Thanksgiving Blessings and Aloha

Happy Thanksgiving my friends,

I have always loved November, for it is a beautiful month of thoughtfulness and reflection. This day in particular, Thanksgiving Day, is one that shines brightly with the brilliance of our inner human light. We nourish each other today, and we relish the gift of each others company.

Three values come to mind for me most of all:

NĀNĀ I KE KUMU; this is a month which seems to exist just so we can be reminded to look to our sources of well being, sources rooted in the basic simple goodness of our Aloha Spirit.

MAHALO; November encourages our intentional practices of appreciation, gratitude, and thankfulness so we can become content in the understanding of just how rich our lives are.

‘OHANA; We commune today, pulling each other close with unconditional acceptance, with the eager arms of friendship, and with overflowing love.

With this trio of goodness, we strip away the confusion and clutter we may be carrying through our days, and we reach who we are at our core. Our ALOHA. That is the way November is a gift to our humanity, I think, for it keeps us more human and less contrived.

This is my mana‘o: I know these things to be true because of the evidence in my own life.

For as if ALOHA wasn’t abundant enough, November became the month I would publish Managing with Aloha eight years ago, and my blessings would multiply by magnificent number.

MWA would ‘talk’ in its own language of intention, and it would give me an astounding gift; I would live with MAHALO, the Hawaiian value of thankfulness, connected to my work, and to my life every single day.

Managing with Aloha has done much for the success of my business as the teachable philosophy it is, but it grows more joyously with the people it has brought into my life. Blessings counted in smiling, caring faces are the very best kind.

To everyone who reads these words, thank you for being part of our Ho‘ohana Community, and part of my life. I write knowing you are there, and that we are in some way connected.

Be thankful knowing how your Aloha Spirit will always thrive and grow in the most elemental ways, grounding you in pure goodness.

I wish you the contentment of gratitude.
I wish you the clarity of simplicity and serenity.
I wish you the pleasure of wonder and joy.
And I wish you the brilliant light of the company you keep, honoring their Aloha Spirit as well.

Me ke aloha e Thanksgiving maika‘i nui,
~ Rosa Say

A journal entry from 2007: This feeling gets stronger and stronger for me with each passing year:

We human beings are such a marvel; we come in such a perfect package upon our birth, with so much potential to be groomed and polished as time goes by. We really don’t need that much more than what we start with; it is that simplicity I am so grateful I came to better appreciate this year. My paring down to a few focused essentials has helped me realize how very little I need to live a blessed life.

I have my family, I have my friends, I have our community, I have my aloha spirit and my life’s work; everything else falls in place. In good place, and I feel wealthy.