Why Did I Create The ALOHA Life?

In creating my approach to counseling for a Masters Program at USM (University of Santa Monica), a few elements were important to me.

In fact, I had been working on developing a theory before I came to USM and thought that I might develop the project during my time here, but I decided to hold off because I wanted to remain open to the many things we would learn before biasing my work with a preconceived notion.

When I originally thought of the this approach, I had been dabbling in a number of different areas, mainly of Eastern and Indian influence. One thing that I felt, though, was that these were approaches that were not easily accessible to an everyday person, but almost stratified for learning by people predisposed to have an interest in the field. I felt that we are fortunate in Southern California to be surrounded by so many influences and opportunities, but not everyone has this type of exposure. Therefore, it was important to me to create something that, in my own words, would be easily understood and appreciated by "the everyday guy in Kansas", who had no background whatsoever in spirituality or psychology. The next important part was that it would be primarily self-guided in application.

So my intention was clear and then one day, when I was in the shower (where a surprising number of ideas seem to come up), the word ALOHA came to mind. I always liked the word, it brings a smile to my face, and it seems well accepted in most people's lexicon. As I was standing there, the idea for each letter came to me, and I realized that these could become anchoring points for people to go through a journey of self-discovery. 

By the time I reached for conditioner (self-serving part of the story), the 5 letters each had a meaning, though the last one I've changed since I first came up with this idea 18 months ago. ALOHA - The "A" would stand for Awareness, "L" represents Love, "O" symbolizes Openness, "H" is for Happiness, and the final "A" is for Action (initially I had this letter represent Appreciation, but I felt that taking action was an important principle in the theory and, especially in terms of personal responsibility).

That was it - 5 letters that each represent an aspect of counseling and development, that would build on each other and provide a framework for a person to easily reference throughout their life - During the ebb and flow of an individual's journey, they may be at different points or move forward and backward along this path, but it's meant to be an infinite loop, starting with Awareness and leading to Action.  In the next few blogs, I'll detail each of the stages of The ALOHA Life.

Once we're through the basics of the theory, I'll provide on-going experiences and interactions which illustrate ALOHA in my life...