“Aloha has become a very universal word, heard all around the world. But what does this word mean beyond the greeting we so often hear?” asks Lahela Chandler Correa, co-founder of Aloha Movement Kauai in her book “Aloha: What it Means to My ‘Ohana.”

Based on Correa’s life lessons of Aloha and written for elementary school children by Aloha Movement co-founder Ann Hettinger, the book has been used for curriculum in local public schools and expanded into three editions for lower-elementary, upper-elementary and adult audiences. It outlines 14 different meanings of Aloha and how these lessons can be applied in everyday life. “It doesn’t matter if you are white, black, blue or green, I believe we all have Aloha,” Correa writes. “Aloha is considered the gift of the Hawaiian people to the world.”

Hokuala Kauai is proud to partner with Aloha Movement to share this insight into local tradition and culture with our residents, guests, and friends.

Aloha is Light

The meaning of light: living an ola (life) of goodness, choosing the path of maika’i (good) over bad; to the right thing and bring happiness and aloha to others.

Light as expressed in everyday life: When you are faced with a decision, choose the path of honesty and integrity to succeed instead of a path that will bring harm or bad mana (energy) to others and yourself.

What aloha means to you: ““Aloha is light. Aloha, to me, is a way of life. It’s more than just a word. It’s more than just the meaning. “Aloha is light” means to live pono (righteously) every day. To make pono choices, every day and in every single thing you do.

When you wake up in the morning, you give thanks all the way until you lay your head down at night. To continue to make pono choices in the work that you do and in the way that you raise your kids. To bring light in the way that you greet others day after day.

“Aloha is light” is the sum of those pono choices and living a pono life.” – Kuulei Cummings, Front Desk Supervisor at Timbers Kauai