Ho‘ohanohano and our 5-Beat Rhythm: Getting Started

Preface: If you are newly joining us here at Managing with Aloha Coaching, get your download of our 5 Beat Rhythm worksheet here, read the Habit Riddle, and then come back. Your timing is perfect, for we are just getting started with March!

Ho‘ohanohano will be the sixth value we have learned using our 5-Beat Rhythm as our learning tool: How are you doing with creating your habit?

Allowing for the time to start well is always so vitally important, isn't it.

Other than those times that the 1st of the month will fall on the weekend (like this blessed month!) I will do my very best to keep the first day of a new month appointment and commitment free: When I have it as a day to myself I feel so much more thoughtful and deliberate about planning for the rest of the month to come. I want to hit the ground running and without interruption, yes. However it is more than just getting my game face on.

It is a part of my becoming “fully present” in the time that is at hand, planning pro-actively as opposed to setting myself up for reactivity. It has become a way for me to intentionally create a kind of positive expectancy, where I am recommitting to the gift of my life, receiving it well, and willing Providence to conspire for me and in my favor, just as W.H. Murray described: I have always found his words to be so powerful and optimistic:

Until one is committed,
There is hesitancy - the chance to draw back.
Always ineffectiveness.

Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation)
There is one elementary truth,
The ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans:

That the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too.
All sorts of things occur to help one that would have otherwise never occurred.
A whole stream of events issues from the decision,
Raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance,
Which no person could have dreamt would have come their way.

I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe's couplets:

“Whatever you can do, or dream
You can begin it...
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.”

—W. H. Murray, Scottish Himalayan Expedition 1951

Optimism is part of the demeanor I am always striving for, and I know I can better achieve constancy with my optimism when I am not feeling harried, stressed and anxious. On the contrary, I am ready.

It may seem a simple way of looking at things, but I believe this preparedness of positive expectancy to be a huge part of my self-mastery with Ho‘ohanohano. This is the value with which we train ourselves to behave well, and be worthy of our human dignity, and keeping a calm composure is a big part of it.

In Beat 1 of our monthly rhythm, I encourage you to think about this single phrase connected with Ho‘ohanohano and what it might mean to you:

Ho‘ohanohano in the literal translation of “making dignity happen”
is to conduct oneself with distinction.

What is your distinction? What would you hope others would say in describing your dignity and nobility, and the way you carry yourself? How well do you deserve the sitting within your own skin?

We are so much more visible than we realize at times, managers and leaders especially so. How well do we wear that visibility?

Ready to set your Ho‘ohanohano learning intentions?

BEAT 1. We start with an essay on the value of the month: Ho‘ohanohano: No more jerks for managers (we have a weekend's advantage already; be sure to read the comments that Steve and Rocky have shared there too). That first time you read it, take some time to write down two things:

1) Your questions - add them to the comments or email them to me if you want me to address them! and

2) Your intention in learning more about the value --- understand that your intention creates a kind of intuitive magic for you the rest of the month; when you capture your early thoughts, connections will get made in the days to follow. You wake up your self-attuned attentions.

Wendy shared this with us in response to wayfinding, and I found her words so beautiful: “In the canoe, my body will feel the ocean and I will look for the markers; in my mind and soul I will be sensitive to the intuitive markers that keep me on the track of my ho'ohana.”

For the complete 5BR: Managing with Aloha Coaching in A 5-Beat Rhythm.
If you feel you need clarity or support, remember my new companion coaching program!

“A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.”
—Mahatma Gandhi

Photo Credit: Aspen Forest on Flickr by Molas.

Comments

[Joanna Young]

I love that you are quoting the words from a Scot Rosa, and one who loved the Scottish mountains! No wonder we are soul sisters :-)

Joanna

[Rosa Say]

This quote has always been one of fascination for me Joanna, and it ranks quite highly on my list of favorites. As someone else who loves words and the craft of writing them, I am sure this is of interest to you too: This quote is attributed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in total so often because of the way that Murray presents his admiration for the Goethe couplet.

I think I share my experience with many others who were first drawn to the couplet itself - perhaps in alignment with a then-youthful kinship with the boldness has genius affirmation and encouragement - but as time passed by and the quote remained with me, W.H. Murray's words explaining the power of our commitment became those that resonated so much more meaningfully. With this value of Ho‘ohanohano in particular, I can so completely relate to what commitment can create in our presence and demeanor, where our own spirit gets woven with "Providence" moving.