Hawaiian Word of the Week: Kahua

“ ‘O ke kahua ma mua, ma hope ke kūkulu.” (“Set the foundation first, then the building.”) 

As I continue my attempt to learn more of the Hawaiian language, I came across this sentence. It really struck me…particularly the word kahua (pronounced kah-hoo-ah), meaning ‘foundation’. On a walk yesterday for Āina Day (Earth Day), I thought more about what kahua I need to nurture in my life. 

I find at times that there is so much to do, so much going on that the only thing I really focus on is moving at a rapid pace to try to see how much I can get done in a day. But many times, what I do are simply short term solutions to getting something done…cross it off that ‘to do’ list!  Inevitably, I will likely have to do additional things that are related to that first task where I decided to take a short cut. If I were simply to stop, take a breath, plan and set the kahua for what I want to accomplish, I will likely be more efficient and faster. 

But I think, more importantly, I need to think about other parts of my life where I need to set the correct kahua…my ohana, my values, how I want to live my life. 

How do you go about setting up your kahua?

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