I’ve been preparing for my talk at Na Mea Hawaii for PONO TODAY, and trying to figure out exactly what I am going to talk about. It’s not very often that I’m asked to stand in front of people for an hour and a half talking about myself and my thoughts. (cough*cough* 6:30PM – 8:00PM Thursday, October 17 @ Na Mea Hawaii in Ward Center.)
Anyways, I first started off with outlines, topics, and stories which all came out to be good thoughts but I think my nervousness is getting the best of me. I ended up crumpling up the sheets and throwing them away, maybe not all but quite a few.
In my ebook, Aloha to You, I share my journey towards self discovery and personal growth. I’ve been getting great responses about the book from readers. I collected all of them and it was very interesting to see the common themes.
Why You Can’t Give Aloha
I named my book, Aloha to You, for a specific reason.
Growing up in Hawaii, I was raised surrounded by the Hawaiian culture which always preached to give Aloha. Share Aloha. Show Aloha. Live Aloha.
To me, Aloha starts with YOU.
It’s hard to be happy when you are sad.
It’s hard to love when you have hate.
It’s hard to inspire when you are not passionate.
It’s hard to be humble when you are arrogant.
It’s hard to have patience when you are always in a hurry.
Yes, these are all emotions that we may feel at some point. It’s part of human nature. What I don’t get is when I hear people talk about giving Aloha and sharing the Aloha Spirit, but then go behind and speak negatively about others.
Something wrong is there. We are all guilty of it, I am, but it’s important to have awareness. Awareness is important.
Then there are those who have low confidence and self-esteem who blame others for the things going wrong in their life.
It all goes back to the idea of Cause and Effect. Your outer world has a direct relation to your inner world. James Allen, author of As a Man Thinketh, wrote:
“Good thoughts bear good fruit, bad thoughts bear bad fruit.”
Take a look at the trees you harvest.
Just like you can’t bear good fruit if you have bad thoughts. You can’t give Aloha if you don’t have Aloha for yourself.
That is something we all overlook. We focus too much about giving Aloha, sharing Aloha, but what the real thing we need to speak about and focus on, especially with the youth today, is to have Aloha for yourself.
You can’t influence if you are not influenced.
You can’t lead if you don’t know how to follow.
So before you start giving Aloha to others, bring Along to YOU first.
Mahalo!.
Aipa,
You continue to inspire brotha! Self discovery begins with self. It’s easy to say, but applying it is a whole other task.
I believe we’re on the same wave-length (minus the muscle) because my post today was very similar to yours.
Thank you for living Aloha.
Rich
This is brilliant Daniel. I haven’t been reading your blog lately as I have been incredibly busy with life! Reading this great article rang a bell with me. Thank you Daniel. (It’s weird but I haven’t received your book! I’ll re-purchase tomorrow!)
Have a great day!
Aloha Anastasia, great hearing from you! No need to re-purchase the ebook. I tried emailing you the book but instead, I’d rather send you a hardcopy as soon as I finalize the final formatting. You’ve been with my blog since almost the beginning and I appreciate all of your support and aloha.