Every time I come to Maui, I sink back into an inner knowing that is easy to forget in the middle of suburbia; I am an islander. My inner draw to a slower and simpler way of life, to more presence in each moment, to be closer to the rhythms of nature, to have balance in life, to just ‘be,’ are all my soul’s expression as a human “being” rather than doing. 
When I am in the high intensity, materialistic suburb of the OC, where the ethic is to “do,” I am a fish going upstream. When I am in Maui, where the ethic is to “be” I am a fish just chillin with the other fish in the sea.
While neither, “being” or “doing” is better than the other (our world needs both, and everything in between), it is very helpful to understand where you are on the spectrum. You can recognize how your environment, your lifestyle, values and activities may or may not match your way of being.
Perhaps because I am an islander, I notice it in my clients and help them recognize that there is nothing ‘wrong’ with them, but rather they are putting “mainlander” expectations on their ‘islander’ soul. When they move back to the pace of life that is soothing for their soul, they reconnect to inner peace.
The other day, we went to the Maui Ocean Center, a small but perfect sized aquarium that always brings the sea to life for our family. As we walked through the exhibits of the coral reef, with all the varied and intricate plant and animal species, God kept whispering to me, “Look how big this world is” “Celebrate the wonder and who you are in it.” I looked into the reef exhibit and saw the tiny delicate yellow tang, coexisting with the bigger swifter jackfish, the rainbow fish gliding by, the unicorn fish glumly floating, the sea stars hanging out, and the coral polyps faithfully multiplying in a symbiotic dance. A tiny microcosm of the complex happenings all over our wondrous world.
Sometimes, we get confused because as a species, we humans all look the same. So we compare ourselves and try to fit in, or we experience conflict, because we just cannot understand each other completely through cultural, social, political, and essential differences (to name a few).
We forget that we make up a community as vast and intricate as all of the other natural wonders of the world. The yellow tang may not understand the jackfish, but we can all agree that our own intricate design, gifts, ways of being, and expressing, are all Divine and essential to our world. We can honor who we are by accepting ourselves, taking loving care to make sure our lifestyle matches our essence (being or doing, and so much more), and be grateful for the valuable role everyone else plays as well. Opening to a wondrous acceptance of this amazing, magnificent, profound (is there a word big enough?) world and the gift of participating in it.