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...
by Bela Johnson | Dec 24, 2025 | compassion, earth witness, Uncategorized
I carry the key that no one gave me.It was forged from breath,from every silence I have ever survived—my own necessary stifling of voice,and the silence of othersunable or unwillingto share their truth. The lock was never outside.It lived in my ribs—those pale bars of...
by Bela Johnson | Dec 22, 2025 | authenticity, human interest, Uncategorized
Daily writing promptAre you a good judge of character?View all responses Again and again, I read these prompts and shake my head:Are you a good judge of character? I’m not entirely sure what that means to most people.It seems to assume that we meet anotherand almost...
by Bela Johnson | Dec 21, 2025 | happiness, perspective, Uncategorized
Daily writing promptWhen are you most happy?View all responses I find happiness a curious word,as if it depends on a sustained surgeof endorphins the body was never meantto carry for long.As if we’re meant to walk the worldwith a grin pasted on our...
by Bela Johnson | Dec 20, 2025 | Uncategorized
We say falling in loveas if love were a ditch,a stumble,a loss of footing—something we trip intobecause the lights were offand the chemicals were loud. Falling sounds like an accident,like surrendering consciousness,like slipping under a spellor losing the...
