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Life Lessons Learned from Making A Lei

Dec 18, 2021
 

I've been restoring my mind, body, and spirit at a retreat in Hawaii and in coming posts, I'll talk about some life and business lessons learned from the trip. We had the opportunity to make a Hawaiian lei of glorious native flowers and plants for a sacred ceremony to Madame Pele at the rim of an active volcano (talk about getting out of comfort zones)!

It looked great (I say modestly) but it was a struggle and I almost quit several times (which is the opposite of what I tell coaching clients). But a lei is a symbol of love, honor, friendship, celebration, and greeting. You may see them on cruise ships and Elvis movies, but leis have cultural significance, and have even been used as peace offerings with warring chiefs. So I focused on the sacred meaning and not my struggles.

If you want to keep everyone busy (and not fighting) at your next gathering, you can even try to make your own leis with this quick article/tutorial that looks MUCH easier than what we did with our materials.

As you set your personal and professional goals for the next week, month, or year, consider these tips from my lei-making experience to help with your mindset. 

  1.  Be yourself. My lei is not symmetrical. It’s a little much. It’s a little extra. But it’s all me.
  2. Ask for help. I didn’t care how many times I asked our guide for help. I didn’t care that she had explained it over and over. I asked for help. I know where I'm an expert and I know what I can't do (yet).
  3. Practice patience. It took me 4 tries to make this lei.
  4. Learn something new. I may never use this skill again, but it was a great reminder to keep trying. More important, I kept doing it until I finished. I didn’t need to, but it was important for me and my integrity to start and finish something hard.
  5.  Bring beauty into your life every day. When you surround yourself with beauty, you elevate your mood and that makes you a much more pleasant person to be around at home and at work.
  6. Thank everything and everyone. I thanked the flowers, the land, the people who picked the flowers, and the water I was drinking as I worked. Then I set specific intentions as I made the le with love (after I stopped cursing with frustration).

As with everything, take what resonates and leave the rest. But ask yourself this question. 

How often do you stop the hard work before the beauty shows up?