Renew With Aloha

Yesterday evening I was kayaking on the Shenandoah River not far from where I live.  First going East since the sun was behind me.  Half way on this winding river I was going West blinded by the sun. Then I realized I could go backwards as a easy as forwards. As I stop to turn around I saw a  three foot turtle. This brought to mind there is no beginning, and no end- just the circle going around.

There have been many transitions in my life. Good friends have passed and as well as other things. I have recently moved my Dad near my home.  As one door closes another opens since all of life is filled in three parts:  a start; middle; and an end. Just as there is a past, present, and future how I relate to such passages fosters profound insights. Life is a constant reminder that all things come and go. 

I have met a friend in a men’s group and we are both in transition from this group. Over two years I attended this group at first every week, and then every several weeks and now probably every few months. For me this transition reminds me of a powerful word, Aloha. It means both hello and goodbye. It covers all circumstances from a simple welcome to grieving the loss of a dear love. 

For me grace comes from understanding equanimity of Aloha. Acknowledging my transitory existence is a constant reminder to how things work. When I renew it is as if I was born new again. Since everything changes with Aloha when I remember and exercise renewed awareness. With this widening circle of consciousness I reclaim greater prosperity in my life by honoring this hello and goodbye concept.  

Changing the way I reference all life is a transition this enhances my entire well-being. Aloha shifts my mind so to open in fresh new possibilities.

Renewing with Aloha allows me to discard much of my emotional baggage such as worry, anxiety and other fear based feelings.  Seeing how hello and goodbye helps me better balance the positive with the negative. 

Aloha is like a mantra that helps me recognize I have a choice to reawaken. This lens is the honor the constant rites of passage I experience. My old story can appear as I am looking through a dirty window.  When I open to new experience then I activate my well-being.   

Years ago I shared with a therapist my feelings of anxious energy and how I felt like a buzzing fluorescent light bulb.  It has taken me many years to Renew with Aloha stimulating my life force or chi energy. 

Renew with Aloha is how I choose to perceive and look at my current circumstances.  Either it is filled with Velcro for the bad and Teflon for the good or vice versa?  Such an open and flexible attitude can rejuvenate my outlook just as I can take the remote and change life's T.V. channel.

When I Renew with Aloha I enjoy its liberating effect. There is no beginning and no end just the cosmic circle rotating. This is because all things are impermanent. I accept such change as a given. With this awakening, I can better experience life's amazing mystery. Everything is a blessing, and/or a curse and so as all things it constantly arises and falls.  When I Renew with Aloha may I enjoy its awe.