Building "Mana" and Experiencing "Aloha"

I moved across the street to the one acre farm that has walkways lined with banana trees, and rows of lettuce, spinach, collard greens, chard, kale, cilantro, basil and parsley – Evie’s Farm. The Dragonfly simply did not work out. Without going into detail, suffice it to say that Barbara is yet another “imposter,” big time, and I felt I was being exploited. Now, I work three hours a day, five days a weeks, from 6:00 to 9:00 in the morning (instead of the 30+/week that I was previously doing). Then I get the rest of the day off. I also get to eat all of the fresh produce that is grown on the farm that I want (four kinds of bananas – finger bananas, apple bananas, ice cream bananas and blue field) and have a small cabin room with three open but screened windows. There is no electricity except for a lone lightbulb in the kitchen, so at night, my windowsill is lined with candles.
I just read a book on Hawaiian cultural and Kahuna values and learned a new concept: "mana." It is the power that comes from one's personal excellence. For example, in contrast to Western work ethics, in which an employee is motivated by the desire to make money, in traditional Hawaiian culture, one strives for excellence in order to attain sincere personal admiration from their fellow employees and employer. Mana. It resonates with me. This morning, I weeded an entire row of kale (60 feet or so), to prepare it for the next plantation. It took me three and a half hours, and I worked non-stop (except for a starfruit break), as hard as I could (taking time to stretch). I'm not making money, but this farm is now my home, the people I worked with companions sharing this land, and I want to both show my appreciation and feel that I deserve to be here. I felt so accomplished when Toi (the farm manager) looked at my work with amazement and told me I was "the bomb." I have now committed to working hard each and every day . . . (instead of dragging my feet, which I tend to do at places I don't want to be). Okay, maybe I'm just saying this because I HAVE money at the moment, but sincere admiration feels so much more substantial to me than a stamped check. For me, it brings happiness, and a definite feeling of harmony -- something you can actually feel. I value exchanging these things more than I do green printed paper over a counter.
Yesterday afternoon (approaching evening) I took a walk up the road and was struck at one particular point by a unique sunset (they are different in quality over here -- maybe because there is less pollution over the wide expanse of the Pacific ocean). I took a deep breathe in order to let myself experience awe to the fullest extent, and then turned around to see a local guy sitting on a ledge above me across the road. "Beautiful, sunset, huh?" he said. After crossing the road to exchange words with him for a few minutes, he walked down the slope to meet me, took my hand, and touched the side of his face to mine. That is aloha. ("Alo" means "face," and "ha," to breathe. Literally, to breathe on the face.) We walked back down the road together (I decided I wanted to go to Two Step, by the City of Refuge) and he told me he would lend me a bike to use (EXACTLY what I need!) Today, I ran into him again. He offered me a sip of his Capri Sun but I said "No thanks, I need protein." So he went to his house (which his family has lived on and shared for three generations), and brought me back down a sandwich, an apple, a glass of water, and a frozen fillet of Ahi fish that he said would defrost by the day's end!!! He wasn't trying to flirt with me (I don't think) -- he was sharing aloha (For those of you fearing for my safety or sanity . . .what can I say? I don't want to live in fear).
(By the way, I just opened up my wallet and out came a fortune from Panda Express that I saved a while ago. It says: "Health and happiness are in your destiny." I think my mom gave that to me).