 Everybody, my name is Becky Samson, the host of It's About Time, and we want to thank you so much for joining us today. We're excited to have Dana Land in the studio today, and we're going to talk about making good choices and how difficult that is sometimes when it comes back to the basics of life. So, we want to welcome Dana. Welcome to the show. Thank you so much. It's a pleasure to be here with you. It's fun. We met a couple weeks ago. Well, no, it was about a month ago. Yeah. Yeah. And we are definitely the same type of people. We have lots of energy and have such a great desire to serve people. Yes. So, thank you so much for being willing to come on this show. Oh, this is fun for me to be here with you. I know. This is not your first time. No. It's not. I think my fourth time on Think Tech. Awesome. Getting to be an old pro, you know. I know. Right. Thank you so much for being here. So, tell everybody, one of the things I love to start off with is tell everybody kind of who you are, where you came from, what's your background, and what kind of brought you to the point where you are so passionate about sharing this message about ethics and morals and how do we get back to those basics of sharing the messages of how to make choices? Well, thank you so much. Yeah. I'm happy to mention a few things. So, I'm a fifth-generation Kama'ina gal. I have ancestors going back to 1856 here on the island. And so, you know, growing up here, Aloha has always sort of been in the forefront of things that I do and things that I think. Right. I left the island to get some additional schooling in the San Francisco Bay area. Which is where we're from. Yes. We're both from there. That's right. That's awesome. My husband had two daughters raised him in a cute little town called Sonoma Valley. And did a lot of music, working with a lot of kids in music education. Loved that. But I have to say, all that time I felt like there was something more that I could be doing to help kids. So, six years ago, we moved back to my beloved home of Oahu. And I start becoming aware of some of the challenges that saddle our beloved Hawaiian islands. Yeah. And what are some of those things that you've seen as you've come back and... Corruption. Yeah. High drug use, a certain amount of crime, a questionable public school system, you know, homeless. You know, I mean... There's a lot. These are problems that are not unusual to other places on the planet. But, you know, we're very insular here. So a lot of it is very obvious to many of us. So I thought, you know, what could I do to help in my little own way? Right. Daughters happened to come back from a trip to Columbia, South America. And while they were there, they were asked to, if they wanted to hand out this book called The Way to Happiness to this impoverished area outside of Cartagena, Columbia. So they became familiar with this awesome book that's being used in that country to affect positive change for the people, to give them tools to create a better life for themselves. Something that this entire planet could use, right? And it's a non-religious book with 21 common sense values in it. Be trustworthy, be competent, set a good example, do unto others, respect the religious beliefs of others, take care of yourself, exercise, eat well, brush your teeth, floss your teeth. Which are life skills, right? We are. Like everybody just... And sometimes we need to go... Like I said at the very beginning is that we need to go back to the basics. And that those are the very basics. And what... Yeah. What... So you've been kind of back on the island now helping with kids, youth? Yeah. So... Adults? So returned back six years ago and then became familiar with this book through my beautiful daughters who are both living in LA now. Found out that there was a simplified version written, which is this one. Yeah. How to make good choices. And then I added the subtitle of bringing the aloha spirit to life. I love that. Because that's what this does. What we're doing is we're instilling a sense of responsibility, respect, and a care factor for each other and the aina, the land, right? And three things that differentiate Hawaii from any other place on the planet is aloha. Yeah. Our aloha spirit and our ambassadors of aloha. And I started looking around and wondering, well, who are our ambassadors of aloha? Right. We should have hundreds. Right. Right? I could name two. Well, Duka Hanamoku was our first. Who was a surfing champion and brought surfing to the world. And he was a gold medal winner in the Olympics as a swimmer. Danny Kaleikini. Mr. Aloha. And, but of course, Nainoa Thompson, who spearheaded the Hokulea and the Polynesian Voyaging Society. I certainly consider him an ambassador of aloha. So I thought, you know what, let's create a second program to my workshops. It's called the Junior Ambassador of Aloha Certification Program, which is basically the doing-ness of all 21 precepts. Right. Putting them into action. Right. Let's go clean up a beach. Let's go up to our kupuna at a retirement facility and sing and converse with some of our lonely kupuna, you know, our elders. And I mean, there's so much that we can do. Well, and you're doing something that I am fairly new to the island, as you know. And one of the things that I saw right off the bat when I got here is that there's this great desire and need to want to go back to those basic roots of aloha and of Hawaiian. And I love that you are doing that through that culture and the very basics of getting people to that. Because we are, as time goes on, things, people are coming into the island and the island is changing. I was just watching a show today about that very thing, about how people feel like it's losing its originality. And you're basically bringing it back to that, coming back to why are so many people drawn here is because of these very basic principles of life. Of life. Yeah. Which, you know, is the aloha spirit. Exactly. And we want that more now than ever before. We don't want to drive that out. Yeah. We're living in a time unlike any other before. The social media is just exacerbating the problems that our teens are having with, you know, their own conscientiousness and how they feel about themselves. And drugs now, too, are just so prolific and so inexpensive and so deadly. And they're finding that the age of these drug users is getting younger and younger every year. So 12, 13 years. What do you think is causing that? Like what do you really think is it the core of that? I think that it's a lot of things. I think that when parents are not setting a good example, the children are learning from them or these kids are not getting the tools to understand that if they start making good choices today and in the future, they can create a good life for themselves. And I always ask them at the beginning of the workshops, what do you want for yourselves in two years, in five years, depending on how old they are? You know, I did three workshops up at the Bobby Benson Center, which is our only teen drug rehab residency program in all of Hawaii, all of the Hawaiian chain, which is terrible. There are so many kids out there that really need help. And I don't see the infrastructure to really be there for them. But something that you and I talked about a couple of weeks ago is that it does come from the example. We've got to teach, we've got to create the cultures or the communities, and we've also got to have the group of kids, but we also have the adults that need to go, hey, we need to go back to the basics again and be able to live this because kids only know how to model what they see. Exactly. And if they're not seeing good things and we're getting away from those basic morals and standards, then they're lost. Exactly. Before I started my LLC, which is Help for Hawaii's Humanity, because that's what this is all about, I decided to survey the book. So I went out to these coffee with a cop outreach community programs that the HPD does, which is great. I went to the Hulamal in front of Starbucks and showed about eight different police officers this book and asked them what they thought. And I've also talked to teachers at Punahau even all across the island and parents. And I showed them this and I said, what do you think about teaching our kids these principles, right? And they all said, we need it quick. Do it now. And because it's not being taught for the most part in schools, the only place where you might get some principles is maybe Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, which I call the Scouts now, and a great sexes, right? But a lot of parents aren't even aware. I mean, they may say, you know, Johnny, make good choices today as they run out the door to school. I remember who you are. Yeah, yeah. But are they getting down to, well, what does that mean? To make good choices. Right. Why is it important to keep your promise and to do the right thing and to help others and set a good example and be trustworthy and, you know, I mean, so in fact, the London Times in their recent obituary had something called the death of common sense. So, you know, we're not the only ones that are starting to lose our moral compass. It's all over the planet. Don't you think we're also, a lot of people are turning to social media and to other people to be those role models. And there's not a lot of really good stuff in the media for us for them to model after. Right. Oh, I think, yeah, absolutely. Now is the time for us to get out there and be on stage, you and I and other people that we've become friends with and really be getting the message out there on a very wide and far platform. Yeah. And it doesn't have to be, I mean, we've talked about this, too, is getting on the stages, getting into communities, getting into the Honolulu Police Department. Yeah. I've got a letter going to Susan Ballard offering to bring my workshops to the police officers in training and then to the police officers because they need to be better-headed when they go out into the community and they're working with our youth, you know, they could just pick one of these principles, help those who help you. Wouldn't that be so, you know, it's interesting, I'm married to a police, you know, a former police. And one of the things that he said that sometimes the parents use the police officers is a way of parenting. Yeah. Right? Which is unfair. I know, which is really not, you know, because then they have to go and enforce the basic principles of life. Right. And they're ending up counseling these kids. Exactly. You don't need to make these choices and you don't need to do this kind of step and then having to go repeatedly back to the same homes. That's not fair for us to put that responsibility onto our community service people. Absolutely not. That sacrifice a lot. So what are some of the solutions I know when you do your workshops, what is your main group that you like to work with the most, the kids or the parents or both? You know what? I'm happy to work with anybody and I've worked with everybody. Yeah. Young children, seven years old and up, high-risk teens, teens who've been basically kicked out of the public school system. These poor kids, they've just had a rough upbringing with really nobody who's cared enough about them. I mean, I would love to come and be their caretakers, you know, for a couple of years. And that's really what is needed is to many times over with this program equal certainty. It's learning new habits and then having them ingrain so that when they get an option to go on track B or track A, they pick a good track. No drugs. I'm going to go over here because I want to be a professional musician or I want to have my own company or I want to make the best banana bread on this planet. It doesn't matter what it is. My dad used to always say, look, if you want to be a garbage collector, be the best garbage collector you can possibly be. Absolutely. And one of the chapters in here is competency. Why is that important? And I make sure they understand what that word means. Backed up at the Bobby Benson Center, Justin was getting upset when I was talking about trustworthiness because his mom lied about eating the banana bread that he made. And so I said, so you make a pretty good banana bread, yeah, he says mine's the best. I said, okay, so there's a place right down the street called Ted's Bakery. You're 17. You're going to need a job. I'll take you down there and introduce you to the owner. Why don't you learn how the food industry works? And you could spin off of that and open your own businesses. Well, I'd love a bread maker. You gave them hope and something to look forward to. You need that. So I'm going to talk more about that because our break is going to come up. But I really do like, how do we instill the hope into these kids and the vision and being able to show them that it can be possible. So thanks, you guys. We're going to go on a little break, stay tuned, and we're going to continue this conversation after our little break. Thanks. I'm Richard Emery, one of the co-hosts with Kondo Insider, sitting next to my other co-host, Jane Sugimura. We're very pleased to be on Think Tech Hawaii and provide this show of education, news, and topics affecting living in an association. About 38% of our population lives in an association and you have very specific needs and rules to make an effective pairing of your home. So we're glad to be a part of this show and what do you think, Jane? And yes, we're very proud to be part of this program. And what we want to do is to bring to all of the people who are involved with Kondo, especially people sitting on the boards and the owners, topics that will assist them in governing their projects and dealing with issues that, you know, that boards and owners have to deal with on a day-to-day basis. Our show is every Thursday at 3 o'clock. We hope you watch it and always feel free to send in topics for discussion. Aloha. Aloha. Welcome back to It's About Time. I'm your host, Becky Sampson. I'm here with Dana Land with Making Good Choices and right before the break we were kind of talking about how we can help instill into our kids and into youth this idea of what the future can look like. And sometimes I know that that is difficult because a lot of these kids, as we talk to the youth nowadays, it's so discouraging to know that they don't see beyond, you know, maybe a couple years down the road or they see so much violence or they see drugs or they see the bad part of it because the media is so into that that we need to instill a picture of hope and that it is a right future. My family, my dad, I grew up at a summer camp for kids and his little thing was building a brighter future for a better youth for a brighter future. So I want to talk to you about that, how do we really help these kids, whether it's with role models or with helping them create the vision? How do you do that? How do you create the vision with these kids? Well, there are a lot of people who are really helping out in the community with kids, you know, so I want to just acknowledge all of those people who, you know, even at the Boys and Girls Club, you know, and the YMCA is, I mean, and other after-school programs. There are so many people who are doing great things. I'm just one little person, you know, doing my thing. You have a home person who changes the world, girl. Well, what I do is I love everybody in my audience. It's just all about showing aloha and care factor for these. We'll talk about youth. And, you know, I think, first of all, you ask them and you get them imagining a world that they would be excited to live in. And many of these kids have never even been asked, you know, what do you want to do when you grow up, you know, what do you want? Well, you know, what's your, what interests do you have now that you want to follow up, you know, whatever it is? Just follow the interests. They have an easier time. When I ask people what they want in their life, it's just the easier time for them to say, what do they don't want? I don't want this, I don't want that, I don't want this. But what do you really, really want? Yeah, I think it's important to have them look at the positive side of life. I mean, there's so much negativity out there, you know, they don't need it, I don't need it. And then I have them write it down and I give them five minutes. I say, and set the bar high for yourself. You know, there is absolutely nothing in this world that you can't do, okay? Because if you put your mind to it, seriously, you can do almost anything and there are always people out there who will help you get there if you tell them you need their help, right? Absolutely, all the time. So first you got to set that foundation so that they have a willingness to find out, well, what is she going to do to help me get there, right? And then we start planting seeds and that is, you know, really the majority of what I'm doing. But at the same time, I'm opening up the dialogue with all of them and I want them to talk with each other and talk with me about where they've seen somebody not being trustworthy and how has that affected their lives? Or was there a time when they didn't keep a promise? Or was there a time when they saw the chef at Zippy's who wasn't well trained and he burned himself or he cut himself? Right. You know, I mean, it spreads out over, you know, our entire lives, these opportunities for learning. And then, you know, everybody gets a book. So I say, you know, anytime you have questions, you can refer to this. And don't feel shy about asking people for help. Don't you think that's a difficult thing? I think most adults. I mean, that's something that I talk to people all the time about is when you're in a punch and you need help or something, there's no shame at all with saying, hey, I don't understand this or I want to know more about this or I need support in this, whether you're an adult or a kid. And I think there's nothing wrong with that because there's so many people. For instance, let me give you an example. There's a group that reached out that needed help. There's some students that were finishing their entrepreneurial stuff and they reached out on Facebook and said, hey, we've got a contest. We want to win. And I said, I know you guys don't know me, but I also do a lot of business coaching as well and I met with them. And I said, they're trying to get people to go to their website and then purchase the things. But they had a lot of people come to the website but they didn't have a lot of people buying through. I said, well, did you share your vision or the project or what you're doing with your audience? And they said, well, can we do that? And I'm like, yes, let them know that you're in this school and you're finishing this project and you need your help and all of a sudden they won. I was like, so sometimes I think we think that if we hold it to ourselves, that's the way it's supposed to be. When we include the community and the people, they're more than willing to come and help us. And then, damn, there's all this success. So none of us are an island, although we live on an island. Yeah, it's really coming together and sharing Aloha with everybody and helping in any way, shape, or form that we can. I think getting Ohana's together, entire families together to do workshops together is helpful because then it creates an accountability with everybody. Everyone's on the same page. Yeah, but mom, you said that if I did this, you'd get me this and now you're not getting me this. Or dad, that's the 10th beer you've had. Because we're gonna kick up a little dust with this program. But isn't it better to confront things in order to work through them? Because that's what has to happen. You can't keep naughty things under wraps and expect for the family to be happy. Can you think of an example of someone that you've worked with that has come back and just really, just a great example of putting these principles to work? Well, I can tell you, I did a workshop for a bunch of teenagers, 13 to 17, for adult friends for youth, which is a non-profit organization that takes these kids under their wings and helps them transition into life, really. And when we started the workshop, they were all very quiet and, you know, kind of. And they're all together on the shelves. Yeah, yeah, just not expecting much from Auntie, right? And by the end of the two-hour workshop, we were singing, they were laughing, they were coming up and hugging me and showing appreciation for my time spent with them. And, you know, I just wanna say, it just takes a little bit of interest and care to help a child or really even adult, anybody, really. Needs appreciation, acknowledgement and validation when it's appropriate, validational, appropriate. So if we can make it more of a habit to extend ourselves in whatever way we can, it'll just, you know, create a better flow throughout our communities. I love the idea that you wanna connect the families, right, because that's where the real core of all of it is. And when you bring them together, and I do a lot of trainings as well, and it's funny, because the first day, out of like a three or four-day training, they're all like, I don't wanna talk to anybody, and I don't wanna do anything. And then by the end, they're all hugging and on each other's laps and kissing each other. And it really is because we come together and we share our vulnerabilities with each other. That's right. Right, and then they become, they go, okay, so we're no longer just an object, we're just not a person that's coming in a room that we don't know. But it's because we've shared a common experience, or we've shared feelings or emotions or whatever it is, and then it connects us so that when we go out of the room or out of those training rooms, that they can go, hey, yeah, we went through the same thing and I see that you're human, you're not perfect like me. Right, and you're giving them tools too, which is what I do with this book. It's a tool so people can go, huh, okay, now, you know, if I wanna do this or I wanna, you know, reach this goal in my life, I can refer to this and that this will help me get on track for... What's your favorite tool out of there? Oh gosh, what's the first one that kinda comes to you? Probably set a good example, which is what we're doing. Yes. You know, we're there to help our kids and our families and our adults by, you know, trying to be ethical ourselves. And that's what this is doing. It's creating a foundation of ethics and morals, which we really need to get back to. Doing the right thing, having integrity. There's too much bologna going on out there in the world. I know we gotta get real, right? Yeah. Let's get real, baby. I know that's what I told you originally when we talked I was like, this is your show, it's about time to get real. Yeah. It's just, let's put all the other stuff aside and just get real. It's a wake-up call. Yeah. Really, to see what's going on, even on our little island here and I don't even need to get into it. Everybody knows what I'm talking about. So maybe difficult to change adults who've already gone down the wrong track, not to say that they can't learn from their mistakes. They always can. But let's work with kids and our youth so they can stay on track from the get-go. Because usually they know right from wrong when they're young. It's just, they get into that age where they want to be accepted and they want to feel cool. And so they start doing naughty things and stealing and trying drugs and stuff. And the drugs now can kill you. With fentanyl, which is being shipped in from China by the shiploads. So that's a whole nother area. So you can't just think you can go out with your friends for a fun night and try some drugs and think you'll live. You gotta get real with yourself. And the thing that goes back to what you said originally is having that vision to being able to say, okay, what do I want in my life? And then how do I get that? Because a beautiful thing about youth, and this is from years of working with them at summer camps, is these youth need the boundaries, right? They just need the rules. They didn't know what the rules of engagement are. And that's what this book really is. That sounds like to me, it's the rules of engagement. If you want success in your life, here's the principles to live by. And if you wanna be happy, there's the principles. And you go against those principles, it makes it very difficult. And you're gonna go through, I mean, all of us are gonna be on our own journeys, right? Right. We're all gonna fall on our face. We're all still learning our lessons. Totally okay, totally. I make mistakes all the time. I'm constantly learning and adjusting and everything. But the youth are so incredibly pliable, is I guess the word that comes to me. It's so pliable that we can teach them certain things and they can run with it. They can really run with it. That's right. And we need to get to them. When they're teenagers, if not younger, because then otherwise a lot of these at-risk teens end up in the revolving door prisons, which is not good. So tell everybody kind of where they can find you, how can they hire you to do a workshop, or if they're organization or for their company or that sort of thing. Yeah, and I do workshops for all ages. Awesome. And there's a curriculum too that comes with it. If somebody's interested in expanding the workshop and then if somebody wants to do the Ambassador of Aloha certification program. To go teach in as well. No, no, it'd be more just getting certified as a junior ambassador of Aloha. So this is for our 18 and younger kids. And then we have a big celebration, bring some opinion leaders in the community together to shake their hands and award them a certificate. What's the website that they can go to? So it's helpforHawaiiHumanity.org. Yeah, helpforHawaiiHumanity.org. Awesome. Well, thanks so much, Dana, for coming on the show today. And thank you guys for coming on and watching our show for It's About Time. I'm your host Becky Sampson. Make sure to tune in next week for another great show. We'll talk to you later. Aloha.