Hi, I'm Doug Motel and this is Episode #2 of Art Spirit Sunday.
I wanted to talk to you today about something that has been really important to me. I've been learning a lot about this from my teacher Aulii. It's the Hawai’ian concept of “Mana'' or spiritual energy. It is the spiritual energy that fills you up and can put you into a connection with your strengths.
I'm sure you know what it's like to have a moment where you are like “wow, I'm feeling really good. I'm connected to my “Aloha spirit”. I'm feeling that I'm coming from the best within me. I'm really in my power.”
The idea behind Mana and what my teacher has been helping me with is to make a Mana list. A Mana list is a list of people, places, and things that you have noticed tend to give you that little extra lift, or the sense that your energetic tank is being filled up.
If you're feeling like your spiritual energy is low. As you know, there are people, for whom when you are feeling low, it is just not good for us to be around them. When we're feeling strong or we feel like we have a lot of spiritual energy, yeah we can deal with them. We can even love them and be entertained by them. But there are some people for whom it's probably best that we not be around when we are not feeling strong.
The same thing with objects. You may have a vase or some thing that provides some spiritual energy everytime you look at it.
Places have that power too. I live in New York state in a pretty rural area and there's a little spot by this creek at the end of my street that reminds me of Kahana Bay on the Windward side of Oahu. It gives me a great feeling when I drive by it. I've made it a point that whenever I have to go to get my daughter from school, I drive past that very special spot and just sort of soak up that Mana, that spiritual energy.
You can almost conduct energy like a conductor as opposed to just going along the day and hoping for the best. You can actually take an active role in building up your energy.
It's a very creative exercise but you have to start where you're at.
I've noticed that if we feel like our tank is low, we have to be careful not to try and force it or fake it, or have high expectations on bringing our spiritual energy up. Doing this can wind up making your spiritual practice into just one more thing that you have to get right.
I like to play a little game where I give my spiritual energy level a numerical value such as “on a scale from 1 to 10, how connected to my Mana am I at this moment?” And if it's a 5, then it's a 5, so be it. If it's a 4, it's a 4. If it's an 8, it's an 8. I just honor that. And I just sit with wherever it's at.
Then I say, “okay, how could I get it from a 4 to a 5? What are the people, places and things that have a tendency to lift my energy?” Ask yourself if there is someone who if you get them on the phone, will just add a feeling of a little bit more energy. It can be a very creative process.
And for those of you who are artists or creative people, know that what you do is really about putting things out in the world that bring spiritual energy, that lifts the Mana of the people who may buy your art or see your art, or hear your music, or your plays. It is really a win-win when you realize that you are using your Mana to spread it out into the world to help lift the spiritual energy of people who receive the gifts that I've been given.
Hopefully that will give you a little bit of food for thought, and you will also consider making your Mana list of the people, places and things that have a tendency to lift you up.
And thank you so much for listening!