Powehiwehi, whose name means “darkness with a little light”.
This couple created all the creatures of the almost-darkness; they created the fish that swim in the deep seas and land creatures that live in almost in darkness.
These dark creatures had offspring, and with every new life, the deep darkness of this world got a little brighter.The second couple gave birth to a third: the male Po’el’ele, whose name means “night” and the female Pohaha,whose name means “coming into dawn”.
These two created the creatures of the darkness-near-dawn; the insects that fly by night, the caterpillar, the grass-hopper and a large egg.
The egg hatched into thousands of birds. These were the birds that fly and sing in the hours just before dawn.The fish, the birds and the insects all had offspring- each new creature added some light to the darkness, until it was getting closer to the light we have in the hours before dawn.
Next to be born were Popanopano and Polalowwehi who gave birth to sea-turtles, lobsters and other shellfish that live in shallow waters in near-darkness. They gave birth to the male Po’hiolo and the female Po’ne’a’aku. Their names mean “night ending”. They produced the rat Pilo’I and Kamapua, the pig, both creatures of day and night.
By this time it was almost dawn and the earth was already buzzing with the life from so many creations. These twocreated the first dawn and light finally came into the world.
The first man, Ki’i and the first woman La’ila’a were born — they were both dark since they were born just at dawn. The first man and first woman had many children. With each generation, their skins became lighter and lighter until they became the color they are now.

Source: HAWAIIAN CREATION | Devin Blanch – Academia.edu