Day 34: June 26, 2012 ~ Ho'oponopono

Day 34: June 26, 2012 ~ Ho'oponopono

"You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the world, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of."

~Jim Rohn

I write about this today because I need a reminder...how I wish I could remember this more often. Different cultures and spiritual traditions have their own unique versions of this practice. The Buddhists have a perspective of compassion and non-judgement that allow one to see another's negative traits and say, "I am that too". Twelve Step programs emphasize taking personal responsibility and humbly asking for God to remove character defects. Hawaiians have an ancient healing practice called ho'oponopono, a process of clearing away negative thoughts and beliefs about others and taking 100% responsibility for one's experience of life.

These practices arise from the understanding that we cannot change the world out there; we can only change ourselves, and it is not actually our conscious self that does the changing--the key is in willingness to let go of judgement, grievances, blame, anger, in all humility asking God/Spirit/divine intelligence to release them from us.

Dr. Hew Len, a renowned teacher of ho'oponopono, is purported to have healed a ward of mentally ill criminals at the Hawaii State Hospital with this ancient practice, simply by looking at the patients' files and feeling empathy for them, and taking responsibility for his part in their 'creation'...taking responsibility for the violence within him, and 'clearing' through prayer of forgiveness the hatred and violence that is in the collective consciousness. The prayer is simple and profound: 

I am sorry.

Please forgive me.

I love you.

Thank you.

Dr. Len said, "I was simply healing the part of me that created them." The thoughts and beliefs we hold have the power to create, for good or ill. It is so much easier to place blame outside, to project the things we don't want to see about ourselves onto others. It's second nature. We do it all the time. We gossip and complain about our grievances to anyone who will listen. The media encourages it--the more outrageous the rants, the higher the TV ratings. The question is, what thoughts do we want to give power to; what kind of world do we want to create? 

In gratitude for this simple prayer, and for the opportunities we have every day to create peace in our hearts.