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Aloha and Good Morning My
Friends, A certain, ever-present beauty swirls and
dances around us, can you feel it? In those moments when you can, doesn’t
your whole body swell with the joy of simply being? Being Alive, Being Aware,
Being Breath, Being the Heart filled with Peace and Acceptance. |
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Often I forget and close myself
off from the swell of joy that comes from bathing in deeper soul truths: the
great depths from which spring our own divinity and the unlimited potential
to grow, to change, to evolve, to learn to do things differently and better. From that place of unlimited
unfolding we can change our chemistry, change our thinking and change our
lives! We can embrace abundance without shame, grasp power without
oppression, live life without regrets. Ahh, but how to get from here to there. It’s
almost like walking in the dark across the Hono Hu'aka Retreat Center, a
thirty acre bio-organic plantation on the Island of Maui. There are no
electric lights or street lamps to illuminate the way. That’s darkness like
I’ve seldom experienced spending so much of my life in cities. I got quite
lost, wandering around the plantation paths, blind save for shapes in shades
of deep black. It might have been fun, after all one seldom has a chance to
be well and truly lost, were it not so late and I so tired. Nothing in the
blackness provided landmarks by which to navigate. So too is the task of navigating our soul along
the shoals of opportunistic hardship that threatens to sink the ship of our
well-being, our peace of mind. When we find ourselves sinking into the
darkness of addictive patterns that serve up only emptiness, or habitual
emotional reactions that create withdrawal and isolation where are the
beacons by which to steer or the warning illumination of lighthouses along
the way? There are there, and yet so often we cannot see them. (Negativity is
self reinforcing) We have a feeling of a more beautiful dialog, but no script
to follow. Society will only support you so far and then you’re on your own!
Or so it seems. |
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Many trails, roads and paths
criss-cross the thirty acre plantation. I walked forward, gingerly feeling
for the way with my toes. Alas, my toes missed the turn that would have taken
me to my bunk house. About the time I wondered just what to do, I spied the
dancing of flashlights in the distance. My friends, wandering about in the
dark were likewise uncertain of the way. I joined them and together we found
our beds. Maui provides. If they hadn’t been just a little lost, I’d be
wandering around Maui still, probably a bit hungry and grouchy by now. The Lomi Lomi retreat came to a beautiful
conclusion. I found myself the last to leave, robbed by circumstance of any
chance to catch a ride back to town. This is okay. I’d purposefully decided
to throw myself into the flow of the island and see what I might learn from
it. So I started to walk. |
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When we want to create something
new in our lives, often the first thing to do is start to walk, start to do
something different, create movement, get on the bus – even if the bus isn’t
going where you want, by getting on it, you create opportunities through the
very fact of movement. So I started to walk. I’m on Hawaii. It’s gorgeous. I haven’t a
complaint or care in the world. I’m hoping to get to Pa’ia before nightfall,
about twelve miles away. I’m not concerned. Everyone has assured me that all
of us bohemian wanderers can simply and safely hitch-hike. No worries. I walk
a couple of miles. The sun is bearing down; I have no sun screen and I’m out
of water, a minor detail I’d neglected. But hey, I can walk the whole way if
I have to, right? Then my ankle began to hurt. Apparently the tennis shoes I
wore lacked a certain necessary support. Nine and a half miles to go. I’m
still in Hawaii; it’s still gorgeous, yet now my ankle is definitely aching
and I’m questioning the wisdom of walking much further. I guess it’s time to hitch a ride. Immediately,
the cold, wet blanket of inner resistance and fear smothered me with its
clammy discomfort. I don’t want to hitch-hike, I’m afraid to hitch-hike. I
have to ask for help and that is hard or sometimes even impossible for me. I
get mad at myself. This is stupid. What is your problem? It’s such a simple
thing. Just stick out your thumb. |
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I kind of stuck it out a little,
still limping down the road, not looking at the cars because I might see the
rejection in their eyes as they passed me by and I might feel the
embarrassment of needing something I couldn’t do for myself. A car slowed
behind me, just enough so that the occupant could yell a rudeness at me. That insolence killed my hitch hiking
career, dead. No way was I doing that again. Instead, I got even more furious
with myself. Having ventured into the scary, unknown even a little bit and
then retreating so thoroughly beaten – that was unacceptable. Inner
Criticism, it’s a nasty business. |
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I limped down the road, unhappy
and angry that something so seemingly simple could be so hard. I walked
across a bridge on the Hana Highway and all of a sudden I stopped. I stopped
and looked, stopped and marveled at the beauty of this place. I spent a few
moments breathing. I gazed upon an absolutely stunning tree clinging in the
midst of its fellow flora to the cliff side, drinking from the mist of a
waterfall and I began to laugh at myself. So, I didn’t want to hitch-hike, so what? Is
the world going to end if I don’t? The part of me that is the witness formed
a bridge and this bridge lead back to equanimity, to my peace of mind. I
smiled at my silliness and started out. I’d walk awhile more and everything
would be fine. Not more than five minutes passed before a
car slowed beside me and a gentleman named Jack unrolled his window and said:
“Hey, do you need a ride?” Maui provides. So it is. All I needed to do was get out of
the way. It turned out that Jack took me where I really wanted to go, long
past Pa’ia and over to Big Beach. Not only that, but he and his partner came
all the way back across the island to pick me up again. Then they took me to
the mall to get a good Hawaiian/English dictionary because I wanted one and
didn’t know how to get to a bookstore, to visit I’ao valley, “because you
can’t leave Maui without seeing I’ao,” and then to the airport, for no reason
save kindness. That’s the aloha spirit. Maui provides. Simple acceptance is the magic by which Maui
provided. Acceptance frees up so much energy that can ripple upon the pond of
unlimited potential in which we swirl and dance until it reaches the shore of
our higher nature and manifests into our life in ways powerful and profound,
beautiful and effortless. Mahalo (Thank you) for spending this Morning
Moment with me. Love to
you all, Holman |
