What is Ho’oponopono?
The word means “to set things right”. (It does not mean ‘forgiveness’).
The Hawaiian Dictionary defines ho’oponopono as “to put to rights; to put in order or shape, correct, revise, adjust, amend, regulate, arrange, rectify, tidy up, make orderly or neat, administer, superintend, supervise, manage, edit, work carefully and neatly; to make ready, as canoemen preparing to catch a wave.”
It is however used as a forgiveness and reconciliation practice, for the cleansing of ‘errors of thought’ . Hawaiian healers knew that conflicts and grudges held in the body eventually cause disease.
I’ve used this process many times myself, and in some strange, inexplicable way, things shift inside me, and so the world around me shifts too. Anything that I was experiencing as a challenge, intensifies initially, and then seems to melt away and flow easily, in a way I could never have imagined. It’s a very powerful practice, when used like a prayer or a mantra for an ongoing period of time.
There is the unbelievable story of Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len, a therapist in Hawaii who cured a complete ward of criminally insane patients – without ever seeing any of them. Dr Len would study an inmate’s chart and then look within himself to see how he created that person’s illness. He used the practice of Ho’oponopono to put right all that was not right within himself. As he improved himself, the patients improved.
How To Use Ho’oponopono in Everyday Life
Repeat these powerful phrases over and over again:
“I’m sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you.”
While holding the person or situation or challenge in your mind, you repeat the phrases “I’m sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you.” As you do it, you will feel a kind of peaceful energy settle in your heart. And then watch the world around you subtly change for the better, because you have taken responsibility for yourself.
You can make use of this beautiful music soundtrack on YouTube to help you.
Quieting the Victim Mind To Heal Relationships
Of course, your mind will want to fight the logic of this process with thoughts like: “Why should I forgive them? They hurt me”, or “I can’t love this person”, or “I’m not thankful for this situation – it’s awful and unfair”. The victim inside will come out to play, have no doubt. But the process is not about forgiving and forgetting or allowing ongoing abuse to occur. It is also not about forgiving others, as much as it is about forgiving yourself. It is about loving yourself, setting yourself right from the inside, and thanking yourself for the perfectly imperfect human being that you are. This is the power of Ho’oponopono.
Psychologist Betty Phillips says “The rationale does not include allowing or encouraging additional problems being perpetrated against you. You will practice Ho’oponopono as an act of personal strength and courage, not as a doormat or victim. Ho’oponopono allows you to approach the future with a clean slate, open to positive interactions without blame or recriminations. Continuing an angry relationship with a perpetrator actually creates an anger bond which ties you to the problem and the traumatic relationship.”
This is not a new concept to us – it is exactly what Ghandi said too.
It’s All About Loving Yourself
Loving yourself deeply and treating yourself (your whole self, on all levels – mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually) with great care, is how we are meant to live as humans. In our world, we are often hardest on ourselves. Would you ever say some of the nasty things that you think about yourself to your best friend, or your beloved child?
All the self-help books and teachings tell us to love ourselves. But the ‘self-dislike’ programme runs so very deeply in our cells that we cannot do it by mental strength alone. Using the energetics of the Ho’oponopono process, we can shift these programmes subtley and gently. We need to use the power of energy rather than pure mental thinking.
As Einstein said “No problem can be solved by the same KIND OF THINKING that created it.” To create a different kind of thinking, we can use Ho’oponopono to focus the mind on these four very powerful phrases that will change the energetics of your own system, as well as those around you.
Dr Joe Vitale, in his book, Zero Limits, says “whenever you want to improve anything in your life, there’s only one place to look: inside you. And when you look, do it with love…… loving yourself is the greatest way to improve yourself, and as you improve yourself, you improve your world.” Read more here
I trust that the power of using Ho’oponopono will help soothe your heart and heal your relationships.
I’m sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you. – for anything you might experiencing that is causing you unease in your life.
Aloha blessings to you.
Brenda
“Where there is flow there is health”
