Aloha,
If you have just joined us at "Malama I Ka `Aina" please start here with the initial post "LEI ..."
This post will help you navigate and weave between Part 1 and Part 2 of the workshop-study.
If you have not yet watched the initial preview of "Malama I Ka `Aina" please go here and enjoy the videos with Kawikapu Hewett.
Very early during our settling into the community here in South Whidbey, my friend and I had a heart-to-heart conversation that basically circled and, encircled the topic of "Care." My friend is a nurse with a long history of long-term care and women's work. New in our friendship, I listened to the heart of this woman whose passion includes everything. She was trying to understand me and the illness/disease that was not yet making sense to her. It would take more time, and many more conversations about that me with the illness/disease ... and in the process even that story changed. But, what has not changed since our original conversation about 'care' is the value and life view of 'malama' as a way to understand caring.
As with most values that sustain with long-time, over time, malama means multiple things, covers a lot of ground and is at the same time exquisitely simple. If in your definition of things/life there is no distinction or separation from All that is "malama" bcomes simple: you care for me = you care for all that is. When Pete and I were in the middle of time without time ... during the period of losing identity, caring for ourselves became more explicit. Extras never entered the picture: find a place to be safe enough, find water to wash ourselves enough, find food that would not poison us, find people who would believe us enough. Enough. Piha. Just enough became a way for us to see and feel what was important and slowly we released all the extras.
Habit, the momentum of beliefs long-standing require attention. I have learned to notice the momentum of past beliefs that keep me from becoming happy. With smaller spaces to malama, I notice when the clutter is taking more room than I can handle. Two old folk and a cat take up the space we have in short order. We malama ourselves, and we clean up. Oh, even then the small spaces get all messy. But something happens when you live with less and live outside. Our living example has become more and more the way our friend sees who we are. We share the 5 acres of "Land Steward" forest here in South Whidbey. We share the work. We share the laughs. We share the truck. We share a car. We share the chicken and duck eggs. We share the orchard.
MALAMA is also the word for Hawaiian Lunar Month. As we move forward through this second workshop and study of Kaulana Mahina, the value of time, can now include expanding on definitions. Malama means 'care'. Malama means 'month' or thirty lunar days/nights. I love how that translates ~ "Malama i ka `aina" .... a month, every month, care ... this month we focus on caring for the land. Simple.
In your life, who are the people who malama you? And you in turn, who do you malama? And those who are cared for, what 'aina is your kuleana (responsibility)?
If you have just joined us at "Malama I Ka `Aina" please start here with the initial post "LEI ..."
This post will help you navigate and weave between Part 1 and Part 2 of the workshop-study.
If you have not yet watched the initial preview of "Malama I Ka `Aina" please go here and enjoy the videos with Kawikapu Hewett.
Very early during our settling into the community here in South Whidbey, my friend and I had a heart-to-heart conversation that basically circled and, encircled the topic of "Care." My friend is a nurse with a long history of long-term care and women's work. New in our friendship, I listened to the heart of this woman whose passion includes everything. She was trying to understand me and the illness/disease that was not yet making sense to her. It would take more time, and many more conversations about that me with the illness/disease ... and in the process even that story changed. But, what has not changed since our original conversation about 'care' is the value and life view of 'malama' as a way to understand caring.
As with most values that sustain with long-time, over time, malama means multiple things, covers a lot of ground and is at the same time exquisitely simple. If in your definition of things/life there is no distinction or separation from All that is "malama" bcomes simple: you care for me = you care for all that is. When Pete and I were in the middle of time without time ... during the period of losing identity, caring for ourselves became more explicit. Extras never entered the picture: find a place to be safe enough, find water to wash ourselves enough, find food that would not poison us, find people who would believe us enough. Enough. Piha. Just enough became a way for us to see and feel what was important and slowly we released all the extras.
Habit, the momentum of beliefs long-standing require attention. I have learned to notice the momentum of past beliefs that keep me from becoming happy. With smaller spaces to malama, I notice when the clutter is taking more room than I can handle. Two old folk and a cat take up the space we have in short order. We malama ourselves, and we clean up. Oh, even then the small spaces get all messy. But something happens when you live with less and live outside. Our living example has become more and more the way our friend sees who we are. We share the 5 acres of "Land Steward" forest here in South Whidbey. We share the work. We share the laughs. We share the truck. We share a car. We share the chicken and duck eggs. We share the orchard.
MALAMA is also the word for Hawaiian Lunar Month. As we move forward through this second workshop and study of Kaulana Mahina, the value of time, can now include expanding on definitions. Malama means 'care'. Malama means 'month' or thirty lunar days/nights. I love how that translates ~ "Malama i ka `aina" .... a month, every month, care ... this month we focus on caring for the land. Simple.
In your life, who are the people who malama you? And you in turn, who do you malama? And those who are cared for, what 'aina is your kuleana (responsibility)?
