Mauri Ora

Mauri Ora. Wisdom from the Māori world.

Inspired by the book by Peter Alsop and Te Rau Kupenga, and the 2022 diary.

Inspired by the Māori team I work with, who have helped me grow my understanding of Mauri ora.

My intention is to use creativity, images and words, to grow my understanding of the fortnightly whakataukī or pearls of wisdom in the diary. To notice, be curious and capture some of the felt sense and deeper understanding that is triggered by reflecting on each whakataukī.

My thanks to Tammy and Marama who have supported my sense making.

Image: Mother with baby, Leo WHite, 1930 ATL, WA-03183-G (Mauri Ora, wisdom from the Māori world 2022 diary)

Mauri ora is a concept in Te Ao Māori reflecting your state of wellbeing. A state of flourishing, where the spirit is enlightened, the mind is alert, curious and ready to grow. The body is well, pain free and fit for purpose. Relationships are mutually nurturing and beneficial to everyone. What underlies this is knowing yourself. What is the narrative that sits behind who you are? What are your core beliefs and values and how much 'give' you have around compromise?

Aroha. Love. Atawhai. Compassion.

Mā te ngākau aroha koe e ārahi.

Let a loving heart guide your decisions.

The process I took in my reflections:

Considering new beginnings, a time line of the year that has been.

Considering the heart, what it does and how it works.

Considering words we use that have 'heart' as a part of them.

A loving heart can swell and ache, clench and break, it can feel so deeply. Notice the felt sense and listen.

Amorangi. Leadership. Māia. Courage.

Waiho rā kia tū takitahi ana ngā whetū te rangi

Let it be one alone that stands among the other stars in the sky

The process I took in my reflections:

How to be true to myself and have the courage to hold fast to what I believe.

Alone does not mean lonely.

Give the best of your self for the good of all.

Some symbols and shapes hold space maintaining their uniqueness. Some blend in. Some sit at odds with those around.

Each symbol and shape was placed with care, led by the gut.

Those which stand out, for whatever reason, hold the potential to make a difference.

Courage and leadership do not always feel comfortable. Notice the felt sense and be guided by your tairongo. A calming breath and pause, can fortify your sense of courage.

Together we are stronger.

New growth

The flower

The waves

The vessel

Tautoko. support. Atawhai. Compassion.

Waiho i te toipoto, kaua i te toiroa.

Let us keep close together, not far apart.

The process I took in my reflections:

Considering family relationships, friendships, collegiate and work relationships:

I let sweeping actions with a pencil create images across the page. I noticed what they seemed to represent , and then let words flow within the shapes:

Leaves and lips-

they open and close to allow a life force to enter and leave along with words, good and bad.

A comma, a speech mark-

words can be harsh and cause pain or they can be kind. I have a choice about what I say.

New growth-

unfurling and reaching out with silky tendrils, open to growing.

A flower-

the stigma ripen and receive the new pollen which is key to re- generation

The waves-

to gently wash and cleanse, renewing again and again, never ending.

The vessel-

to fill with whatever needs topping up; water to cleanse, words to heal, breath to revive, the warmth of someone to keep us safe.

By being connected, maintaining relationships and keeping dialogue open we can all move forward together.

Communication for social sense making.

Knowledge and communication.

Being responsive.

The art form of oration.

Humility to listen and to speak your truth.

Literacy is a basic human right. It is essential to social and human development, it has the ability to change lives. Literacy embraces dialogue as a form of communication, it is two way as oppossed to a monologue and involves turn taking and respect.

Responsive literacy includes singing and chanting, rhymes, games and reminiscing.

In the image, music and raindrops merge to feed the hunger of the soul. Plants germinate, grow, flower and fruit and there is food for us all. Connections are made. Wisdom is shared.

Coming together for kai and kōrero.

Haere mai ki te whakatau.

Tohungatanga. Learned. Mātauranga. Wisdom.

Ko te kai a te rangatira he kōrero.

The food of chiefs is dialogue.

The virtues of hard work and planning for the future.

Wisdom and foresight.

Ka whāia te wāhie mo takurua ka mahia te kai mō te tau.

If you look for firewood in the winter, you will have plenty of food all year round.

Secure your foundation. Fill your basket. Take responsibility. Look to the future.

Creating the design on the bark slowed me down and focused my thinking.

At first I thought; surely that was a misprint! If you are searching for wood to burn in the winter when you need it, it will be wet and no good. Surely that should say summer, not winter, because using the longer daylight hours for the mahi, and the warmer temps to dry the wood would make more sense. My next thought was, Māori wisdom is good wisdom so what am I not seeing in this? I am sure it is about the wisdom of being prepared ahead of the need. Planning ahead of time and heeding wisdom not to leave everything until the last minute. Just like the story of the ants and the grasshopper, storing in times of plenty, to provide in times of shortage. I also thought of the saying that the cutting and collecting of firewood warms you twice, once in the gathering process and again in the burning process.

As with all these whakatauki, they are not to be taken too literally. When a winter storm brings down a tree, a wise person would take advantage of that to cut and stack the wood to dry for the following winter, even if their wood pile is already sufficient for the current winter.

If you have too much wood you can share with your neighbours and they will in turn share the fruits of their labours. Living in a small rural community I find this often. When I have too many eggs I share with my neighbours, they in turn bring me some freshly pressed olive oil, home made preserves, honey, milk or cheese. Everyone shares what they can and the whole community benefits.

During my wonderings, I happened across this beautiful image. A tree which had been damaged by a storm was supposed to be cut down, possibly for firewood or timber. Instead it was crafted into a hand reaching for the sky, and the symbolism I felt could represent whatever you chose it to represent. Art in nature and nature in art.

(Image from architechture and Engineering facebook page)

Matakite. Foresight. Mātauranga. Wisdom.

Ka whāia te wāhie mo takurua ka mahia te kai mō te tau.

If you look for firewood in the winter, you will have plenty of food all year round.

Learn from your mistakes and move forward with courage.

Courage and bravery

This prompted me to consider the similarities and differences between resilience, tenacity, perseverance and assiduousness. A sedulous person acts with dedication, diligence and careful perseverance, whereas a tenacious person might have a more dogged or grim persistence. Fight like a shark who is tenacious rather than an octopus who gives up easily. Bounce back and develop resilience but not a blind resilience. Learn from your experience and bounce back with purpose. Don't keep attacking with the same strategy. Yes, keep your goals and aspirations but learn from the process and if something isn't working try to achieve your goals by a different route.

This image was created as I contemplated exactly that. Reflecting on past actions, noticing the impact, aligning that process with my goals and in this case softening the strategy, and embracing the opportunity to revisit with a new perspective.

The dragonfly

The dragonfly is symbolic of change, transformation, adaptability and self realisation. It just so happened that whilst I was contemplating this process of learning and growing, building and strengthening, reassessing my goals through a wider lens, I was gifted this card which quietly affirmed my way of being.

I found I was able to step forward with the courage I had been searching for.

Toa. Bravery. Māia. Courage.

Kia mate ururoa, kei mate wheke.

Fight like a shark, not an octopus.

Keep focused on the task in hand.

It is interesting that this whakataukī aligns with the time we were planting grass seed, and as I walked up and down the bare earth with my bucket of seed I had plenty of time to reflect on the process. We planted knowing that rain was forecast. The earth was dry and dusty after weeks with no rain. The day was windy and my gut told me it was not the ideal conditions to be planting seed, however we went ahead with it and factored in the strength and direction of the wind. It was pleasing, as I got into the swing of it, to notice that the seeds fell evenly on the bare earth where I expected, and soon we had used all the seed. The following week we returned to spread seeds on another section of the garden. The sun shone and the wind was gentle and so the process of spreading the seeds was very different, but once more, we focused on getting an even spread. The seeds from the week before had pleasingly begun to sprout.

I had imagined a very 18^th century European image of a woman walking through the paddock in a cotton shift, the hem pulled up to hold the seed as she threw the seeds to the wind. When I worked with that image I ended up with a more Eastern European image with a patterned shift and a bag of seed, possibly influenced by the current events in the Ukraine. Whatever the indigenous culture, the coming together of people into a community results in specialisation in some way; as hunter or gatherer, as carer or teacher, advisor or leader, labourer or overseer. Whatever focus we choose to pursue we must do so with determination and engagement, or that which we are working on may be lost. Whether it is our specialisation or an everyday chore, engagement and self mastery comes with determination and focus.

Alongside this sits the current book I am reading: Extremely loud and incredibly close, by Jonathan Safran Foer. It is about a young boy’s search for meaning after losing his father in the September 11^th terrorism attacks, and the connection of stories through the bombing of Dresden, the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima and the boy’s dogged determination to find answers, whilst crossing paths with a variety of characters each of whom has their own story and their own secrets.

Only we can genuinely know where our heart, our mind and our soul are guiding us, and we must focus on the best way to do this with determination, with passion, with kindness and with compassion for ourselves and others. Where does your focus sit at the moment? Where are you being driven in regards to self-mastery and engagement? What are you pursuing?

Whakaanga. Engagement. Whakahautanga. Self Mastery.

He manu aute, e taea te whakahoro.

A kite that is slackened off flies away.

Generous of spirit.

E iti noa ana, nā te aroha. Although it is small it is given with love.

I love this whakatauki, it makes me feel genuinely warm inside, and generous of spirit, as I embrace the sentiment that gifts don't need to be of great financial wealth or massive gestures. We give what we can. We give when we can. There is often a burden attached to giving and that saddens me.

The other day I was given a hyacinth. It was unexpected, out of the blue and for no reason I could determine...what accompanied it however was "I thought of you". How special! How thoughtful! How kind! What an honour. In my mind it acknowledged my northern hemisphere connections to Easter, Spring, and new life. Easter and Autumn don't sit together in my 'programming'. Some things take many many years to realign.

The images I have attached are of a pounamu for my son's 21st, a taonga . My husband and I were in Hokitika and wanted to find a greenstone that spoke to us, a greenstone that merged our cultures and honoured Māori tikanga, whilst carrying meaning for us.

We worked with a gentle, kind and understanding Kaiwhakairo, who understood what we wanted. We found a piece of pounamu, drew the shape and he worked with it for us. He then taught me how to carve into the stone, so I was able to carve a pikorua onto the surface of the pounamu that sits against my son's chest.

The experience for me was incredibly visceral and deep. I love what was created, I love what was gifted. Gifted from the Kaiwhakairo in Hokitika, gifted to my son from me, from us. I hope it has not offended tikanga or protocols. It was blessed. It was given and received with respect for the earth which gifted it to us, the skills and knowledge of the kaiwhakairo and the love and connection between a mother, a father and their son.

Whaiwhakaaro. Thoughtfulness. Atawhai. compassion.

E iti noa ana, nā te aroha.

Although it is small it is given with love.

Ko wai ahau?

This image was produced when I was challenged to create an image that represents my whakapapa. On the surface it seems to represent a place, turangawaewae, but as I increasingly spend time with it, it speaks to me more deeply of my heart and the me I want to nurture, and it connects me to the physical place that lives within me.

This speaks to me on so many levels.

This is something I have been working on for many years and the more I learn and the more I understand, the greater and deeper the work takes me.

I am a product of my ancestors, my family, my upbringing. I am who I am because of the people and the place I grew up in and those with whom I share my life and choose to be with. My core values and beliefs are a product of this.

As I live, I try to see the world through a variety of lenses. I try to recognise that I exist in a world of white privilege and all the repercussions of this.

The key thing for me in this is that we have a choice. In all things we can choose how to respond and we must be true to ourselves as we make those choices.

Whakamanawa. Self-Belief. Whakapono. Belief.

He matua pou whare, e rokohia ana; he matua tangata, e kore e rokohia.

You can always gain shelter in your house, but not always with other people.

Even though I am small...

As always my mind likes to play with all alternatives and offer up multiple possibilities. The smallest thing can cause change. The straw that broke the camels back. One rotten apple...

Prompted however by the qualities of pākaha, boldness and māia, courage, I understand this:

Have the courage of your convictions. If your heart and soul guide you, you must be true to yourself.

I listen to the small voice in my belly

That wraps its whispering tendrils around my heart.

Clenching and releasing

Making sure I notice it.

Goading me to act.

It drips into the whirlpool that feeds my body

Pumping its way to the muscles, ready to fight,

And to my head...

Where it sits and rumbles

While I search for the words,

And the tone that's right

To bring about change

And be true

To myself.

Pākaha. Boldness. Māia. Courage.

Iti te matakahi, pangāia ki te tōtara pakaru ai. The wedge may be small but it will split the greatest tōtara.

Respecting others and their wisdom.

Whakahouanga. Renewal. Whakapono. Belief.

Mate atu he tētēkura, ka whakaeke mai he tētēkura. As one frond perishes another grows in its place.

Dancing your own dance, together.

I start with a few lines on the page, with the tiniest hook, like filaments in a flower head. I want them to dance. I feel it in my upper arms and shoulders. I hear it resounding in my chest. I want the filaments to sway and dance loosening their necks so the anthers tilt and gently rock. They dance like an orchestra, a symphony of gentle vibrations tapping into each others melodious wavelength. By creating a symphony of dancers I feel the joy of dancing. Once felt, that joyous freedom of dancing cannot be lost.

Mihi. Gratitude. Whakapono. Belief.

Pai ake te iti i te kore rawātu.

Life is better than nothing at all.

Image: Mother with baby, Leo WHite, 1930 ATL, WA-03183-G (Mauri Ora, wisdom from the Māori world 2022 diary)

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