Two Times to Forgive

Chapter 2 from "The Magic Words, by Jon Lovgren.

Two Times to Forgive
Ho’oponopono
The Pathway to Peace

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.”
-Helen Keller

Welcome to Ho’oponopono.

I Love You
I’m Sorry
Please Forgive Me
Thank You

Ho’oponopono is a very powerful, ancient life-transforming meditation that originated in Hawai’i and has a long history of healing the individual and reuniting families. Over the years, the traditional form of ho’oponopono has gradually faded and is only practiced in its original form on rare occasions, and only by a select few kahuna lapa’au (healer); however, in 1976, Morrnah Nalamaku Simeona began the transformation of ho’oponopono into what it is today.

Morrnah is responsible for updating ho’oponopono so that it no longer requires the presence of a practitioner or anyone else, thereby allowing individuals to perform their own healing. Morrnah taught ho’oponopono to small and large groups, hospitals, universities, and even the United Nations personnel. Her prized student during this time was Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len, a staff psychologist at the Hawai’i State Hospital. Dr. Hew Len, as he is more commonly known, was the first person to document and confirm proof that the new form of ho’oponopono worked. When he saw how ho’oponopono healed his daughter of shingles, when nothing and no one else was able to do so, he was convinced. He studied with Morrnah until her death in 1992, at which time he continued working with ho’oponopono, improving it and simplifying it even further.

It seemed ho’oponopono was destined to remain on the islands of Hawai’i. Until Dr. Joe Vitale, a well-known speaker, writer, and internet marketer caught wind of it. He interviewed and worked with Dr. Hew Len while he wrote his book Zero Limits. In Zero Limits, Dr. Vitale explains the four simple phrases at the heart of ho’oponopono: I Love You, I’m Sorry, Please Forgive Me, Thank You.

Okay, so ho’oponopono healed shingles. Are there any other examples of its healing powers? As a matter of fact, there is the most amazing story about Dr. Hew Len’s tenure at the Hawai’i State Hospital. He oversaw the ward for the criminally insane patients.

These patients were in such a bad mental condition that they had to be chained and shackled, even amongst themselves. The hospital had a hard time maintaining staff because of the fear that one of these criminals might harm them. Dr. Hew Len never saw one patient. And never saw a picture of any patient. Every day, he went into his office where he had a folder about each patient in the ward. He would pull a folder, and practice ho’oponopono.

He did this day in and day out from 1984 until he was no longer needed in 1987. His work was no longer needed because all the patients had been healed and were no longer considered a danger to themselves or anyone else, so they closed the ward.

Dr. Vitale asked Dr. Hew Len how he had healed all those patients without ever seeing a one of them, not even any pictures! Dr. Hew Len replied, “I did not heal them, I healed the part of myself that created them.” And therein is the biggest revelation regarding ho’oponopono; that we are all 100-percent responsible for everything in our lives. Everything! Our Three Minds will explain how this can be and will give you a better understanding of how and why ho’oponopono works.

When is the best time to practice ho’oponopono?

Anytime! All the time! Use it before you enter a meeting and again when you leave the meeting. You will likely find you use it the most when you are by yourself, alone with your thoughts. Anytime a less than peaceful thought comes up, say ho’oponopono a few times until the thought is gone. The thought may come back, depending upon the situation that created the thought (a memory). If it does, just continue repeating ho’oponopono until it no longer returns.

Have you ever been in bed, just about to fall asleep, and a thought comes in reminding you of something negative in your day, such as an argument you had with a co-worker? The next thing you know, you can’t get to sleep because you keep going around and around replaying the scenario. This is a great time to practice ho’oponopono. Just start repeating it until you stop thinking about your day and you will likely fall peacefully to sleep.

Or you are driving to work, daydreaming as usual, and you suddenly remember that time when you got angry with your dad when you were twelve years old. What!? Where did THAT come from?

It came from the same place all your memories/thoughts come from: your unconscious mind. It is highly likely that this is not the first time this thought has come up, even though it was so long ago. That is a good indicator that whatever the event was that caused the thought had a big impact on you and continues to do so.

In any case, when those kinds of thoughts pop up, just say ho’oponopono around them and it won’t be long before you realize those kinds of thoughts are no longer coming into your consciousness.
In fact, you may not even remember what you were saying ho’oponopono about. That is how it works. It cleans your unconscious mind of all the negative energy you have been accumulating over the years. Yes, there will be a period when you are not recognizing the results and it will be, “... just words, they don’t mean anything.” A friend of mine put it best, saying, “Dammit! They’re just words, they don’t mean anything. I don’t FEEL anything! I don’t even know why I keep saying them, but I do.” A week later, she was laughing as she recounted that she was saying the words then couldn’t remember what she was saying them about. It dawned on her at that moment that ho’oponopono actually does work – and pretty fast, too!

So just stay with it. Ho’oponopono works whether you believe in it or not and whether you feel it or not. So just stay with it and it won’t be long before you realize it is actually working for you. You may start to notice that your life is going just a little bit more smoothly, with maybe less drama. You may feel more at ease, and you aren’t always getting blasted with all the negative thoughts you used to get. Keep practicing ho’oponopono until it becomes second nature, until it becomes an automatic response to any negative thought or situation that arises.

Where do all these thoughts come from? They come from ourselves, from our unconscious minds, our past experiences. For now, simply remember that thoughts are energy and as such are always coming and going.

You have no doubt heard it said that we are all connected. The ancient Hawai’ians refer to these connections as aka cords. Think of aka cords as very thin cords of energy connecting us one to another. Anytime you come in contact with anything or anyone, you connect with them. Your cord attaches to them and their cord connects to you, creating and maintaining a flow of energy. Even though the amount is minuscule, if you think about all of the people you have come in contact with over the years, you will begin to realize there is a massive energy exchange going on collectively.

Unbeknownst to our conscious minds, we are expending a lot of energy in a lot of different directions. These connections happen so slowly over time and are so subtle, that we do not usually feel them until something pushes them to the surface.

There are situations, however, when we do feel them. Take the breakup of a relationship, for example. Those feelings are usually very strong, and we often have a hard time getting past them. Ho’oponopono will speed that process up and heal the feelings very quickly.
The more of ourselves, our energy, we put into a relationship, the stronger the aka cords are. A full ho’oponopono meditation will guide you through cutting the cords to everyone and everything you are connected to.

(See http://getpono.com/meditations.htm for this meditation.) Then use the short version, the four statements: “I Love You, I’m Sorry, Please Forgive Me, Thank You” as maintenance. It is good to do the full meditation at least four times per year, or more often if you feel the need, to help keep yourself free of negative aka cords.

This is a very powerful meditation process. There are countless stories about someone cutting cords to someone they knew years ago, and haven’t had any contact with, only to receive an email or a phone call from that person, seemingly out of the blue. If this happens, just remember that you now have a choice as to whether you want to reconnect or not.

Ho’oponopono is so simple, so effective, there is no reason NOT to use it at every opportunity. It just takes practice and the more you practice, the sooner it becomes second nature.