Aloha from Maui! 2007-07-09

Aloha!

I’m writing to you this morning from the magical Hawaiian island of Maui! It was while living here that I discovered and unlocked so many amazing things – about myself, spirituality, people, friendships, music, nature…and sushi! I ate my first sushi here and have been hooked ever since! *smiling*

I came to Maui this week to rejuvenate my being and to overcome some challenges within myself. I found answers to some very important questions. I’d like to share some thoughts with you that may speak to you and encourage you…

Never lose your joy!

In all that you do – with family, friends, work, hobbies, etc., never lose your joy! If you lose your joy, then you’ll lose so much purpose and meaning in life. You’ll start to become unhappy, depressed and unpleasant to be around. Children laugh an average of 300 times a day, adults laugh an average of only 17. When and why do we become so inhibited along the journey of life?! In one of my songs, “My Son”, the verse goes, “Agility of a child, when didst thou flee? Hold me, fold me, unfold me! Jump in my soul and out of my bones! Innocence lost at such a foolish cost, may I once again feel you in my heart!” Seek to become childlike again! Have joy and laughter in your life, they are like medicine! I’ll post a separate blog entry after this one of an interesting article I recently read about the importance and benefits of laughter.

Don’t sweat the small stuff!

Life is filled with important things that truly need your attention, so don’t sweat the small stuff. You only have so much time and energy in each day, be wise and productive in how you spend it. Don’t waste your time with insignificant and meaningless things. For me, it’s something as simple as checking my email too many times each day. It’s being too much of a perfectionist about things that are not really that important. It’s worrying about things I have no control over. It’s trying to please everyone when in fact sometimes you’ve just got to do what you know you’ve got to do! It’s fearing being misunderstood and misjudged. It’s caring about what others think in situations where what others think doesn’t matter at all! It’s being upset about a mistake when in fact I should just smile at my mistake and learn from it. It’s have a check bounce. It’s having someone hack into my myspace account and send out advertisements for porn with my name signed at the bottom. It’s accidentally getting a scratch on a new guitar or a dent in my car, it doesn’t really matter because every material thing on this planet is eventually going to turn to dust anyway! It’s having a delayed flight or being stuck in traffic and being late for a meeting. It is what it is and it’s out of my control so I might as well relax and just BE! I should just enjoy the moment, turn on some music and chill or strategize a business plan or…I should do anything while sitting in that traffic except be upset and frustrated about it. There are plenty of other things in life for us to sweat about, so, don’t sweat the small stuff.

Let go.

Realize and accept that some things are out of your control. Just let go. Do your best, your absolute best, be prudent and then let go. Carrie Underwood released a song titled, “Jesus Take The Wheel”, it was a hit because people identified with the idea that sometimes you just have to let go and trust a higher power. Some people say trust God, some say Allah, other’s say The Universe, whatever your faith may be, we should all practice letting go. Let go of micro-managing things that do not need to be micro-managed. Let go of worrying about things which worry will do nothing to resolve. While growing up, my pastor told me many times that 99.9 percent of the things we worry about never happen, all these years later I can say that he is right! Let go of trying to figure everything out, there are parts of life that as a flower they just have to unfold on their own and in their own time. Let go of all the “dead weight” in your life. A hot air balloon cannot rise into the sky until the dead weight is removed, if you’re gonna rise then let go of all the bad relationships, all the bad habits, fear, anger, anxiety, etc., this is all dead weight in your life. Let go of an image of no value, know that you are beautiful and special and unique. Let go of all the lies you have been told - about yourself, about others (especially others with a different skin color or different culture), about the career path you are “supposed” to be on, about God. For example, I once saw God in quite a small box, I had to let go of some old mindsets to realize and experience a God so limitless and beautiful that words cannot begin to tell.

I would like to say that I have not mastered these things, quite to the contrary. Writing them out and sharing them with you will help me achieve them. I will read what I have written many time over the next few weeks and I will let these words provoke me – to grow, to mature, to be childlike, to be patient, to walk in love and freedom and peace. ~ Niko

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