An Aloha frame of mind: Finding peace and joy in everyday life

At our vacation cottage at Lake Chelan, there is a little basement bar that the original owners created when the house was built. The palm leaves decor along with luau-like accents make you feel like you are actually in Hawaii. A little sign announces it is The Little Grass Shack.

Apparently Herb and Lou Hamel, who designed our lake house back in the 1940s, loved to travel to Hawaii. In addition to the basement bar area, their home included special touches that spoke of the tropics. And for good reason. Most people I know who have vacationed in Hawaii are repeat visitors to Paradise.

There is just something about warm tropical trade winds, swaying palm trees, majestic polychromatic sunsets and white sandy beaches that draw you back. Even the ukulele and steel guitar music beckons you to return.

And then there is that aloha spirit. It’s a hang loose, easygoing attitude that compliments the slender palms bowing in the breeze. It’s a frame of mind that is at once both hospitable and gracious. It is welcoming and comforting.

The Hawaiian word aloha (much like the Hebrew word shalom) conveys the concept of welcome, wholeness and peace. And if that is the case, an aloha frame of mind need not require a flight to the Islands. And it doesn’t take having a little grass shack in your basement.

On a practical level the spirit of the islands can fill our homes by asking Alexa to play Hawaiian music. Hearing “Red Sails in the Sunset” and “Beyond the Reef” on my smart speaker carries me virtually to a favorite spot on Waikiki where my wife and I honeymooned four decades ago and to where we have returned numerous times.

But the aloha spirit doesn’t require listening to the soundtrack of the “South Pacific,” watching “Blue Hawaii” with Elvis or even wearing Hawaiian shirts and flower leis. It doesn’t even take a basking in the sun on a cloudless 85-degree afternoon (as much as I love those postcard perfect days).

We can experience aloha by embracing the gift each day affords us and sharing it with others. In Psalm 118:24, we are reminded that each day we live is one that has been given to us by our Creator with an invitation to find joy in it. “This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!”

And if we first embrace the wonder of what we’ve been given, we can then pass on what we’ve experienced to those around us. In other words, celebrating aloha starts with us.

By acknowledging those we pass on a walking trail or in the grocery store with a smile or a friendly greeting, we share aloha. By purposely practicing kindness when others are hurting, we offer a warm breeze of belonging. By running after peace in the midst of a family conflict, we provide a breakfront to crashing emotional waves.

And an aloha frame of mind is contagious, too. A warm, positive attitude serves to calm the atmosphere in which we find ourselves. An aloha spirit allows us to be a thermostat that regulates the temperature around us.

Choosing to be a source of sunshine actually illuminates the space around us. A smile tends to prompt one in return. Or as an old Hebrew proverb suggests, “A gentle answer deflects anger …” (Proverbs 15:1).

The other day as I was leaving the Mercer Island Thrift Shop, I looked across the street and saw a beautiful palm tree standing tall amid the surrounding evergreens. I did a double-take.

A palm tree on Mercer Island? And then came the reminder that there is a little bit of Hawaii where I live not because of a tree … but because of you and me.

• The Rev. Greg Asimakoupoulos is a former Naperville resident who writes about faith and family.