What Aloha? Ep. #1

It's 2025, Hawai'i & our world are changing FAST! The Aloha State is THE destination vacation... We all want Aloha! But is it real or just ads? Aloha is a life force that is more than any Aloha shirt, it's a mindset & overflow of the heart. As world forces crush humanity, what will save us all is ALOHA. Wanna ALOHA? LET'S GO! #AlohaAlwaysWINS  

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www.ChooseAloha.org

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Aloha ʻōhana.
It's an honor to be an AlohaAmbassador of Hawaii, but one of
the questions I face daily issomething we all face daily what
aloha?
We still lucky, we live Hawaii,blessed we live paradise.
But after COVID lockdown,lockdown 2020, Hawaii changed a
lot, and not necessarily for thebetter.

(00:28):
More locals moved away and, atthe same time, people moving
here from the mainland, fromAsia, from South America, plus
monster homes and resorts andgated communities.
All of that was driving uplocal home prices and land taxes
big time.
Most of our keiki cannot evendream of owning a home in Hawaii

(00:50):
.
It's also brought more homeless, more immigrants, more crime
and again, more taxes, on top ofalready having the highest cost
of living in the nation and thehighest taxes already.
What, Ultimately, more of allthese things led to?
You guessed it less aloha,which is why we face the

(01:14):
question what aloha?
Where's the aloha?
The answer, though, may stunyou.
I mean, I'm no expert, I'm nota pro and I'm kind of
guesstimating, but hear me out.
Let me put it to you as apicture.
When you think of Hawaii or youhost, like a Hawaii party, a

(01:35):
luau or a baby first birthdayparty, you always see a lei, a
simple symbol of aloha.
A simple symbol of aloha A leiis a strand of flowers strung
together to show your love andyour aloha for the person that's
going to be receiving the giftof the lei.
It's a sign of honor.
You see, on the birthday boy orgirl, or to honor the keynote

(01:59):
speaker, or maybe for yourgrandpa or grandma at their 50th
anniversary or graduationcelebrations Choke, Lots of lei.
Lei is a symbol of love andhonor.
It's true aloha.
Now some may ask why is a lei asymbol of aloha?

(02:19):
I mean, it's just flowers.
Someone once said it this wayhow do children spell love With
four letters?
T-i-m-e time.
A lei takes time to find theflowers, to pick and prepare
them, to get a string and aneedle and sew it together in a

(02:41):
creative design and finally tocarry your lei to the one who
receive it.
True confession, though I gottatell you I used to buy cheap
lei in downtown Honolulu.
Lots of lei stands and plentycheap lei, but after lockdown, a
lei that used to cost $5suddenly cost like $20 or $30.

(03:03):
Some lei nowadays even costupwards of $100 for one strand.
So I started making my own leiand now, now that I know how
much work it takes.
I want to charge $5,000 forthis beautiful specimen, no joke
.
But as a symbol of aloha, a leishows that we care because we

(03:26):
spent the time.
You know it's becoming rarenowadays and very precious to
find local fragrant flowers andto find the lei makers humble
people like you and me who takethe time to string a homemade,
heart-filled lei so rare but canhey, and here's a fun fact that

(03:47):
you may not know about ouraloha in the lei and taking it
one step better.
Did you know that when you'restringing a lei, Hawaiian and
Polynesian tradition is thatwhen you're making it, you make
it with your whole being, yourbody, your soul and your spirit,
Not just with your hands andmaybe a little bit of your mind

(04:09):
thinking it through.
No, your whole spirit, so thatwhatever spirit you have when
making a lei is woven into thelei and felt by the recipient.
For example, if you're angryand hurrying, impatient to
finish the lei and get it done,then the wearer will feel the
pinch of impatience and hurry.

(04:30):
However, if you prepare yourspirit well, you take a mindful
moment to breathe, which is hain aloha, and be pono, which
means righteous, and then makethe lei, then the wearer
receives the extra aloha in yourlei.
You don't gotta tie a bow on itto make it lei au lelei pretty,

(04:56):
because it's already got thataloha splash.
I like to usually take time inthe evening when I can slow down
, breathe and pray for theperson while making the lei
Bonus aloha.
So back to our question whataloha?
Where's the aloha in Hawaiitoday?

(05:17):
Perhaps, though, the betterquestion is why aloha?
Here are three perfect answers.
Number one we can't alwayschoose what happens to us, but
we can always choose ourresponse, and we can always
choose aloha.
Let me say that again we can'talways choose what happens to us

(05:38):
, like lockdown or pandemics ortaxes.
I'm pretty sure that Hawaii didnot choose to have the worst
traffic in the nation.
We can't choose any of that,but we can choose our response,
and we can always choose aloha,which leads straight to number
two.
Why choose aloha?

(05:59):
Because alohha always wins.
What, yes, Science proves thespirit of Aloha always wins.
By the way, more on that in afuture episode on neuroscience
and a little college you maynever have heard of called
Harvard University.
They've been doing this longestrunning grant study, and

(06:20):
science says what scripture sayslove never fails, Aloha always
wins.
It's just those three littlewords that I actually teach
thousands of keiki in schoolsacross Hawaii for the Choose
Love, Choose Aloha program.
Aloha, and I have the kids makea little heart, Go ahead, you

(06:42):
can do it, Aloha.
And then a bigger heart alwayswins, Aloha, always wins.
Finally, the last of the threeanswers to why aloha comes from
our kupuna, our elders.
In number three, Hawaiiancultural practitioner
Antipilahipaki said early inHawaii statehood about the 1950s

(07:06):
.
She said, and I quote in the21st century the whole world
will be seeking peace and theywill turn to Hawaii, for the key
to peace is aloha.
Key to peace is aloha.
We need aloha direly, more thanever before, each and every one

(07:27):
of us, but the whole world too,as it's talking about world war
three.
So, yes, more aloha and peace,please.
Let me finish with the finalstory, or mo'olelo in hawaiian,
from Aloha.
My brother, Kaleo Pilanka, aPorigi Hawaiian funny man from
Wai'ahole Valley, Recently wewere talking about how many

(07:47):
locals are moving away, how evenour own governor stated that
more people of Hawaiian descentare now living outside Hawaii
than in their own islands.
Ah, weh sad.
But Kaleo Okalani his Hawaiianname means the voice of heaven
said yup, all moving to LasVegas, the ninth island we call

(08:11):
it that because there's so manylocals living there.
The ninth because Hawaii haseight islands.
I responded and said yes, orthe 10th island, Alaska, and
Kaleo said or the 11th island,the world.
We stopped, stared and werestunned at this revelation.
You see, Kiakua, God is makingthe whole world full of people

(08:36):
with the Aloha spirit so thatthe whole world can be an Aloha
state people with the Alohaspirit so that the whole world
can be an Aloha state.
When we become influencers forAloha, then we see more Aloha
around the world.
Then we all win, win, win, win.
Aloha always wins.
Yeah you and yay Aloha.
So the bottom line is thisfamily ohana.

(09:00):
Why aloha when Hawaii seems sodifferent and times seem so
rough?
The good book says it this wayDo not be overcome by evil, but
overcome evil by doing good andliving aloha Easy.
That's what this Aloha Alivepodcast is all about Sharing a

(09:21):
lay of aloha by weaving togethermany different guests with many
different stories in a circleof love that will encircle the
world in aloha.
We'll do that with lots ofspecial guests like Kelly Boy
DeLima and his wife Leolani,sharing mele and mana'o worship
and wisdom.

(09:41):
Or Mr Aloha Alan Cardenas fromNa Na Kuli, where Aloha is
transforming the West Side WestSide into the Blessed Side.
Not only great guests, but wealso have special topics like
neuroscience and inspirationupdates or diva on a dime.
All here on Aloha Alive.

(10:03):
Alive the don o'brien podcast.
A heart of aloha to speak lifeand live love.
That's aloha alive.
Thank you, mahalo, forlistening all the way to the
last of this very first AlohaAlive episode where Aloha always
wins.

(10:23):
Today we heard that thequestion is not what Aloha, but
why Aloha?
Because Aloha always wins.
We also learned a little bitabout laymaking and having the
Aloha spirit as we stringtogether in unity.
One people in one aloha as oneohana.
Last but not least, pleasedon't forget Kaleo Okalani's

(10:48):
prophecy, the voice of heavenprophesying from God that making
the world the 11th island bysalting the earth with aloha,
you and me.
Finally, I bid you Aloha oifamily Goodbye for now and thank
you for listening all the waythrough.
May I ask for a small favorPlease subscribe and rate this

(11:10):
podcast to share more Aloha allover.
It really does help to turn theinternet into a net of Aloha
and turn a Wi-Fi connection intoa heart to heart.
Help make our lego worldwide.
Until next time, aloha alwayswins.