Peace With Aloha

This is part of the series I'm doing on the Elements of Peace. This talk and meditation are on using the gift of Aloha to live in Peace. I delve into the meaning of Aloha, and practice of Ho"oponopono, and why it works. Plus, there is a deep meditation.

Transcript

Aloha,

I'm Reverend Cindy Palos and this is a talk on peace and the elements of peace and I've been going down some of the key elements and today we're going to embrace the word aloha.

The word aloha embodies peace.

The literal meaning of aloha is the presence of breath,

The breath of life.

A-L-O means presence.

H-A is breath,

The presence of breath.

Also the presence of divine breath that comes from that presence that is really right there front and center and it is a way of living and treating each other with that presence,

With love,

With respect,

With understanding.

And its deep meaning starts by teaching ourselves to love our own beings first and spread that love to others.

Now if we can do this with that presence of the true breath that each and every single person has,

We can understand that we are all part of that presence and all part of that breath and with that understanding comes peace.

When the Dalai Lama came to Hawaii many years ago,

He expressed that the implement of the real meaning of aloha is not easy and it's very true.

All life wants to have happiness.

All life wants to not experience pain.

However if our own mental state is bothered,

Disturbed,

Angry,

We can indeed spread that in our mental state into our lives and into the lives of others and then that cause will bring back the effects of what happens with that state.

Now we know that the spirit of aloha can bring us peace if we can practice it every day.

See that peace is always there.

It's there inside and it's always within our grasp but it's in our relationships with ourself that we spread sometimes what our mind is going through in our relationship with others and if we have indeed things that are causing disturbances in ourselves and if we're not able to address that and find that gift of peace,

Then it's harder to share that real wonderful gift of the power of aloha.

But indeed when we look and feel and have an intention to share aloha,

We know that that can be a direction,

A compass to what makes peace possible.

Because the elements of aloha include some key attitudes towards finding peace.

It includes the elements of kindness and compassion,

Of warm heartedness and unity,

Of cooperation and joyfulness,

Of seeing the good in others and the important elements of patience and perseverance.

And in the islands where I've been living for 32 years now,

We find that we need to practice that for many reasons.

Makes a lot of patience sometimes when you're living on an island.

And we see our actions come back and reactions much more quickly because it's a smaller place.

And the actions that we act out on,

We can see result back in things in ways that we may not necessarily like and then we can maybe find where that little pebble was thrown that might have caused some ripples.

And you know what's happening also is when we have gone through the stress and when we've gone through what we're experiencing with COVID,

Then we're really finding that we have to deal with even more actions that are very,

Very important.

I wrote this poem this morning.

What happened to aloha?

What about the love it shares?

What happened to the kindness we used to find it everywhere?

Many do still stand strong.

Many carry that dream on in spite of the motives of some who shout about what's wrong.

But don't forget about aloha.

It's the most precious gift we give.

Don't let the love we preach be taken away by the anger that splits.

Let's live with more aloha.

Let's try to set things right.

Don't let the hard times take away that precious smile of light.

It's time to bring the magic back to the sacred place to try to understand each other and not allow any hate.

Your beliefs are yours.

Your beliefs are fine.

My beliefs are mine.

Let's respect each other's rights and try to understand that it's so important to have some peace.

Don't let disagreements separate and divide.

Let the power of aloha bring more peace into our lives.

When things aren't right and when they get out of balance,

There is this wonderful cultural practice which has become found in a lot of people's works now called ho'oponopono.

And the ho'oponopono really goes very deep beyond the prayer that now is being used quite often which is great.

It's fine.

And it's easy to remember because we like easy to remember.

The one that's being used most often now says,

I'm sorry.

Please forgive me.

Thank you.

I love you.

And if really done correctly,

It's a very powerful exercise.

But in the ancient cultures of Hawai'ian in the South Pacific,

It was a way for family members to get together and air what is going on that may be causing sickness.

It was a way of confessing things that may be happening that have been kept secret because when there were those things that were bothering you deep inside and at that time they felt those secrets and the disharmony could actually make you sick and possibly kill you.

But when the air was confessed,

It no longer had the power over the person.

And this interpretation goes very deep.

It's kind of interesting in a way.

It's like going to confession.

But it wasn't done in a church and it wasn't done with the priest.

It was done in the family.

A lot of times with the senior family member.

It was a way of taking responsibility and everyone involved to clear the air so the way could be completely removed of causing pain and disease.

And again,

That brings you back to the state of Aloha.

And when all of that takes place,

You're allowed to again be free to feel and share Aloha.

And you do find peace.

That great,

Great peace that's there within you.

And that's a very fragile,

Wonderful thing.

It truly is an amazing gift.

An amazing gift that we all can understand and practice.

Let's take some deep breaths of Aloha since that Aloha includes breath,

The sacred breath.

Ha being breath.

And I know I've said this word so many times.

My Zen teacher shared these words a long time ago with me and it's breath sweeps mind.

So let's sweep our mind with breathing here.

Just breathing,

No stress,

Breathing in and breathing out.

Just breathing deeply in and letting go of anything that needs to be cleared.

Allowing yourself to allow that peace that passeth understanding to come into your very being.

Coming to a place of clarity and peace.

Coming to a place where you can feel the other part of the word of Aloha,

Which is the presence.

Go deep inside your soul and feel that presence.

Feel that presence with your breath,

Breathing that presence in,

Holding it and allowing that presence to come and fill your entire body with each breath.

Allowing the presence of peace,

That deep,

Deep peace and breathing out and allowing that peace to fill your body and your mind and your spirit.

Let's just allow that ha,

That breath to just be released in a ha,

That breath of ha.

And let's feel that breath within you and go ah,

Ha,

Ah,

Ha,

Ah,

Ha.

And let's just meditate on that beautiful phrase that is used now for ho'oponopono.

I'm sorry,

Please forgive me.

Thank you and I love you.

Imagine yourself in a circle of peace with anyone you wish to forgive face to face,

Sharing that breath,

Ha.

And in the Hawaiian tradition,

You touch your forehead and you feel that presence in the breath as you breathe with each other.

Honi,

Kind of sharing that breath is feeling the presence of the other soul.

It's a beautiful greeting.

Unfortunately through COVID,

We haven't been able to share unless it's a family member.

So breathe in that breath of the presence there.

And if there's something you need to forgive in yourself or the other,

Allow it to be forgiven with I'm sorry,

Please forgive me.

Thank you,

I love you.

Breathing it in,

Believing it and releasing any of that feeling.

Having that chalice,

That cup that's used in ceremonies to be filled,

Whatever has to come out and raising that beautiful cup that takes your energy that needs to be released and raising it high,

High,

High up to the spirit and over to the presence of God.

And let it go.

Mama,

A mama,

Ooh,

A noah,

The prayer is freed.

And now come back into yourself,

Feeling that energy of freedom,

Of peace and feel good,

Feel clear,

Feel that positive energy,

Feel the power of the peace and come back into your consciousness and feel that light and love that comes with the true meaning of aloha.

That presence,

That breath there to share with all.

I thank you for sharing aloha with me here today.

May you always walk with the spirit and live with aloha.

Thank you.

Mahalo,

Mahalo.

God bless you.

Mahalo.

Thank you.

Peace be with you always.

Malawiya,

The word of peace be with you always.

Aloha.

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