Marya Mann : Blog : Waking Up In Paradise -- Peace Painting In Ka'u

Waking up in Paradise -- Peace Painting in Ka'u

Knowing where you stand in Ka’u is to know a bit of Paradise. Getting back to simple basics last weekend, we focused on the fun and joy of what children really want – Peace, Goodness, Safety, Fun, Beauty. Thus, everyone at the first annual Ka’u Wellness Festival in Ocean View tasted a bit of actual Paradise.

We are thankful for the ancestors who have nurtured this land, for the kanaka maoli, and for generations of elementals, animals, and transpersonal beings who have shaped Hawaii in sustainable ways, allowing us to enjoy these gifts today.

Surrounded by playful dolphins and happy rainbows painted on silk Peace Flags, we are standing in the Garden of Eden, not only the one the world knows as Paradise — Hawaii — but the heart realm described by Hawaii’s mythical Children of the Rainbow. The heart realm is the place within, the harmony space where we can access peace from anywhere in the world through our Creative Spirit.

Coloring the World with Peace, ArtWavEs (for short, AWE) brings together small hands, wise elders, silk paints, flags, and banners so that seasoned artists and volunteers can assist in making small changes: personal Peace Flags to remind painters of their commitments to honesty, excellence, and Ho’oponopono. And also bigger changes: by painting inspirational gift banners for children in places around the globe where tensions have flared. Where there is conflict, the Peace Flags, “speaking of child-to-child peacemaking,” offer a touching prayer and material intention for beauty, relaxation, and harmony.

Children know that sending waves of peace and harmony into the world has a ripple effect on the atmosphere, lifting spirits and attitudes in the makers and givers as well as in the receivers. It is a win-win-win-win-win proposition.

Amazing volunteers like Lia Segerblom, pictured above, who took these photos and cast her majestic eyes over the booth set-up, help AWE to bring out the best in children, providing playful alternatives to social problems and turning struggle into beauty.

Also…Mahalo Nui Loa to Felicia Feefee, Dahlya Saunders, Greg Saunders Jo Ann Iwane, Deb Pines, Cindy Avinger, Jan Waskom, Toni Symons, Claire Marshel, Connie Parker, Luanne Hopkins, LeRoy Peterson, Jean Love, Jaime MacDonald, Ana Beth Webb, Susan Minor, Lara Printz, and Koakane Green. Without you, there could be no ArtWavEs.

Thank you to EVERYONE who created the Ka’u Festival, especially Sharman O’Shea as well as the good folks who came early and stayed to help load out. One of my favorite parts of Peace Painting is feeling the light inside a new painter spark an eternal beam of intrinsic creativity, ready for guidance from the heart, ready to give intention and imagination to the seeds of peace we are planting together.

In the past, Ka’u, the largest district on Hawaii Island, was called a “forgotten paradise,” but this massive southern sweep of dark lava stone, tropical luxuriance, and people who think like good ancestors, has become even more fertile and magical than when the Polynesians first landed here in 300 AD. And so it is — painting a peaceful reality!

PARADISE REMEMBERED

The healers and children, doctors, farmers, dancers, poets, and painters gathering in Ka’u stand at the threshold of the Great Turning, a great Remembrance that is spreading conscious peacemaking around our beautiful planet.

Mahalo for being a part of it.

To PARTICIPATE in the Children for World Peace project please go to – PACIFIC ARTWAVES WEBSITE

Click WAYS TO GIVE to volunteer or make suggestions and find out about sponsorships and board opportunities.

To DONATE, please go to — CONTRIBUTE TO ARTWAVES HERE

Much Love, Big Gratitude, ArtWavEs of Grace,
Marya