HO’OMANAWANUI
There’s a special story connected with the construction of this phase.
One time I was facing a gnarly, chronic problem that remains an ongoing theme in my life. A friend sent me to a Hawaiian wise guy who explained the concept of “ho’omanawanui” to me.
The wise guy said, “Nowadays when we say ‘ho’omanawanui,’ we are saying, ‘no worry, be happy.’ But, there is a deeper meaning inside that word.”
“Break it down,” he directed. “’Ho’o’ means ‘to make.’ ‘Manawa’ means ‘time’. ‘Nui’ means ‘big’. When you ho’omanawanui, you make time big.”
“That is what you have to do,” the wise guy insisted.
I thought on his words for some time after our meeting. Finally, I think I figured out what he meant.
When you have a problem and it feels like nothing you’ve tried and nothing you can possibly do will fix it, then sometimes (rather than continuing to bull through trying to get to a resolve) you just have to ho’omanawanui.
You need to stop, wait, and let time take care of it.
You have to keep on giving time enough space so it can do the work that needs to be done.
(Thanks, Uncle Billy.)
Posts arising from the HO’OMANAWANUI phase of the HO’O-CYCLE include all the ones in the “Making Time Big” section of the menu and include themes like
- time management
- energy management
- timing, learning how to deal with the flow of time
- being “in the moment”
- developing patience and getting to stillness
- control issues and dealing with worry and fear, with rules
- the need for approval
- dealing with expectations – yours and other people’s
- dealing with overwhelm and stress