by Bela Johnson | Dec 31, 2025 | authenticity, collective history, Uncategorized
Daily writing promptWhat makes you feel nostalgic?View all responses I am not one who looks back, longingfor what was, or what might have been—that way of seeing sets me upfor self-criticism,which dims my spiritrather than lifting it. Nor am I inclinedto prop myself...
by Bela Johnson | Dec 30, 2025 | authenticity, healing, nature, Uncategorized
Daily writing promptWhat relationships have a positive impact on you?View all responses What puts a smile on my face,causes my heart to leap,are encounters with the wild. Whether face to face with a mountain lionor pressing my nose to a tuberose flower,a warmth...
by Bela Johnson | Dec 29, 2025 | Hawaii, nature, Observations, Uncategorized
When we bought this house,the attic was full of ratsand mynah bird nests,one in every corner.Chris calls them Hawaiian crows—there are similarities:clever, persistent,strong-willed. A year later, despite sealingevery possible entrance—each hole that once invited...
by Bela Johnson | Dec 27, 2025 | compassion, relationships, truth revealed, Uncategorized
We all need at least one good friend—someone who sees us as we are,receives usjust as we are. I don’t need fixing or coddling,or borrowed stories meant to prop me up—lines lifted from some forgettable show.What I need mostis a witness, preferably silent:someone who...
by Bela Johnson | Dec 25, 2025 | Hawaii, holiday, Honoka'a, Uncategorized
We are home againin our sweet old plantation house in Kohala,after a day in Honokaʻa—a town we hadn’t visited in years,and how it has changed!Not loudly.Not falsely.But with a kind of quiet dazzle,the best kind,the kind that surprises without askingto be applauded. We...
