We talk about peace, harmony and āio - how do we actively express it?

Today was interesting. Interesting in the sense that when I woke up this morning, Tamanui was rising up, I was in Ohope, could feel the waves calling - it was a good start, I was feeling excited to be alive.

Then I remembered about my car overheating last night and I hoped the car-mechanic-patupaiarehe worked their magic last night and the waka was all good to get me where I needed to go today. That optimistic mindset, that faith that ‘it’ll work out’ doesn’t come in short supply for me. Heck, I’m the supplier and the consumer!

I arrived at my first destination - car overheated - so the patupaiarehe obviously got the wrong address and the problems with the car were very real. Shared story with Raniera for his podcast and hoped again, that the car was tuned in and healing itself with all the good stuff Raniera and I were putting out.

Ha, nope.

I eventually made it to Awakeri, the mechanic banged a few things together/apart and revealed what I already knew but covered up with my ‘she’ll be right’, ‘universe got my back’ type of thinking.

Of course the universe has my back, always! but that doesn’t mean I can be negligent and not face consequences for it. In fact, that’s exactly how the universe has my back…. with a lesson. Mmm greeeeeaaaat. And if we pause for a second and replace the car in this story with our own selves… I know for me, there’s very little difference in the way I treat myself.

“I’ll rest after this gig”, “I’ll start eating better next week”, “C’mon Hana you got this, you’ve just got to get it done” oh and one of my old favourites, “I’ll rest when I’m dead.”

How dumb.

How reckless and how irresponsible that I (and surely not alone in this..) have learned to equate success with burnout. This is nothing against having a positive outlook and having faith things will work out - but that also requires a level of follow through with action.

So what does any of this have to do with Rongo? (atua of cultivation, peace, balance, harmony, āio). Well, we talk about peace, about balance, about harmony and we attempt to visualise what that might look, feel and sound like. But how do we embody that? How do we cultivate good habits that lessen the likelihood of burnout? How do we actively encourage balance? Foster peace?

Words are nice, even thoughts too - but those alone, resulted in me not looking after my car and it burning out. It resulted in me not looking after myself, heading on my way to burnout.

All because I suppressed my own needs

(the car and I are the same at this point lol) at the cost of meeting deadlines and external expectations (that I took on, I take full responsibility) - which caused greater dis-ease and imbalance. If I had just stopped more often, checked in everything was ok, fix what needed fixing/heal what needed to be healed, and ensured I had everything I needed for the next phase of the learnings - I’d not only be talking about peace, balance and āio but I’d be living it too.

Consider these my ‘yarns from the side of the road’, a reflection on an interesting day…

Tēnā tātou,

Hana.