Healing with Love and Forgiveness - Hawaiian Ho'oponopono

[melody]

I came across an article by Joe Vitale and wanted to share it with you:

Two years ago, I heard about a therapist in Hawaii who cured a
complete ward of criminally insane patients -- without ever
seeing any of them. The psychologist would study an inmate's
chart and then look within himself to see how he created that
person's illness. As he improved himself, the patient improved.

When I first heard this story, I thought it was an urban legend.
How could anyone heal anyone else by healing himself? How could
even the best self-improvement master cure the criminally
insane?

It didn't make any sense. It wasn't logical, so I dismissed the
story.

However, I heard it again a year later. I heard that the
therapist had used a Hawaiian healing process called ho
'oponopono. I had never heard of it, yet I couldn't let it leave
my mind. If the story was at all true, I had to know more.

I had always understood "total responsibility" to mean that I am
responsible for what I think and do. Beyond that, it's out of my
hands. I think that most people think of total responsibility
that way. We're responsible for what we do, not what anyone else
does. The Hawaiian therapist who healed those mentally ill
people would teach me an advanced new perspective about total
responsibility.

His name is Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len. We probably spent an hour
talking on our first phone call. I asked him to tell me the
complete story of his work as a therapist. He explained that he
worked at Hawaii State Hospital for four years. That ward where
they kept the criminally insane was dangerous. Psychologists
quit on a monthly basis. The staff called in sick a lot or
simply quit. People would walk through that ward with their
backs against the wall, afraid of being attacked by patients. It
was not a pleasant place to live, work, or visit.

Dr. Len told me that he never saw patients. He agreed to have an
office and to review their files. While he looked at those
files, he would work on himself. As he worked on himself,
patients began to heal.

"After a few months, patients that had to be shackled were being
allowed to walk freely," he told me. "Others who had to be
heavily medicated were getting off their medications. And those
who had no chance of ever being released were being freed."

I was in awe.

"Not only that," he went on, "but the staff began to enjoy
coming to work. Absenteeism and turnover disappeared. We ended
up with more staff than we needed because patients were being
released, and all the staff was showing up to work. Today, that
ward is closed."

This is where I had to ask the million dollar question: "What
were you doing within yourself that caused those people to
change?"

"I was simply healing the part of me that created them," he
said.

I didn't understand.

Dr. Len explained that total responsibility for your life means
that everything in your life - simply because it is in your
life--is your responsibility. In a literal sense the entire
world is your creation.

Whew. This is tough to swallow. Being responsible for what I say
or do is one thing. Being responsible for what everyone in my
life says or does is quite another. Yet, the truth is this: if
you take complete responsibility for your life, then everything
you see, hear, taste, touch, or in any way experience is your
responsibility because it is in your life.

This means that terrorist activity, the president, the
economy--anything you experience and don't like--is up for you
to heal. They don't exist, in a manner of speaking, except as
projections from inside you. The problem isn't with them, it's
with you, and to change them, you have to change you.

I know this is tough to grasp, let alone accept or actually
live. Blame is far easier than total responsibility, but as I
spoke with Dr. Len, I began to realize that healing for him and
in ho 'oponopono means loving yourself. If you want to improve
your life, you have to heal your life. If you want to cure
anyone--even a mentally ill criminal--you do it by healing you.

I asked Dr. Len how he went about healing himself. What was he
doing, exactly, when he looked at those patients' files?

"I just kept saying, 'I'm sorry' and 'I love you' over and over
again," he explained.

That's it?

That's it.

Turns out that loving yourself is the greatest way to improve
yourself, and as you improve yourself, your improve your world.
Let me give you a quick example of how this works: one day,
someone sent me an email that upset me. In the past I would have
handled it by working on my emotional hot buttons or by trying
to reason with the person who sent the nasty message. This time,
I decided to try Dr. Len's method. I kept silently saying, "I'm
sorry" and "I love you," I didn't say it to anyone in
particular. I was simply evoking the spirit of love to heal
within me what was creating the outer circumstance.

Within an hour I got an e-mail from the same person. He
apologized for his previous message. Keep in mind that I didn't
take any outward action to get that apology. I didn't even write
him back. Yet, by saying "I love you," I somehow healed within
me what was creating him.

I later attended a ho'oponopono workshop run by Dr. Len. He's
now 70 years old, considered a grandfatherly shaman, and is
somewhat reclusive. He praised my book, The Attractor Factor. He
told me that as I improve myself, my book's vibration will
raise, and everyone will feel it when they read it. In short, as
I improve, my readers will improve.

"What about the books that are already sold and out there?" I
asked.

"They aren't out there," he explained, once again blowing my
mind with his mystic wisdom. "They are still in you."

In short, there is no out there.

It would take a whole book to explain this advanced technique
with the depth it deserves. Suffice it to say that whenever you
want to improve anything in your life, there's only one place to
look: inside you.

"When you look, do it with love."


Read Dr. Len's description of the technique:
http://www.hooponopono.org/Who's%20in%20charge-Eng.html

Find other articles:
http://www.hooponopono.org

[melody]

Here is an excerpt from one of the articles at
http://www.hooponopono.org

It is about a Hawaiian liturgy:

"Divine creator, father, mother, son as one ... If I, my family, relatives and ancestors have offended you, your family, relatives and ancestors in thoughts, words, deeds and actions from the beginning of our creation to the present, we ask your forgiveness ... Let this cleanse, purify, release, cut all the negative memories, blocks, energies and vibrations and transmute these unwanted energies to pure light ... And it is done."

This appeal is called ho'oponopono, and can be identified with just about every religion, Morrnah said, because "in every faith there always is a portion (of the liturgy) in which we ask forgiveness of those we offend ... But we go beyond that ... to family, relatives, and ancestors ... because possibly some of the problem stems from a grandfather who chopped off somebody's head in another century." That which we expel is transmuted into "pure light," she said, because otherwise, "we would pollute the atmosphere" with our discarded garbage. "But as pure light, it does not contaminate."

At the instant that she utters "and it is done" the transmutation takes place, she said, and "the computer automatically erases" the garbage that has been stored for ... who knows for how long?

[Nick]

Hi Melody,

Sorry it took so long for me to read your posts here. Thanks for taking the time to share what you've learned about Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len. The website links and the article by Joe Vitale were valuable reading and I know I've learned some worthwhile things. 

-Nick

[Werp Weg Alles]

I'm kind of confused by the whole oponopono thing.  It seems more like a belief/religion more than a healing technique.  I mean, yes it heals, and yes it does relate to the fact that love being the highest vibration will only bring in good things to your life, but isn't it just that.  I feel like im really missing a part of this, can someone help me out?

[Adrian]

Hello,

I'm kind of confused by the whole oponopono thing.  It seems more like a belief/religion more than a healing technique.  I mean, yes it heals, and yes it does relate to the fact that love being the highest vibration will only bring in good things to your life, but isn't it just that.  I feel like im really missing a part of this, can someone help me out?

It all comes down to the truth that we are all one. As I say at the end of my message "In Lak'ech" which is Mayan for "I am another yourself". So whatever you do for yourself equally affects the whole; at every level. Every thought influences the Universe and therefore everythjing in it in some way.

So by working on ourselves we not only advance individually, but also as a Universe.

In Lak'ech,

Adrian.

[glenda]

Hi

I agree with the concept that we all are one and in Reiki we are taught that our intent is everything.

namaste

[Adrian]

Hello Glenda,

Hi

I agree with the concept that we all are one and in Reiki we are taught that our intent is everything.

namaste

I personally believe all healing includes intent. Directing Energy is really a proxy for focus and intent; the same applies to all Energy healing; but it is the end result that matters and these are all valuable practices.

In Lak,ech,

Adrian.

[Werp Weg Alles]

Ahhh, it all makes sense now.

Thanks Adrian.
Just couldn't quite get it until it was explained.

[melody]

More on how Hawaiians perceived reality is embrased in HUNA tradition and the way of thinking

THE SEVEN PRINCIPLES OF HUNA

 

EKE'

The world is what you think it is.

this life of ours is a dream.  our dream.  a dream we share with other people.  with the earth.  a dream we also share with ourselves, alone.  this dream of our experiences, this reality as we call it, comes from inside, comes from our thoughts, our ideas, our beliefs, our fears, our desires, our angers, and our pleasures.  all the ways we think produce this experience of ours.  from night comes day.    from thought comes reality.  if we would change this reality, says this knowledge, then we must change ourselves.  it is wasted time, wasted energy to change the outer world alone.  to truly change the outer world, we must first go within and find that place which is creating the outer world, and change that. change that fear to hope, anger to love, change that belief in a lack to a belief in abundance.  this is eke'...working within to create the outer.  this is the most important idea. all the following ideas come from this first one.

 

KALA

there are no limits. 

meaning we are all connected.

separation is an illusion.

 

each one of us is connected.  mind and body.  spirit and man. earth and man.  plants and animals , clouds  and sky and ocean.  we are all connected together.  kala says that separation is an illusion.  but that because we create our own reality with our thoughts, we sometimes create a sense, a belief,  in our own separateness.  as we believe we are separate, we create sickness.  when we create a sense of separateness, in our thoughts and our feelings, to that degree their is sickness in our relationships.  kala says that there is really underneath this sense of  separation, a real oneness, a connection.  if we can get rid of those thoughts, feelings, and acts of separation then that oneness comes together.  and as this connection is made, we become healthy again, with ourselves, with others around us , with the earth.  this is kala.  it is a way of creating that connection, of freeing up. 

there is a gesture here in the islands which means "hang loose".  which is to say when you get uptight, you create tension.  when you create tension, you create separation.  so "hang loose."  when you relax and flow with them, you are healthier, relationships are better.  and ,very interestingly, when you are relaxed and flowing with things, it is easier to change them .  kala is not saying that you must accept things the way they are.  it says that when you relax with them you can change them easier.

 

MAKEA

energy flows where attention goes.

 

wherever there is a flow of energy and attention, events are created.   wherever you direct your attention and keep it directed in that way, to an object or to an idea then the flow of energy continues.  and according to the nature of your thoughts that is the return flow you receive.  so if you are putting out, thinking out positive thoughts about the world around you, positive energy flows back.  that when you are putting out and thinking out negative thoughts about the world around you, then , negative energy flows back.  and negative results come into your life.  if you are thinking out thoughts of abundance and keeping that consistently, not just once in a while, but thinking that way, then abundance flows into your life.  if you are thinking thoughts of happiness and joy, consistently, then to that degree happiness and joy come into your life.  when you focus on fear and anger, then you have fear and anger in your life.  you have the ability , the wonderful skill, says this knowledge, to decide how you are going to focus your thoughts, your energy, your attention and thereby change what is flowing back into your life.  so all of these ideas, starting from that first one, are telling you how to make these changes from within that will create the changes outside.

 

MANOUA

 

NOW IS THE TIME OF POWER

 

this moment, right here.  there is no power in the past.  there is no power in the future.  that the past has no power over you.  that you are the one who has power right in  this moment to change what you think, and the effects of the past fail to hold you.  you don't walk forward in life with any burden of he past.  you walk forward in life with thoughts and ideas about yourself , and about the past.  it is those ideas in every given moment that determine your reality.  if you have beauty in your life, the way we have beauty in these islands, then you are creating this beauty now.  says this idea that you are increasing this beauty by appreciating it now.  if you stop appreciating this beauty, if you start loosing your sense of beauty, then so will the world around you loose it's beauty.  as we have seen happens some places on this earth of ours.  the more you appreciate, take pleasure in the moment, the more you strengthen that, the more you increase that.  so it is not what you have been but what you are that makes what you have in any given moment.  the future as well..   does not lie waiting in front of you to move forward and  bump into it.  it is created in every present moment by the the seeds of thought you plant now.  sometimes we have weeds from the past, but we can pull those up and plant new seeds, and create a new future.  so says this knowledge.  as we go along, new seeds are planted, and if we do not like what these seeds have produced then at any time we can pull them up and plant new seeds.  so it is every moment that we have our power. and there is power in everything else too.

 

ALOHA

means love

pure and simple

 

deeper in the word is the meaning of love, which is 'to be happy with',  to be happy with something or some one.  this is the great discovery, this most marvelous secret of this knowledge which was discovered by these people.  that to love is to be happy with.  to the degree that you are happy with yourself, with people, with the world around you, you are in love.   and love is being expressed.  but to the degree that you are criticizing, to the degree that you are angered , not pleased with, unhappy with things and people around you, you diminish love.  so love has nothing to do with pain.  love has nothing to do with hurting people or being hurt.  love is the happiness, the joy, the pleasure in any relationship.  because to love is to be happy with 

 

MANA

means power.

divine power

creative power.

 

the concept of mana is that there is one source of power, and that source flows through each one of us.  not only us as human beings but through the earth, through every stone, through every tree, through every cloud.  mana is the inner power that gives each thing it's own creativity.  mana is the power of the waves of the sea to come up and kiss the shore.  mana is the power of the wind to carry the clouds, and blow across the lands and the oceans.  mana is the power of a stone to be strong. and stable. mana is the power of human beings to be creative, in their own unique way.  mana is that source of power within each person within each thing in this universe.  and most important comes the idea, the further idea, that true power comes from within.  that there is no power outside of you that has any power over you.  that all the power for your existence comes from that source through you.  that whenever we think anything has power over us, whether it is nature, another person, whatever we believe has more power over our lives than we do then all we are doing, according to this knowledge, is diminishing our own power.  holding it back,  holding it down. and in a very strange way pretending not to have the power we really have.  mana, it is a power to do something, not a power over.  it is this power within each one of us, each thing, to be itself to it's utmost potential.  now, the more we allow ourselves to experience this power , to feel it, to use it , to claim it, then we have that power to make ourselves reach our highest potential.

 

PONO

effectiveness is the measure of truth

 

there is always another way to do anything.  that we are never really stuck in one way.  no one truth.  there is no one method, technique, one kind of medicine, one way to be happy, one person you can be happy with.  there are many ways to achieve your goals, to enjoy life...to fulfill it.  this is pono.  there is always another way. 

the idea continues.  plans are not sacred. your purpose might be sacred, but the way you achieve that purpose is not.  if you want to achieve a given purpose, however,  you must use the means suitable to that purpose.  if you want to create peace , then you must use peaceful means , or you will never get peace.  from violence you will only get more violence.  until people tire of violence, and get together and use peaceful means to create peace.  if you start out with peace with a love of peace in your heart, says this knowledge, you will move toward peace in your life.  a very, very practical truth this one is.  a practical way of living  with yourself and with other people..

 
 
these are the principles of this knowledge, practiced by the kapua  this knowledge called kahuna.  this knowledge that comes from these islands and others like it in the pacific.  here is wisdom.  if you would share this if you would use this, take any part of it you like and apply and use it in your own life.

[Werp Weg Alles]

Thank you Melody! 

It seems to me that this is just another example of how the universal truths that are present in everything have been perceived and "incorporated" into a philosophy or way of life all over the world.  Even though vast distances separate Hawaii from the rest of the world these principles in every way follow the exact same truths that Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, and even the symbolic meanings of what Jesus said(to a point) all teach!

Werp

[melody]

A summarised version of the main principles of Huna can be found on this website

http://www.huna.org/html/huna.html

[BarryB]

Thanks Melody,

You are sharing what I wanted to hear today!

Sweet.

Blessings,

Barry

[Werp Weg Alles]

Hello Barry,

Have you read Our Ultimate Reality.  Adrian's book?  It also shows how truths such as those presented in Huna can be found in almost all religions and what our true path as humans actually is.

Werp

[BarryB]

Hello Werp,

I have read the first free chapter.

I enjoy these concepts through many other books and resources.

One day, I may read this entire book too.

Thanks for asking.

BarryB

[melody]

Have anybody tried to use these concepts - Heaing with Love and Forgivness - in your daily life?

Pkease tell us about your experiences ... or about thoughts on this...