important that our pule, or prayers and intentions, are in line with taking care of all that we have, so that it will be here for seven generations in front of us. “Everything that has occurred up to this point has been in preparation for the children that are here today; everything has been leading up to their arrival, and they are who we have been waiting for,” she says. I realize, anew, how extraordinarily precious our children are, and that it is up to all of us to care for them, and to encourage their potential.
connected.” As she says this, her love of traveling and other cultures is obvious. Puna’s perspective on not-judging other ways of thinking than her own is fascinating: “I will recognize - that is somebody’s thought. I will listen and see it from their perspective, then I can know how they feel, I will understand how they see this. I can appreciate how they came to this conclusion. In their culture, this is how they’ve been raised. You can’t discount that.”
How do we define wealth? According to Hawaiian thought, the answers are: ohana (family), wai (the water that sustains us) and aina (land), in that order. Puna explains the concept of aina one step further, “Aina is not just land: it’s home, the place where we are nurtured.” She then takes the concept of home even further than that, from a ‘place’, to an actual moment. “These are moments in time that we are gifted with,” she says. “We cannot take these moments for granted. We see the sun coming up in the morning; we feel soft rain on our faces. Sometimes we must take one step back.” It seems that she is saying: the moments in which we are nurtured are our true home. How can moments be home? I wonder. How can that be? I think of the times when I feel the most nurtured. These moments come in my house: my actual home. But, they also come at the beach, when the sunrays are bright, and the air and water are perfectly clear. I feel at home in the mountains, surrounded by greenery and streams. These nurturing moments also occur around a certain person or group of people, my ohana. I’m sure everyone has their own places and times when they feel nurtured. Puna is saying we must not take these moments for granted, that these moments are our true wealth. The idea that moments in time define wealth, more than the amount of material items one owns, is certainly something to consider.
“The ocean touches and moves against the island, and our breath affects the world,” she says of Hawaii. The literal translation of the word Hawaii is “the breath and waters of universal good. The sound ha means breath. Wai means water, especially referring to the waters we are all born from, meaning the water in the wombs of our mothers, and ii means universal good, or highest good.” Puna reminds us that being in Hawaii carries a deep responsibility; that it is the kuleana, or responsibility, of the people in Hawaii to stay aligned with this concept of ‘universal good’. It is her belief that our actions here truly affect the waters and the air that touches the rest of the world. “When a person thinks of Hawaii, wherever they are, a smile comes to their face,” she says. Being in Hawaii, this beautiful aina, with abundant gardens, sunlight, and pure air and water is a blessing. Puna is saying it is our kuleana in Hawaii to be grateful, so that our gratitude can touch the rest of the world through the ocean that connects us all.
Puna speaks of the moon, “The pull and tug of the moon greatly affects us. We are all made of water and it is obvious, from watching the ocean tides, that the gravitational pull of the moon profoundly moves the water of this planet.” Her face lights up as she animatedly explains that “the Hawaiian moon is tilted to the side.” When she speaks of her travels to Germany, I am fascinated to hear her observation that the moon sits straight up and down in the sky, relative to Germany, and so “when the German moon is half full, there is a straight line down the middle.” She concludes that this is why German culture is typically very punctual, while the tilted Hawaiian moon makes people more relaxed. “Every culture has its place, and we are all
Puna clearly explains the concept of ‘Hawaiian time’. “Hawaiian time is not late time; it’s no time.” How can people who have grown up with a totally different way of looking at punctuality, understand this concept of time? Puna uses the analogy of us here in Hawaii, on these tiny pieces of land floating on the vast ocean; similarly, we are all within this vast ocean of time. Time does not move in a straight line any more than do currents of water. “The time must be right in our stomachs first, in our hearts second, and in our heads last,” she firmly states. “Our kapuna, speak to us through a ha’au, or gut feeling, that signifies to us when the time is right for action. We then feel the kapuna speak to our hearts.” She points to her stomach first, and then to her heart, when she explains this concept. I realize that it must take practice to be able to identify the feeling she describes. It sounds like a wonderful way to operate in the world. “We are gifted with time,” she says. I think of the recent tsunami in the Pacific and the devastating effect on our