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On my Best Habit List: Play Tourist

January 22, 2011 by Rosa Say

In keeping with my theme for 2011 as The Year of Better Habits, I am definitely continuing with something I started in earnest during 2010: I’m reaping the joy of playing tourist.

In my dream of all dreams, I’d shed all my earthly possessions but for the essentials I could backpack, convince my family and friends to come with me, and set off to travel the world, living for never-rushed months at a time in as many places as I could. Yep, I really would — and I’m working on being able to do it one day, sooner versus later! I want one of those cool walking sticks which travelers stud with emblems of the trails they have hiked, and I want to take pictures with people who speak a different language, and yet we still understand each other… in our photos we’re always smiling or laughing, and we’re usually hugging.

Meanwhile, I’ve started to do so the practical way close to home, both to appreciate where I am now, and to keep my dream vibrantly alive and within reach: I play tourist.

I don’t have the walking stick yet, but I do have some photos.

Don’t pick the berries

‘ÅŒhelo berries

At least once every two weeks, I get out to see what visitors to Hawai‘i come to see, for there’s so much here, and I want to get my wonder back about it all, and not take it for granted. When I take a trip somewhere new, usually to speak or teach, thanks to Managing with Aloha, I tweak my schedule so I can stay an extra day or two, and play tourist there.

I bet there’s a wealth of attractions nearby to where you live too: Get out and see it. Feel what your visitors feel, when they snap their pictures, and sigh, “Wow, can you imagine what it would be like to actually live here?”

You do. And Nānā i ke kumu: Your sense of place is something to be savored.

Here are some photos I took while at Volcanoes National Park last Sunday, just a bit more than a two-hour drive from my home. I’m still uploading more” you can scroll through the full set on Flickr. A bit of introduction:

When completely opened, Crater Rim Drive is an 11-mile drive which circles the KÄ«lauea summit caldera and craters of Volcanoes National Park, and it leads through both rainforest and desert, with marked scenic stops and short walks on the way. Highlights are the Steam Vents, Jaggar Museum, Halema‘uma‘u Crater, Devastation Trail, KÄ«lauea Iki Crater, and Nāhuku (Thurston Lava Tube).

On this particular day less than a fourth of the drive was open because of the toxic air quality being created by the current eruption, yet I was able to see all of those attractions. You can discover the full character of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park by adding another 25 miles roundtrip descending 3,700 feet to the coast, dead-ending at a lava flow crossing the road on its land-creating journey to the sea. There are also 150 miles of trails, still including the 4-mile/400 foot descent of the KÄ«lauea Iki Crater trail, where under-the-surface flows still steam through, but are deep below, and considered safe enough to tread.

Volcanoes is a very special place, and it’s such a shame that so many residents of Hawai‘i have never visited. Those who have, know that once is not enough. You might see it all in that one trip, but you leave knowing you’ll want to return.

Devastation Trail
Devastation Trail

‘ÅŒhi‘a ‘ula ‘ula
‘ÅŒhi‘a ‘ula ‘ula

Raindrop kissed Pūkiawe
Raindrop kissed Pūkiawe

Inside Nāhuku
Inside Nāhuku: Thurston Lava Tube

Sawtooth Blackberry blossoms
Sawtooth Blackberry blossoms

Plume of smoke from Halema‘uma‘u Crater
Plume of smoke from Halema‘uma‘u Crater

The ‘Ae fern gets to work
The ‘Ae fern gets to work

Lava lichen
Lava lichen

Related reading in the Talking Story archives:

  1. Wayfinding to Use Your Best Clues and about Nānā i ke kumu: What it means to “Look to Your Source”
  2. Places, Feelings and Learning. Learning Serenity
  3. Learn about Luana this Weekend: I know you have it in you!
  4. [Driving for] Coffee in Paniolo Country
  5. Weekend Warrior (Mine was a Wiliwili tree)

Color Outside Your Lines

April 19, 2009 by Rosa Say

2009 is teaching us to be brave. We are finding we need to reinvent, and break out of any little boxes we may have put ourselves in.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot as I stretch and pull at my own business models (I have three of them going right now), and I realized something: For me to reinvent my models, I probably have to start with reinventing me first.

Don’t think. Just paint.

But do I have to reinvent, or do I just have to open up, and let some parts of me come out and play more than they have before? Isn’t that what Palena ‘ole teaches us? Palena ‘ole is one of the 9 key concepts of Managing with Aloha: It is the abundance mentality of unlimited capacity. As we learn Palena ‘ole practices, we learn to dabble in each of our four-fold capacities; physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual.

As I’ve thought about this over the last few months, I’ve decided that one way I would love to ‘dabble’ and to see me change (yep, me) is within Le‘ale‘a, the spirit of playfulness. For most of my life I’ve been so darned serious. Playful businesses can be successful just as much as serious ones can, right? The prospect seems much more joyful to me.

You’ve been here as I’ve explored some of these thoughts. Remember A Whole New Mind? And Dwayne’s birthday… remember the image I had there?

Well, this past weekend I decided that I am going to learn something that is way outside the box for me. I am going to literally color outside the lines I’ve closed myself in, and learn watercolor painting. Found the perfect book to help me with my first playful swipes at this: Watercolor for the Artistically Undiscovered, one of those crafty books in the Klutz Press series. I love the approach by authors Thacher Hurd and John Cassidy:

Just one no.5 Brush

“Why You Can’t Not Paint”

WCBookJacket Relax for a moment while we probe into your mind and read your innermost thoughts. You’re looking at this book and reading these words because deep inside you, some little part of you would like to learn to paint or draw. But, at the same time, you’re confused, frustrated. Why? Because your artistic talent is in remission. It was last seen in a fingerpainted flower your mother stuck to the refrigerator. Since then, your genius has been in a deep sleep, perhaps even in a coma, buried somewhere inside you. You haven’t heard from it in years.

Allow us to make an obvious point.

Art is Personal Expression. You have YOUR talent. Nobody else has anything like it. They can’t. It’s biologically impossible. DaVinci splattered paint his way; you splatter paint your way” In this book, the only mistake you can make is to criticize yourself, get in your own way —or to start straining and stop having fun. Your talent is for being you and for expressing all that wonderful you-ness; you’re the world’s absolute undisputed champion at it.”

So far I’m only on splats, smudges, wiggles and twirls. Haven’t even got to any color mixing yet. The authors call it “no-thinking brush play.” Right up my alley. “Quick, no thinking strokes = clear colors. Too careful, slow strokes = muddy colors.”

And I’m having a ball.

A twirl I can handle!   Attention! You cannot mess this up!

I’ll be doing this again next weekend. Might not even wait that long!

What does this have to do with my business reinventions? Maybe nothing. Most probably everything.

What will you be doing in your Palena ‘ole exploration?


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Coming out to play

February 7, 2009 by Rosa Say

Coming out to play

POMD: February 06, 2009

10:32am Tucked along our moss rock wall.

Photo 18 for “Photo of my day”

Seemed to be inspiration for the coming weekend; a time I can get out and play too :) What are you planning for the weekend, hm?

If you are still thinking about how to spend your weekend, here are some ideas, things we have talked story about:

  • Learn about Luana this Weekend: I know you have it in you!
  • Weekend Warrior (Mine was a Wiliwili tree)
  • Blue Chair Weekend: Always a favorite!
  • Have some eggs this weekend, or
  • Weekend Coaching: It may surprise you where you might get some.

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RSS Current Articles at Managing with Aloha:

  • Do it—Experiment!
  • Hō‘imi to Curate Your Life’s Experience
  • Kaʻana i kāu aloha: Share your Aloha
  • Managing Basics: The Good Receiver
  • What do executives do, anyway? They do values.
  • Managing Basics: On Finishing Well
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