Sources, Nudges and Elemental Truths

There is a beautiful posting at Elemental Truths, written by Reg Adkins of our Ho'ohana Community, and as the weekend approaches, I hope you will spend some time with it.

It is not too long, and you will be able to read it quickly. However before I offer you the link to click over, get out your favorite journal and a pen you love writing with, for you will want to capture your thoughts about it before you read, or do, anything else. That is why I say, spend some time with it. It is one of those kinds of opportunities that come to us for the learning of our Nānā i ke kumu:

Literally translated, Nānā i ke kumu means ”look to your source.” Seek authenticity, and be true to who you are. Keep your aloha at the surface of what you do daily, and celebrate those things that define your personal truths. In the Hawaiian culture, sense of place factors very deeply into this value, sense of place being defined as both the feel of a place, and the feel for a place.

Pronunciation Guide: Nānā i ke kumu (Nah-nah ee kay koo-moo)

The chapters in Managing with Aloha are meant to build on each other for best understanding of them, and Nānā i ke kumu is second to last because I felt it would mean more to you by the time you reached it. Many people have told me that it is their favorite one, (particularly those who are not managers, and I've often wondered about that).

Nānā i ke kumu is about self-awareness; about understanding who you are at a very elemental level. I would have chosen that last adjective had I never met Reg Adkins, and so perhaps it is very fitting that in thinking about Nānā i ke kumu today, I would send you to him, and to where he writes his own Elemental Truths in this way:

I’m not sitting with you to share with the expressions of my face, the gestures of my hands, the rise and fall of my voice and to put my hand on your shoulder. Because of this, I must build shared understanding between us with words, constrained by my limitations as a writer. If I choose my words with great care and you read with patience, we can come to be of one accord.

If I do my task well it will be as if I am gently nudging you along. In this way I can weave the in the cultures from which the message gets meaning. The meaning is only relevant in that context.
~ Reg Adkins

After I read his posting, I opened my own journal, and in part, I wrote a list of questions that I want to continue spending my own time with. As I wrote them, Nānā i ke kumu took hold of all my thoughts, claiming them, defining them, and making them perfectly right for me. That is what looking to ones source is; trust in your own elemental truths.

These were my own questions; I am happy to share them with you, however I'm placing them in the extended box of my home page here so that they will not influence you too early. I would recommend you read Reg's posting first to capture your own opportunity with Nānā i ke kumu. So here is that link;

Elemental Truths: A Gentle Nudge

A page from Rosa's Journal;

Reg wrote something beautiful. Something perfect to be reading at the start of my day. He wrote the story of why he writes Elemental Truths.

What have been the nudges in my own story? Are they still constant for me, or were they one-time pushes that I happened to need more strongly at one time?

There is context, to be sure, however there are constants which are just as important. In my sense of place I have both. I want both. How do I feel them, and how do I know them, so that I will recognize them at the times I need to?

I urge people on often. I do so without even thinking about it, sometimes missing the realization that I am doing so, because I know and trust it will come from my own aloha. Must I be more careful, so they are in fact, gentle nudges and not too-passionate pushes?

It strikes me that I know Nānā i ke kumu when I know calm. It is a time when quiet permeates, and is stronger and more physically present than anything else. It is that time when quiet is actually bigger than the loudest noise.

This happened during the earthquake last October. The noise was deafening, but I wasn't afraid, even though it lasted longer and did more damage than I have ever experienced on this, our island of daily land rumblings. I sat and waited it out, and I sat in calm, marveling at how commanding this land is, at how something we take for granted is so alive. It was elemental magnificence speaking to me, and I had to be sure I listened.

Reg wrote,

I believe the mountains, ridges, creeks, valleys and hollows were created by the fingers of God. I believe His touch infused them with glimmering imprint of His will which nudges those along who are open to it.

I believe that too, however I believe that God did so for us to find our Nānā i ke kumu. He also gave us will. Then He gave us to each other.

Flickr photo credit, by Kona Boy: This heiau [at Pu'ukohola] was one of the last built, and construction started after first contact with Europeans. They say the Hawaiians formed a human chain miles long to carry stones to the site.

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More to read, if you like. However do claim your time for Nānā i ke kumu first.

• Managing with Aloha and Sense of Place

• Places, Feelings and Learning. Learning Serenity

• What it means to “Look to Your Source”

Category to take note of: Weekend Learning Projects. I will be placing more here.

Comments

[Reg]

I merely help others recognize their path. Sometimes I point out a marker.
I'm unworthy of such acclaim.
Your graciousness bewilders.

[Rosa Say]

That which you do is done well Reg. What I do, I suppose, is ask people to take bigger leaps of faith so they will better trust in who they are.
I believe that everyone is capable of far greater things than they realize.

[Phil Gerbyshak]

Wow Rosa, sure is interesting how our weeks intertwine and cross again on our friend Reg. Very cool.

You said: "I believe that too, however I believe that God did so for us to find our Nānā i ke kumu. He also gave us will. Then He gave us to each other."

Thank God for each other, and for folks like Reg, willing to gently nudge us along, in ways he may not know or be willing to take credit for.

Here's to being open enough to feel the gentle nudges that come our way. May we not be too busy to feel them, and be open to receiving them, today and every day.

[Rosa Say]

Well said Phil:-)

An update dear readers,
The intertwining Phil refers to is in a posting he had written for his blog, Make it Great! Take a look:
http://makeitgreat.typepad.com/makeitgreat/2007/05/a_gentle_nudge_.html