Ho’oponopono

Ho’oponopono.  The word itself meant nothing to me until recently when I discovered this Hawaiian practice of forgiveness.  I had never heard an uttering of this word before and knew nothing of its origins—an act of reconciliation and forgiveness.  I feel blessed that this beautiful practice has been presented to me as a way to “clear” whatever shadow self that lurks deeply inside of me.

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The English translation of the word ho’oponopono means “correction,” specifically correction with our own thought processes and emotions.  “Ho” means “to make” while “pono” means “right.”  What the practice offers the practitioner is freedom from Karma or past conditioning.  Ho’oponopono is the roadmap to liberation and peace and it all starts inside of each of us.

Since birth, we have many “programs” that are running in the background of our consciousness that literally dictate many of our biases, fears, prejudices and anxieties.  Most of us live our lives by replaying these memories throughout our lifetime while robbing ourselves of the present moment that is before our very eyes.  By not seeing the beauty of the present moment and instead watching these moments unfold under the prism of past pain, we oftentimes fail to see the beauty in our lives.  Many of us know that we use a very limited percentage of our brain’s capacity and this is because of the vast amount of bandwidth it takes for our brain to run these “shadow programs” or subconscious thought patterns that dictate our waking experience.

Ho’oponopono:  In Practice

So, what can we do about it?  Incidentally, the Hawaiians have a system for changing or “clearing” out these memories to take our minds to a state of zero or as we say in Kundalini Yoga, “Shuniya.”  This doesn’t mean our minds are blank or that we become zombie-like, instead we move to an elevated state of consciousness called Shuniya (zero), where the ego is brought to complete stillness and past memories are neutralized to have less of an effect on our daily lives.  A power exists there.  We do not hassle or try to act.  With folded hands of devotion, Infinity acts for us.  In this state of “zero,” if we can focus our mental projection on a clear intention, which acknowledges our higher self and the Creator within us, it will be so.  Literally, we have the capacity to attract into our life whatever we desire, be it “good” or “bad.”  Our thought constructs become our reality.

In Kundalini Yoga, we use yogic postures, mudras and meditations to achieve this, however the Hawaiians use a simpler and very achievable way to do this that anyone can do—they take complete responsibility for everything, yes everything, that is in their lives.  The practice of Ho’oponopono is an internal method where we come to the understanding that whatever is in our perception was brought before because of our thinking and our past conditioning.  Through memories we attract into our field people who offer us the ability to heal our past by centering ourselves in the present moment by moving to a state of zero and allowing the Divine to flow through us to heal any infirmities in our mind, body and spirit.  This may sound either too advanced to partake in or simply to “woo woo” for some, but the method is really quite simple.

We acknowledge that we are all connected, and we are the other person who is bringing us a lesson and most times this is by bringing up feelings of anger, resentment or general frustration in our lives.  People and situations are brought before us to illustrate to us something that is inside of us; a blind spot that we cannot see.

We experience someone as rude, cutting us off in conversation while talking over us—this is something we also do.  Someone becomes jealous and flies into a rage—this also is inside of us.  These people and situations come to us as teachers to allow us to see a reflection of ourselves presented back to us for the opportunity for healing.  Believe me, I know, you will say, “No, this isn’t me.  This is them.  I do not do this.”  It is exceptionally challenging to come to terms that everything in our reality is brought before us to bring awareness of something that is hidden deeply inside of ourselves but the reality is that it is true.

In Ho’opnopono, we acknowledge that we are the other and therefore we take complete responsibility for what we are seeing in the other person.  We say:

I’m sorry.

Please, forgive me.

Thank you.

I love you.

The first stage of Ho’oponopono is that each of us must take complete responsibility for whatever is in our field of perception.  No matter the cause, whatever is in our perception we have attracted it into our field as a teaching device to illustrate something that is deep within us.  If something troubles us, annoys or frustrates us or challenges us in anyway, it is a trait we possess as well.  The person illustrating this trait is coming to us as a teacher to show us an area of our live that we need to “clean” in order to become our most divine selves.

Read David’s book, Memoirs of a Renaissance Man

Everyone is Good; everything is God.  We are all One with the Source.  Each of us is the physical representation of God, so whenever we steal from another person we are stealing from God.  Whenever we speak poorly of another person we are speaking poorly of God. Whenever we lie to someone we are lying to God.  Whenever we judge another human being, we are judging God.  When this occurs, Ho’oponopono becomes a pathway for reconciliation.

I’m sorry.

Please, forgive me.

Thank you.

I love you.

By taking complete responsibility for your reality you begin to recognize when you are caught up in Maya (illusion).  Everything that creates the illusion that you are separate from God means that you are in Maya.  If, for instance, someone is “bothering” you it means you have simply forgotten that we are all One With God.  Each person is a representation of the Lord God that brings you a lesson of where you have strayed off the course of love and compassion. 

By saying, “I’m sorry” you are acknowledging to God the Father and Divine Mother that you have slipped once again into believing the illusion of the Earth Realm.  By asking forgiveness (I’m sorry.  Please, forgive me) you are asking the Divine to realign you with Truth which happens instantly once you have express contrition.  The next step is to give thanks to the Divine (thank you) for recalibrating you with Universal Truth and when you complete the step by saying “I love you” you align with the Highest Vibration that is available in the totality of the Universe.

There cannot be world peace, there can only be peace within our own hearts. If each one of us takes responsibility for our own peace, while creating that peace within our hearts, it is only then that the world will experience peace.  If even one soul is not experiencing peace, then nor can the world experience peace.  Our only job is to create peace in our own hearts by recognizing that all of the foibles and neurosis that we witness in another are in fact residing deeply within our own hearts.  We could not recognize the faults of others unless we also possessed those faults and it is most likely that the faults are ours alone being projected onto those around us.

When we acknowledge our own pain, we have the ability to heal that pain through four simple phrases:

I am sorry.

Please, forgive me.

I Thank you.

I love you.

Let peace be yours.  Let the Light of God Shine on your day.

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