Forgiveness and Ho oponopono

A True Story of the Power of Forgiveness

Forgiveness card from The Enlightenment Pack by Chuck Spezzano

This article shatters a sense of individual powerlessness.

Joe Vitale tells the story of the amazing Huna practice of Ho oponopono and Dr. Len.

I quote:-

“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 inmates 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  pono pono. 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,but that’s wrong.

Joe Vitale and Dr Len

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. (Joe is on the left, Dr Len on the right)

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 or 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 pono pono 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. 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, you 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 ponopono workshop run by Dr. Len. He is 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.”

Joe Vitale

Zero Limits by Joe Vitale

The book that fully explains just how this process can impact your life is called Zero Limits. I also recommend ‘Busting Loose from the Money Game’ as a perfect companion.

From the Inside Flap of the book:
Are you overworked and overstressed? Are you doing your best but finding professional success and personal fulfillment frustratingly difficult to attain?

If it seems like you work hard but never get anywhere, maybe the problem is something within you. Maybe the limitations holding you back come from inside you, not from the outside world. Zero Limits presents a proven way to break through those self imposed limitations to achieve more in life than you ever dreamed.

Take it from Joe Vitale. He was once homeless. Now, he’s the millionaire author of numerous bestselling books, an Internet celebrity, and an in demand online marketing guru. What happened to create all of that success? How did he make it happen? Was it hard work, divine providence, or both? The answer may surprise you. It wasn’t until he discovered the ancient Hawaiian Ho o ponopono system that he finally found truly unlimited success.

Updated for modern times, Ho ponopono is a self help methodology that removes the mental obstacles that block your path, freeing your mind to find new and unexpected ways to get what you want out of life. It not only works, but it works wonders both professionally and personally. It works so well in fact, that Vitale had to share it with the world, so that others could experience the fulfillment and happiness he feels every day.

Teaming up with Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len, master teacher of modern Ho ponopono, Vitale shows you how to attain wealth, health, peace, and happiness. Vitale and Len walk you through the system, helping you clear your mind of subconscious blocks so that destiny and desire can take over and help you get what you truly want from life. It clears out unconsciously accepted beliefs, thoughts, and memories that you don’t even know are holding you back.

Imagine wiping your mind slate clean and starting over without preconceived notions, so you can live in a world of daily wonder. Imagine if anything and everything were possible. In fact, everything is possible when you look at the world free of mental constraints. This book is a key that opens your life to a new universe of possibility and accomplishment – a universe with Zero Limits.

HOW TO USE THIS TECHNIQUE FOR YOURSELF
On my workshops I often use this Ho’o Pono Pono forgiveness exercise. It has enormous power. It’s about loving oneself and forgiveness. If you’re having a problem with anyone in your life, or there is someone that you haven’t forgiven then do this exercise using these words:-

“I’m sorry. Please forgive me. I love you. Thank you.”

To do it with a friend

Stand about 6 feet away from each other. One person in turn thinks of a person they haven’t forgiven, then says the words out loud. Feel the truth of the words. Then take a step toward your friend. After you have completed all the steps and have joined them, give them a hug.

On your own.
Visualize the person (or even better look at a photo of them) and repeat the words daily.