Anahulu Hoʻēmi 5/17 – 5/26/2025

Aloha e nā hoa, 

Hopefully you have been able to enjoy the weather in your respective places—because the recent rains here at our UH Mānoa campus have been wonderful! The plants especially are loving the sun and rain, and they always remind me to do the same. 

During a recent meeting that I attended, our check-in question invited us to respond with something that fills us with liveliness and encourages us to engage actively. Here, we might also reframe such a prompt to ask: What inspires you to be ‘eleu? 

This question came at an important time for me (i.e., the end of the semester!), and it also allowed me to reflect on the things that I do not out of obligation but rather out of my own self-understanding of necessity. The sound of Mānoa’s running waters inspires me to embody fluidity during adversity; the chirping and calls of the birds remind me not to forget to answer my emails; the warmth of the sunlight in the falling rain inspires me to go outside and take a break from my devices; and children’s laughter reminds me to enjoy the present moment.