Practice Aloha

Book excerpt: Practice Aloha: Secrets to Living Life Hawaiian Style by Mark Ellman and Barbara Santos, is a collection of personal stories, recipes, song lyrics, and gorgeous photos shared by over 100 of Hawai'i¿s favorite folks. The goal of the book is to encourage people to slow down, take time to interact with others, and appreciate the world around them. In short, to Practice Aloha. The book is published by Mutual Publishing and is available in local this month. For more information about the Practice Aloha project, go to the website at www.PracticeAloha.org. The stories and images in the Practice Aloha book came from all kinds of people¿celebrities, authors, vacationers and local folks. Included in the book are Dr. Wayne Dyer; chefs Bev Gannon, D.K. Kodama, Peter Merriman, and Sam Choy; entertainers Willie K, Henry Kapono, Jake Shimabukuro, Mick Fleetwood, Todd Rundgren, and Tom Moffatt; politicians Mufi Hannemann, Neil Abercrombie and J. Kalani English; artists Andrea Smith and Mapuana Schneider; and travel/food writer Shirley Fong Torres. Their personal stories validate the benefits of living life with island attitude and include recipes, song lyrics, poems, and artwork.Some of the contributions are inspirational, some are nostalgic, some are funny, and some are heartbreaking. All of them show that there are many different ways that kama'aina and visitors alike practice aloha every day.