Warm-up
Ok, it's Saturday right now. About to go out, but making sure I write a bit wherever and whenever I can (to hit the 500 words a day goal). Over the last few days, I've noticed what's working vs what's not. These warm ups are definitely working. Aiming for word count, not so much. It also helps if I reframe my chapters into questions. This way it makes the writing feel more like a response to a simple question, as opposed to trying to get fancy with anything.
As such, for today's writing, I'm going to focus on "Values of The Pack." As mentioned yesterday, the outline for the book was already there for me based on the webinar structure we've created for our Productivity Accelerators over the last 5 years. This means all I have to do is write explanations for each section.
When The Pack was formed, there was a saying I used often, "tena loa e fanatu. It will come." This saying was passed down to me through my great grandfather from my mother's side. As a result, I found it helpful for myself in dealing with life's challenges. "It will come" can mean many different things to people but, for me, it's about knowing what you want, setting out a plan of attack, executing, and then leaving the rest to "the Universe" to sort out for you.
"It will come" can also be tied to Wayfinding, a form of open ocean navigation, and a way in which my Polynesian ancestors viewed the world. In the ancient Polynesian view of the world, you did not go towards your destinations. Your destinations came to you.
This way of seeing is explained in a documentary called Papa Mau: The Wayfinder, as well as in the stories of Tupaia, a Polynesian Wayfinder who helped Captain Cook discover Australia (and many other islands for that matter). It can be likened to more modern concepts like "The Law of Attraction" from the well-known film by Rhonda Byrnes, The Secret. However, for my Polynesian ancestors, it helped them navigate the open oceans masterfully, way before many other civilizations.
Below is a picture of Tupaia's famous map, which baffled researchers for centuries. It left a legacy of the extent and mastery of Polynesian navigation, competing systems of Wayfinding, and the invention of an ingenious cartographic system.
Tupaia's ma, depicting islands based on their relative distance to Tupaia, not the traditional European mapping system, which turned out to be incredibly accurate [source].
"This fierce apex hunter [wolf] teaches how to learn for yourself what is best for you and how to teach others what you have learned without controlling them." [source]
In relation to the above, it was interesting to discover that in some Native American cultures, wolves were considered "pathfinders" - leaders or teachers.