Bowl of light
Looking at life from the Hawaiian perspective we are not human beings striving for spiritual perfection, we are in fact spirit beings shining with ‘uhane nui or spirit greatness, here to live the human experience.
They have a very beautiful story which illustrates this concept perfectly it’s called The Bowl of Light……
In ancient times, in Hawaii and throughout the world, each child born was said to have a Bowl of Perfect Light. If the child was taught to respect and love his or her light, the child would grow in strength and health and could swim with the sharks, fly with the birds, and know and understand all things.
If, however, the child got into pilikia or trouble, with thoughts of fear, worry, doubt, judgment, anger, resentment, envy, or jealousy,these thoughts would harden and form a pohaku or stone in the Bowl of Light, and then some of the light would go out because light and stone cannot occupy the same space.
If the child continued to get stones in the bowl, the light would eventually go out, and the child would become a stone. Just like a stone, the child would no longer grow, nor was he or she capable of movement. However, as soon as the child tired of being a stone, all that was needed was to do kalana or forgive this aspect of himself or herself, and huli the bowl or turn it upside down to let the stones fall out. All the light could then shine again and grow even brighter than before.
There may be times when people we encounter appear to have no bowl of light at all and it is so easy to slip into judgement of them, but as we judge them for their rocks a rock will be forming in our own bowl!
So how do you know if you have rocks in your Bowl of Light?
Like all Hawaiian concepts it’s really very simple, you can feel them. If you can think of an event or person that you have feelings of anger or guilt about, if you have feelings of unworthyness or fear of failure these will all be rocks in your bowl. Any negative thoughts, feelings or emotions about yourself or others will form rocks in your bowl.
How do we effectively empty the rocks from our bowl?
The answer is again a simple one… forgiveness. Forgive others for the hurt they have caused you and most importantly forgive yourself for your actions and reactions. Easier said than done I know but it’s important to hold on to the idea that forgiveness is really a selfish act to make yourself feel better primarily you are doing it for YOU and if it helps someone else along the way then that’s a bonus.
The first step to forgiveness is letting go. Bring to mind the incident or person that fuels that negative emotion, move your consciousness into your body and notice where you feel tension or pain or discomfort. Move your awareness into that part of your body and hold your focus on the physical aspect and let the emotion fade into the background. Breath into that place and as you breath out feel yourself letting go of the tension or discomfort, feel the pain dissolving and leaving your body…… feel the cells of your body expanding with light and love and give yourself permission to….. just let go.
Notice how much better your body feels as it lets go and releases all the tension it’s been holding and realize the more you let go the better you feel. It may take a little practice so keep at it fake it till you make it if needs be. Stay focused on the end goal…….. your radiant shining Bowl of Perfect Light
Aloha Alanah
