“Do something today that your future self will thank you for.” (Sean Patrick Flanery)
This morning was our last swim workout class with our coach, and now valued friend, who is moving off the island at month’s end. “Coach Harry” has taught all but two of our ten grandchildren (and countless others) to swim, and has trained me in swim-fitness and technique for close to a decade. Generations of families have Harry in their mental speed-dial when it comes to advice, encouragement, discipline and dedication to the sport that has been a mainstay throughout my life. Leader of the Friday morning ocean swim, an “institution” at our Hawaiian home, Harry has pointed out dolphins, rays, reef sharks, urchins, eels, countless fish and shelled creatures that had escaped our less-trained eyes. He has also shown, by his conduct in and out of the water, what it means to be a teacher and a leader. His leaving is a happy-sad occasion for sure. Happy that Coach Harry has new adventures and opportunities ahead; sad that this wonderful person and teacher may no longer introduce my grandchildren to the wonders of the water.
There’s much more that I could say about Harry, but the quality I wish to focus on as of this writing is “integrity” or “hō’ohanohano”: “to conduct yourself with distinction, honor, and integrity in all that you do”. Hawaiian Convention Center (HCC) blog. Harry is a living embodiment of that quality.
However, integrity was not always a priority for me. I recently saw an Instagram post from a fellow Edmontonian with whom I swam competitively as a teen. This in turn reminded me of the last time I spoke to Barb, in 2014, after not having seen her for several decades. Imagine my embarrassment when she gleefully shared her clearest memory of our teenage years spent training together. Assigned to do warm-up laps of various strokes, Barb recounted how I would swim part-way down a lane, check to see if the coach was distracted, and then quickly switch into the returning lane to cut off some of the assigned distance. No wonder I never really distinguished myself as a competitive swimmer!
Needless to say, my future self was not pleased to be remembered so ignomiously! As fate would have it, that encounter with Barb, a half dozen years ago, came at a time when I was doing a radical re-write of my life. I was just recovering from a severe case of pneumonia that had, among other things, effectively curtailed my tendency to plow through life without stopping to smell the roses. In the weeks and months that I spent recovering my stamina and equanimity, I reset my priorities to better reflect the qualities, like integrity, that I had previously understood theoretically, at best. Indeed, the experience with serious illness set my life on a trajectory that continues to this day, and which I have come to define as “leading an examined life”. I was motivated to never again get to such an unhealthy, unbalanced state.
It’s no surprise to me that Hawaïi, Land of Aloha, should exemplify so many of the qualities that I now strive to embody. I found inspiration in Rosa Say’s book, “Managing with Aloha”, which explores nineteen different Hawaiian values, (many of which I’ve explored in this blog) and asserts that: “If they are to prosper with honor and integrity, managers [and people] everywhere must proactively perpetuate this culture as a way of business [and everyday] life”…”In Aloha we are held accountable, and working true to our values, we ourselves become better”.
This sentiment is shared with the HCC, whose blogs have expanded on some of the Aloha Spirit’s core values for me. They seek to integrate the theoretical or intangible qualities attributed to Aloha with the Hawaiian cultural, social, educational and business spheres, much as I am trying to do here. Their blog dedicated to hō’ohanohano addresses the feelings I had about having cheated on my swim workout so long ago:
“Integrity is that unique ability to not only recognize that you have made a mistake or gone off-course, but also to accept full responsibility for it. There are two separate steps on the integrity ladder, and one cannot occur without the other. Ho`ohanohano then goes a step further and shows us that we not only need to accept responsibility, but to offer solutions, alternatives, and options to rectify the situation and make it better than it was before. This is the full meaning of living with personal integrity.”
These and other resources have had a profound influence on my understanding of Aloha in general, and of integrity in specific. The Aloha Spirit (more on that later) is not just a concept or theory, its very much a way of being. A way that promises better outcomes than my previous way had been. Armed with this new understanding, I aim to embody hō’ohanohano in such a way that satisfies my future self, if no one else.
No more swim short-cuts for me…
PS This is the thirtieth anniversary of my first Yogini at Large blog. Over half-way to my goal. And so much more to explore! From my freshly swabbed lanai, no less. Doesn’t get any better!