After years devoted to serving other people's visions, returning to Hawaiʻi brought me back to questions that had lived in my heart for a long time. What did it mean to belong? How did I want to care for land, family and community? What work was truly mine to carry?
As a Native Hawaiian woman, my relationship with the islands is personal. My family and I spent time at sacred and natural places in Hawaiʻi, and our travels later took us to places elsewhere in the world where I continued the spiritual practice I call gridwork.
At Kanahā Ponds in Maui and other places across the islands, I wrote about deeply felt spiritual experiences, visions and a sense of connection to my ancestors and to the land. I understand these as part of my personal spiritual life. They are not presented here as measurable environmental changes or as experiences that everyone must share.
Aloha is not merely a word on a page.
I have been moved by the care I witnessed at community ceremonies, in families sharing what they knew, and in people showing up for one another without expecting recognition. Those experiences reminded me that leadership can look like attention, stewardship, listening, sharing and sincere service.
The ideas of ʻāina, wai, ʻohana and aloha became increasingly important in the way I expressed my work. For me they connect care for place, the sustaining importance of water, family and the love that makes community possible.
I do not want to build a community that revolves around me. I want to help people recognize what they bring and become capable of creating their own meaningful contribution.
The invitation
Our journeys and cultural practices may be different. What we can share is a commitment to respect, gratitude, responsibility and making room for other people to be fully themselves. That is the kind of belonging I want Koa ʻOhana to nurture.
These are my personal reflections, not an attempt to speak for all Native Hawaiians or to replace community-held cultural knowledge.
What about your journey?
What people, land or community are you called to care for—and what would sincere service look like there?
You can take that question into a journal, a walk or a conversation. You decide what comes next.
The practices and experiences shared in this journal reflect Leimomi's personal history and spiritual perspective. They do not promise financial, medical or other specific results.