The Spirit of Aloha: Discovering its True Meaning and Impact

[00:00:00] Hawaii's Best: Aloha! Welcome to Hawaii's Best. Here, you'll learn what to know before traveling as we discover Hawaiian culture, local businesses, and the experiences that make Hawaii one of the most incredible places in the world. And now, your host,

[00:00:17] Bryan Murphy: Brian Murphy. Today we have... Another great episode for you. We welcome back my good friend, Kahanuola Solotorio, a Hawaiian language teacher on the island of Oahu and an amazing musician as well.

[00:00:33] Today, he talks all about the true definition of aloha. And I think we could all agree. We probably have heard the word aloha. We've, we've said the word aloha. We know that aloha means hello, goodbye, love, and it means so much more. And. Ka Anu Aloha or Ka Anui unpacks the different layers of what Aloha means.

[00:00:56] This was a great conversation we got to have. I learned a lot from [00:01:00] this conversation and I hope you will as well get a maybe a renewed definition of Aloha. We talked about how the Hawaiian people have led with Aloha. Manage conflict resolutions through Aloha and even address some, some current topics on the word being watered down and even taken advantage of.

[00:01:22] And that was an interesting part of the conversation and I can't wait for you to hear the rest of my conversation with Kaa Nui. So why don't we go ahead. Head on over and talk story with Kaha Nui.

[00:01:32] Kaha

[00:01:40] Nui, thank you so much again for coming on Hawaii's Best. So great to see you again, man. How are you doing? I'm doing good. How are you doing? I'm doing great. Yeah. Today we are talking about the word Aloha and truly kind of maybe bringing some clarity and definition into what. Aloha [00:02:00] really means and recently we did a kind of a very scientific poll on Instagram and we asked people What does aloha mean to you?

[00:02:09] And I just want to kind of read a few of those responses Here are a few that were kind of some of the more frequent ones where you know, welcome. Hi. Hello. Goodbye peace love happiness love and kindness inner peace home love paradise being kind respectful Gratitude But maybe let's start here. Cause I know there's a lot to unpack, but what is the most accepted definition of the word Aloha?

[00:02:39] Kahanuola Solatoria: For me, the funniest thing is that there is, I cannot really define Aloha. It's more of a, of a mindset or a thought, but all of those that you just said were correct, you know, I'm not saying those are wrong. It's just for me, as a person that grew up here in the islands, as a person who is Hawaiian. I never was able to put a definition [00:03:00] to Aloha, because I just taught it, you know, it was instilled in me from a young age that just to treat people with Aloha, you know, so I did it, you know, I always knew hello, goodbye, but I never really thought of it as just that.

[00:03:14] I always knew it was bigger than, than what I learned as those, you know, hello, goodbye, love, affection. But I wanted to look into the dictionary, too, of Mary Kovanepuk, who reads Hawaiian language dictionary and reads some of the things that she put in, in here. And there's some of them include love, affection, compassion, mercy, sympathy, pity, kindness.

[00:03:37] Grace, charity, a greeting or salutation, but also a loved one, a beloved person, charitable, those kind of things. So it's a lot to unpack in one small, tiny five letter word, but I think aloha for me is just a way of life. That's my definition.

[00:03:55] Bryan Murphy: Oh, that's beautiful. Yeah. Growing up and being [00:04:00] immersed in this understanding of Aloha and you know, you learn words growing up like stove, speaker, microphone, you know, food, but then you talk about this word Aloha and that was something that was modeled to you and it's something that's just ingrained and in your blood.

[00:04:18] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:04:20] Kahanuola Solatoria: From my parents, my grandparents, you know, they didn't actually say it. But then, through what they told me, you know, to do what's right, to help others, to... Be kind to strangers, you know, and learn it through that. I learned how to treat people with Aloha through their, their leadership. So, and I'm not saying everyone here in Hawaii is taught that or has that instilled with them from, from birth.

[00:04:45] But for my family, especially, we try and treat everyone with that mutual Aloha. And for me too, I learned that Aloha is a reciprocal thing. You have to give Aloha to get Aloha. It's not just a one way street.

[00:04:59] Bryan Murphy: It's [00:05:00] really a way of life, it's a mindset. Yeah, definitely. To give aloha, is it just a release of, of that or are you expecting something in return if you give or show aloha?

[00:05:11] Kahanuola Solatoria: Yeah, it's kind of weird because we try and treat everyone with the same kind of aloha to every person that we meet. But sometimes people don't give that same thing back, they, you know, they either take advantage of it or they're just rude to you, they don't respect you. So that's where it gets kind of touchy because, you know, you expect that same kind of reciprocal aloha back to you, but sometimes people, you know, they were just not raised the same way as you, so.

[00:05:37] I guess it just depends on who you're talking to or. How they view meeting new people or starting relationships, it's all different. And I think we got to keep that in mind too, as you know, just people love the world is that we're not always the same. So sometimes just know that there are differences in people.

[00:05:56] Bryan Murphy: Yeah. And is it safe to say, or is it true to [00:06:00] say that you can also release a relationship with Aloha?

[00:06:03] Kahanuola Solatoria: Yeah, definitely. We have a few cultural things that we do, which is one of them being called pono pono, you know, like working through your problems with someone or working through a situation with someone with aloha.

[00:06:16] And of course, if you still have problems after that, you know, there's a way to cut the ties with someone with aloha, you know, it doesn't have to be kind of like this dramatic thing that everyone makes it to be right. You can still. Have a mutual respect with someone, even if you're not, you don't have a good relationship with that person, you know, but that's, you know, that's the thing, probably another episode, but yeah, I think it's a good question to think about because, you know, there's always that negative side if you're trying to, you know, mediate a problem, but you can also fix a problem with a lot of Aloha and a lot of mutual respect, you know, you're going to need that Aloha when you fix the problem or trying, you know, attack the problem.

[00:06:58] Gotcha.

[00:06:59] Bryan Murphy: You walk [00:07:00] into any store and you see Aloha everywhere on, you know, on anything and everything, right? Yeah. Do you feel the word has been watered

[00:07:09] Kahanuola Solatoria: down? Yeah, I think it definitely has been watered down. Because once you hear that word Aloha... It's a good selling point, but again, it's not just a beach tower.

[00:07:20] It's not just a key chain. It's, it's more than that. And I think tourists know that, but it's definitely been watered down throughout the years. And I think now, especially after going through a pandemic, maybe we can find better ways to promote the word alone. I think there are ways that we can do that.

[00:07:40] Okay.

[00:07:41] Bryan Murphy: You recently sent me a video and it really unpacks. Really the layers of aloha and I kind of want to to turn it over to you and and have you be able to unpack some of that for us and really take a a little bit deeper dive into the Meaning and layers of [00:08:00] Aloha, and then we'll wrap it up and have a couple of takeaways, but I want to kind of really lean into you going into it.

[00:08:07] Kahanuola Solatoria: Yeah, totally. For my Instagram channel and the whole PDM, I wanted to focus on the meaning of Aloha and what it means to my followers and to me, of course. So my phrase that I wanted to focus on this month was, A A Ike Aloha. You want to try and say that with me, A A? A A. Ike Aloha. Ike Aloha. We just need to like dare yourself to know someone or dare yourself to show affection, especially now, like we see so many things going on around us around the world that are negative, you know?

[00:08:38] So definitely I feel that we here in Hawaii can teach the world more about aloha. We can teach people what that means. And I was talking about earlier, having respect for people, just showing people kindness and not judging someone just by walking down the street. You know, some of these stories that I see in the news, I go like very emotional because it's kind of [00:09:00] heavy, but I mean, we all seen it.

[00:09:01] We see older people getting beat up in the streets. Like how is that? You know, you don't even know this person and you're just basing your reaction to them off of their skin color or something that takes you off from how they look. So yes, I think here in Hawaii, we want to promote aloha in all aspects, but definitely in just a mutual respect and mutual kindness, a shared love, like we're all human and we're all here on this earth together and to work together.

[00:09:30] So. This, this chap that I wanna be sharing with you. It kind of, maybe I'll use this as my definition for aloha, because it kind of unpacks every thing that I feel, what aloha means to me. So it was written by PKI, who was a, a very strong Hawaiian woman. And she was a, she was a, she would mediate positive resolution through an understanding of aloha, but she also.

[00:09:57] It was a big proponent of this word, [00:10:00] A L O H A alo five simple five letter word means so much. So she wrote a chat. It's pretty long, but I'm just gonna go through the first five lines. Its not your definition of the word. So the first one is aha, and I mean what you write as though this A by two and repeat after read.

[00:10:19] So aka, so meaning. Just be kind. And she's talking to the people of Hawaii, but I think in this case, she's talking to the world. Be kind, everyone in Kanaka. Be kind, every person. Just have that kindness and that affection in your heart. through your everyday actions. So that starts with an A. The next line is going to start with an L.

[00:10:44] Uh huh. You know, it's spelling out the word. So the next line is... Let's see where you're going. Yeah, it's kind of cool. Okay, so the next line is... Lōkahi... Lōkahi... Akuleke. Akuleke. Yeah, but... So that just means to be united together in harmony [00:11:00] or be in unity in your thought, in your heart, in your mind. Yeah, I think that's how we can get through any problem is through unity, whether that be on a personal level, on a family level, on a more wider scale as a community level, just having that unity.

[00:11:20] Be your, your guiding force and working together as a, as a group, I think that's a very big component in Aloha. Like I said, Aloha is a reciprocal relationship, so there needs to be two people in that Aloha. Right. Yeah. So working together, even if it's just two people, you'll get the job done if you have that unity mindset.

[00:11:38] Bryan Murphy: Yeah. Yeah. What about talking about over different cultures? I mean, obviously elephant in the room, you and I, I'm not Hawaiian, I'm different culture. And so what about different cultures interacting with Aloha? Is that possible?

[00:11:55] Kahanuola Solatoria: I think definitely, I'm sure you know, I don't know if everyone [00:12:00] knows, but Hawaii is definitely a melting pot of cultures and races.

[00:12:05] You know, it goes back to the plantation days when many people came here and worked on the plantations and it's actually kind of cool because they were all in that lokahi mindset. They all worked together and they all shared cultures. They, um, you know, shared food, shared wisdom, shared anecdotes, shared jokes.

[00:12:23] So definitely in the past. That was the way our, our kupuna, our ancestors were, you know, different cultures working together, intermingling, having babies, of course. And here we are today. So yeah, I think it's that too. It's not really said much, but it's, we know it's, it's there. We know that we can work together.

[00:12:44] different cultures. And I think, you know, seeing all the racial tension on the continent, we can definitely teach more people about that unity, that lokahi that we have here. I'm not saying that Hawaii is perfect. I'm not saying that we don't have racial tensions here, but, because we definitely

[00:12:59] Bryan Murphy: do. [00:13:00] We're talking about, this is kind of like the aspiration, the goal.

[00:13:03] This is the mindset to, to kind of be your, I guess, your, your North star, what you're, what you're striving for. And yeah, no one is perfect. No culture is perfect, but what I'm hearing is this is what we're about. This is what we want to hang who we are on.

[00:13:20] Kahanuola Solatoria: Yeah, yeah, exactly. So it's, it's a guiding, like you said, more star.

[00:13:25] It's that force that keeps pushing you forward and guiding your actions. So we're on. Yeah, we just did L so we're on O now. So O is ulu, ulu, ulu, ulu, ka, ka. Yeah. So ulu, ulu means pleasant, and then mano means thoughts. So be pleasant in your thoughts. Okay. Yeah. So all your things that you think or, you know, we all have that inner conscience, that kind of like, you know, the, the devil on one shoulder, it's then the angel on the other, right?

[00:13:56] Maybe just go with the angel. I think that's what this is asking for. [00:14:00] Like, leave with the angel and just kick the devil off your shoulder. But yeah, just to, just to be pleasant in everything. For me, like, I can definitely let negative thoughts run rapid through my mind. through my mind, but if I try and flood it with more positive thoughts and more positive images and doing positive actions, then I think I just become a better person.

[00:14:24] Of course, that's only from me, but during the pandemic, especially like the beginning, I was like, Oh, I just want to be home. I don't want to do nothing and see everyone. I don't want to see people. You know, all that kind of stuff. Yeah,

[00:14:37] Bryan Murphy: it's like an introvert's dream world.

[00:14:39] Kahanuola Solatoria: Exactly. And I'm not, I don't, I don't know.

[00:14:41] I don't even know if I'm an introvert or an extrovert, but I think... I've learned to like drown those thoughts out with more positiveness, especially on social media, like kind of just promote positivity through my channel. And my mother is a very good example of that. You can tell she is just [00:15:00] happy, you know, she's just.

[00:15:02] Always kind and always has positivity running through her mind.

[00:15:05] Bryan Murphy: I mean, yeah, you're absolutely right. I haven't met mom yet, but you could just, you just know it. Like when you see somebody, you could just, you feel it, that happiness, that

[00:15:15] Kahanuola Solatoria: joy. Yeah. I get that a lot for her. Your mom just inspires me to be a better person.

[00:15:21] So what do I inspire you? Nah, I'm just kidding. Nah, but. I think for her, it's just, again, she was born in research, she was born with that mindset to exude Aloha wherever she goes, and in Hawai'i, you know, we kind of have a joke for her, it's like, just, she's Miss Aloha, you know, she can just, That would be her nickname, her title, but it's appropriate, it's fitting, so.

[00:15:43] That's

[00:15:44] Bryan Murphy: awesome. Yeah, yeah. So, if I'm spelling the word right, we are on H, right? Yes,

[00:15:50] Kahanuola Solatoria: we are. So, this line is ha a ha a. Ha a ha a. Perfect. Now I'm just kidding. Shut up. [00:16:00] Ha a ha a. Ha'a. Ha'a. Ha'a. Yeah. So ha'a ha'a kou Perfect. So ha'a ha'a kou kulana. You're such a brat. I am. Um, but I'm a brat with aloha. So, ha'a ha'a means like humility or to be humble or modest.

[00:16:21] And kou kulana is just like your presence or your state of being, yeah. So, yeah, I think. Having humility and not being arrogant and talking is definitely a part of Aloha because I'm sure we all know that one person or a few people in our lives that are overly arrogant and, you know, very like, who do you think you are?

[00:16:43] Don't think

[00:16:44] Bryan Murphy: about them

[00:16:44] Kahanuola Solatoria: right now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is so positive. But, well, I think too, we, it's kind of funny. We kind of laugh when they get knocked down a few pegs. Yeah, so. But that's not aloha.[00:17:00]

[00:17:01] I know. Hey. Hey. Now you're being a brat. That's true.

[00:17:08] But yeah, I think if we think about as ourselves, like yeah, always know that, you know, you can always be better or you can always do something. Learn from something. You can always, you're always going to be a student, you know, don't just think that you're, you know, everything. You're, you're fine. You're perfect.

[00:17:28] You means to know it all. You're on the top of the mountain and. There's so many things in this world that we don't even know about and we can learn from so hmm for me That's my interpretation of that line. Ha ha Got it. And then the last one is a whole newie a whole newie. Yep, Alana Kila Alana Kila Yeah, so that is have patience until you're victorious.

[00:17:51] That is another part Another key component is to have patience with people. You know, when you work with someone for the first time, you have to learn how they, [00:18:00] how they operate and how they function. Sometimes people can't pick up things as fast as you. So this is where the humility comes in as well, you know, as a teacher, as a Hawaiian language teacher, I've definitely learned how to be patient, because I know what I'm teaching, but I have to always remember that my students don't always know what's going on, you know.

[00:18:21] They know English, but Hawaiian is literally a foreign language to them. It's funny because people may think, Oh, you're in Hawaii, you should know Hawaiian already, or you're Hawaiian, you should know Hawaiian language, but that's definitely not the case. And we had a whole podcast about this earlier. So we'll check that one out, you know, but yeah, I think for me, I've learned.

[00:18:44] More patients being a teacher than to a mindset or life because and not only that you don't have my class But each student is individual each student Has a different learning style or, you know, I think me and your wife had this conversation at Island Vintage [00:19:00] about our students and how each individual student is, has to be nurtured in a certain way.

[00:19:05] So that's the five things. So if we want to break it down, we can go Akahai, Akahai, which is a A, the first A, then which also means kindness, Lokahi,

[00:19:17] Bryan Murphy: Lokahi,

[00:19:18] Kahanuola Solatoria: which means unity, Oru Oru. Olu Olu, which means pleasant. And then also your favorite word, Ha'a Ha'a, Ha'a Ha'a, Ha'a Ha'a, Ha'a Ha'a, A plus, which means humility.

[00:19:39] And then my favorite word is ahonui. I'm

[00:19:42] Bryan Murphy: super humbled right now. If you

[00:19:43] Kahanuola Solatoria: don't know. Yeah, I know. And then ahonui, ahonui, ahonui. Yeah. Which means patient. So that would be probably my definition now of Aloha. It's kind of longer, you know, it's not just hello, goodbye, love, [00:20:00] but we pretty much captured everything that.

[00:20:02] I don't know how it is to

[00:20:04] Bryan Murphy: which one of those we want to get a little personal of those five, which one of those, do you feel you would love to work

[00:20:12] Kahanuola Solatoria: more on probably the, uh, to have humility. No, I'm pretty humble, but see, even saying that makes me feel weird saying that I'm humble. So, okay. Yeah, definitely.

[00:20:24] Ha ha. I'll work on that one. I don't know. What do you think yours would be?

[00:20:28] Bryan Murphy: What? Yeah. Mine would be, um, probably the patience. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's more, more or less patient with myself. Right. Like, so I can give patience to others and like, Oh, you know, sorry, I was like, yeah, no problem. I don't care.

[00:20:43] And like, I really don't care. Like you were. Not you, but someone was, might've been late or someone, you know, didn't do something exactly right. Like we talked about, like, I have a lot of patience and grace with that, but when it comes to myself, like, I feel like I'm super impatient and super ungraceful.

[00:20:59] [00:21:00] Yeah, no, totally. Towards me.

[00:21:02] Kahanuola Solatoria: Yeah. I mean, for me too, like, if I don't do something right the first time I get. I have frustrated with myself, but I'm learning to deal with it. That comes with that first slide too, is be humble with yourself and be patient with your actions. So

[00:21:16] Bryan Murphy: that goes, even though we've identified a couple of things that we love to work on and to bring, like you said, it's a, it's a two way street though.

[00:21:25] Right. So it's not just like for me, if I'm not patient with myself, I want to bring all of myself into. A relationship into a conversation. Yeah. So self identifying could also be part of it.

[00:21:36] Kahanuola Solatoria: Yeah. Definitely. I think being able to self identify your, your weaknesses too, is another part of this concept.

[00:21:44] Bryan Murphy: So for someone traveling, what's the best thing someone can do to show Aloha when visiting Hawaii?

[00:21:51] Kahanuola Solatoria: Yeah. I mean, one thing would just be when someone says all over to you is to say all over back, you know, like, right. Someone say all and then, or [00:22:00] they should shoot the shocker, Hey, alo, and then you don't get that same kind of, You get like, kind of like a, why are you talking to me? You're a stranger. So maybe, yeah, that, that's the first thing is to sign up for the Aloha and maybe end with Aloha as well.

[00:22:14] Or if anything, end with Mahalo, which is a whole nother word we can talk about too. But Mahalo meaning appreciation and thank you. That's the easiest way, you know, to show Aloha from here. But it's funny because Aloha. We kind of add it to other things. We add it to other words to make it like more specific topics.

[00:22:35] So one of the topics that we talk about here a lot is Aloha Aina. So that means the love for the land and here in Hawaii, we definitely try and take care of our Aina because it is, we are, we are the Aina, we are the land. We have a story in our culture that the first Kano plant was our. older sibling, if you will, which means we're related to, but I know [00:23:00] we definitely have that mutual brother, brotherly relationship with the land.

[00:23:05] We always say that if we take care of the land, the land in turn takes care of us. So that you see that mutual reciprocal relationship again, yeah, between us and the land.

[00:23:15] Bryan Murphy: Right. I think a huge part of that, though, is We talked about traveling into really any culture, but having the understanding of, okay, why is the land so important to the Hawaiian people?

[00:23:27] And so having that understanding, I think, not just to like pick up your trash, do this, don't do that, but like truly have an understanding of why the land is important, why the land, and Understanding those first voyagers, like that's, that's all they had. And the land gave so much. And so understanding that I think kind of puts you in a posture then to like, Oh, okay, I get it.

[00:23:52] I can, I could pack out what I pack in to a hike, or I can, you know, do

[00:23:56] Kahanuola Solatoria: that. I think too, it's researching the [00:24:00] places before you come and knowing where what's proper, what you can and cannot breathe because just those kinds of things. Whereas being cognizant of your surroundings or what you're going to go to.

[00:24:12] Yeah. If it says Kapu, then don't go. You know, it's like stay where the heaven, you're not supposed to go, but people like that kind of mischievousness of going and sneaking into a place. So yeah. Just be mindful of where you go, what you bring into taking that same things out when you leave that place. And, you know, I think too, like having that mindset of You know, what you do affects everything around you, not only yourself, it affects the people around you.

[00:24:41] It affects the animals around you, the aquatic life, the ocean, everything, you know, and it's going to affect our children in the future and their children, their grandchildren for the keep going on. So always think of yourself as a, how you affect the world around you. I

[00:24:59] Bryan Murphy: [00:25:00] love that. Gohanui, thank you so much for coming on today.

[00:25:03] Thank you. How can people follow along with you and what you're up to?

[00:25:08] Kahanuola Solatoria: You can follow us on social media, Facebook and Instagram at Eho Okinimoe. We're just trying to promote Olanahoaʻi Hawaiian language. By doing that through everyday things that people can use on a daily basis. Follow us. We have free white language classes on zoom that you guys can get into.

[00:25:27] Uh, we have a Google classroom and that's, you know, that's the way I show aloha is through education, through my language, through teaching. That's how we met, you know, you, yeah, stumbled across. My channel. And yeah, I think that's what I want to do is just share my culture with the world, with Allah. Of course.

[00:25:48] So I wanted to say the chat for you as a whole, you know, cause we went through it individually as each line, right. So yeah, maybe you can And, okay. Uh,[00:26:00]

[00:26:29] That's my definition of aloha.

[00:26:33] Bryan Murphy: Well, I just want to say thank you again and aloha to Kahnui for his time and just for his heart to share the many layers and depths of the word aloha. And probably for me, my biggest key takeaway was, was keeping a mindset of aloha, not necessarily just saying it as a greeting, but living a lifestyle that is.

[00:26:57] Aloha. And that for me is something [00:27:00] that I want to work on and continue. To lead through my family, the business and in relationships to lead and to model a life of aloha. So Kawi, thank you so much for that. And thank you all for listening and until next time, be well. Aloha

[00:27:20] Kahanuola Solatoria: Mahalo for listening to this episode of Ha Hawaii's.

[00:27:23] Best to stay up to date on future episodes. Please subscribe and visit [email protected].