This is my time of tuning in and alignment; I’m on vacation this week on the Big Island of Hawaii, which is not just a beautiful place to be but also my personal power place. This is where I come to reconnect with myself, and with my life, and to be sure of the direction I want to proceed. While it absolutely has been a lot about ocean time, it’s also been a time for early morning walks, listening to the birds, and just soaking in the atmosphere of this beautiful and sacred place. Beautiful daybreaks, followed by magical sunsets are the rule of the day. But here’s the thing; I’m pretty sure the beauty and magic of those moments, and the power they have to help you align to your truth, was lost to many. That’s what’s so awesome about vacation. For me, it’s a time to reconnect to the rhythms of the earth which I don’t have the option of enjoying when I’m working. At this time, I’m still practicing anesthesia, so it means rising and heading to work long before sunrise. Rather than being continually frustrated by this fact, I have chosen to enjoy the early mornings here on vacation, listening to the birds singing, and enjoying the daily morning visit by the Nene, the endangered Hawaiian goose.
It has also allowed me time to reconnect with the music of the Islands … it is truly one of my joys to listen to local Hawaiian artists, who sing everything from reggae to Jawaiian grooves, to country, to Hawaiian folk music and slack key guitar. To me, music and dance are so critical to connecting to, experiencing and appreciating a culture. Hawaii has its own rich cultural traditions of amazing and impactful artists. I actually got to hear John Cruz while I was here, the Na Hoku award winning guitarist (for the album Acoustic Soul) and singer-songwriter of the song “Island Style”. He’s a true singer-songwriter-musician- storyteller. In addition to driving up to paniolo country in Waimea for the concert venue, I got to hear a bit about his process in songwriting, and how the experiences in his life, and his father’s life flavored the utterly relatable music he composed and sang. One of the nicest things is that so many Hawaiian musicians also sing in the native Hawaiian language, which was in danger of being lost as a language before some pointed and focused efforts were made to preserve the language, and native speakers of the language for the national and world treasure that they are.
As a music major in college, and someone who has participated and enjoyed music my whole life, hearing the music of a nation or people helps me to connect more deeply with the story of the people and the land. Much of the folk and modern folk music of Hawaii is tied so strongly to the natural world, ocean, wind, mountain and land. I’m writing this blog on my lanai, with the wind blowing, creating a special percussion of the coconut palm leaves as they flutter in the wind. Yes, mid-afternoon and it’s that quiet. It’s almost as if the world around me has held its breath and what you hear is the quiet.
It’s a different constellation of sounds from back home, but both here in Hawaii and back home, taking time to listen to the sounds of nature and life around us, serves to give us respite from our busy lives and open our eyes and ears to the beauty and peace around us. Being aligned with the beauty and wonder of the natural world is a great way of maintaining alignment with not only the earth, but with the things and activities that are important to us.
Time spent in nature always has the ability to refresh our spirits and invigorate our lives if we take time to appreciate the beauty around us, and learn to work with it, rather than struggle against it. How did I see this in practice during my time on Big Island? In the willingness of drivers to let someone else go first, and the ever-present feeling that there was plenty of time to do everything. It was the aloha spirit in action. As a result of this overall vibe, I felt that my days stretched long and lovely; lots of time to enjoy nature, and time to relax.
I also got time for a retreat for healers that focused on breathwork and allowing the body to unwind and relax. In the spirit of vacation, and Hawaii, the opportunity to participate in the retreat just popped up on my Facebook page, and I knew instantly that it was tailor made for what I want to experience and reconnect with; my breath, journeying within, and reaffirming the power and wisdom of indigenous cultures to show us about life, and our place within the world and The Universe.
The four hours we had were barely enough to experience everything that was in front of us. With natural sounds of birds, mountain breezes and tropical rains the stage was set to take time out of our lives and reconnect with what was important, and to address issues in our lives that needed attention. It was also a time for new connections, exchange of phone numbers, and the gratitude of meeting six like-minded souls from a variety of backgrounds.
Although I have had the usual regret at ending a wonderful vacation, I also have extreme gratitude for time to tune into what is important and right in my life and reconfirm how I would proceed with my next steps for the year, and my near future. This lovely pause and stepping out of time and mind have allowed me the latitude to focus, reconnect, and tune into what is important to me, and to once again align with the life course that I see as right for me at this time.
I hope that your past or future vacation allows you time to reconnect, realign and focus on what is good and wonderful in your life, and how to get more of the same.
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