Lord Love the Duck: Reposing in Infinity

Creatures have volumes to teach us, if only we allow it. Inspiration seems to speak through them -- but not in words.

A dear colleague, Dr. Lucinda Sykes in Toronto, responded to my story about the roadrunner roosting serenely on my patio through last week's storms. Besides being an excellent physician, Dr. Sykes is also a long-time meditator and yoga practitioner. She's truly found her calling: she teaches patients to maintain calm awareness through Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. Doctors refer patients with all kinds of anxiety, pain, and suffering to her classes -- and they get good results.

She's also attended some Ho'oponopono trainings with me, and loves God's critters as much as I do. My roadrunner friend reminded her of something.

So she sent me this poem, which she'd received at a meditation retreat:

THE LITTLE DUCK
by Donald C. Babcock

Now we are ready to look at something pretty special.
It is a duck riding the ocean a hundred feet beyond the surf.
No, it isn’t a gull.
A gull always has a raucous touch about him.
This is some sort of duck, and he cuddles in the swells.
He isn’t cold, and he is thinking things over.
There is a great heaving in the Atlantic,
And he is a part of it.
He looks a little like a mandarin,
Or the Lord Buddha meditating under the Bo tree
But he has hardly enough above the eyes to be a philosopher.
He has poise, however, which is what philosophers must have.
He can rest while the Atlantic heaves, because he rests in the Atlantic.
Probably he doesn’t know how large the ocean is.
And neither do you.
But he realizes it.
And what does he do, I ask you. He sits down in it.
He reposes in the immediate as if it were infinity – which it is.
That is religion, and the duck has it.
He has made himself a part of the boundless,
by easing himself into it just where it touches him.
I like the little duck.
He doesn’t know much.
But he has religion.

I love both the little duck, and Dr. Sykes for sharing this poem about him.

Ho'oponopono allows us to "sit down" in the boundless, easing into it -- no matter how much it seems to swell and heave. We can "repose in the immediate as if it were infinity -- which it is." We don't have to know too much. Our little sloped heads are plenty for cleaning, and simply being one with what is.

Thank you, Dr. Sykes, and your little feathered Buddha too.

Peace begins with me,
Pam

Lessons from My Ho'oponopono Cleaning Bird

We've had some vicious storms here in Arizona the last few days -- high winds, damaged homes, flooding, road closures, large event tents sailing away and landing on freeways, and some drownings. Not to mention all the snow in Flagstaff and Sedona. It's nowhere near the suffering in Haiti, but enough to get people's attention.

In the midst of it all, a little bird taught me some Ho'oponopono.

During the swirling rain and winds the other night, I went outside to wrestle with my dancing patio furniture. It needed a safer place, closer to the house. While out there, I happened to look up at the patio light . . . . where perched in all its fine fluffery and gawky-long tail was my friend, the Roadrunner.

S/he (I don't know which) visits often, but usually flies away when I come out. This time s/he looked as if sitting on a nest -- which are usually made of sticks and such in a tree or shrub. Sometimes they even include worn-out rattlesnake skins. If s/he had made one, I surely hadn't seen it.

But my patio light is in a protected, peaceful, less-windy spot, near the top of the covered porch. Out of the rain, too.

Very slowly, I moved closer to see if what I thought I saw, was "really" there. It didn't seem possible, and yet it was. His/her legs and feet nestled inside the light fixture, with long tail jutting upright against the house. His/her eyes were open and shiny, gazing down at me from above. No sound, only that serene gaze.

Every few seconds, the wind would intensify -- raising feathers or blowing back its head crest. It was definitely a headwind, only my friend wasn't flying.

It had to be uncomfortable. Yet even while his/her feathers blew every which way, this Roadrunner's presence appeared completely unruffled.

I've been Ho'oponopono cleaning with Haiti and her needs, and cleaning with these storms I'm describing here too. Still, this Roadrunner seemed to know a lot more about doing this during inclement times than I do. When painful things happen, I'm more likely to be mentally running back and forth like s/he usually does.

This time, there was none of that. I simply told her "I love you. You're welcome as long as you want to stay." The night was loud and frightening . . . and yet she stayed put.

Early the next morning, the rain slowed down and the wind quieted. Out I crept to check on my friend . . . who was still there, asleep. Not long after, s/he roused and fluttered off.

I climbed up on a ladder and peeped inside the light fixture -- could there be eggs?

No eggs, and definitely no nest. What my friend had sat in all night long was the equivalent of you or me perched precipitously on top of a toilet with our arms and legs inside, rather than out. If we had long tails, they'd have been crammed upright against the raised lid while wind and sideways rain blasts pelted us.

Could YOU do that? More importantly, could you do it without grumbling? I don't know if I could. My Roadrunner friend taught me volumes that night, just by being a silent sentinel. S/he showed me how to practice, yet again.

Mabel Katz is offering another of her teleseminar calls in a few days . . . you can listen, ask questions, and learn about Ho'oponopono from wherever you are. Join us, please -- especially if you're perched in a precarious place in life! In addition, Mabel is creating a Ho'oponopono MasterMind Coaching Series which still has some openings. Interested? You can learn more about that, here.

Peace begins with me,
Pam

From Suffering to Amazement: Ho'oponopono and Homeopathy

"Humans suffer," reads a Ho'oponopono newsletter posting from Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len a few months ago. He continues:

"They experience problems in the course of their everyday existence. These problems and suffering are experienced and are caused by memories replaying the past AGAIN in the computer of mind, the subconscious!"

Is this suffering so many of us go through, really necessary? Can it be interrupted, even relieved?

Pain and suffering, after all, are not the same. All of us experience pain at times -- think toothache, appendicitis, loved ones leaving or dying, etc. But suffering complicates this, and can last a lot longer. We suffer when we want what shows up in our lives to be different from what's actually present. Sometimes we even demand this -- which is a common path towards illness in some form.

As a psychiatrist and classical homeopath, I work with people to discover their personal requirements for a feeling of "okayness".

Some, for instance, can only feel okay when involved in a particular kind of relationship, or when receiving high praise for their work. Otherwise they feel anxious and depressed. The more rigid and restricted these internal (often unconscious) criteria are, the more we suffer -- and the less we can experience life in the present. Our struggles with "what is" can impact our life force enough to express as illness.

It's interesting to me also that "problems" are only defined by the person experiencing them. "A problem," says Dr. Hew Len, "is only a problem if YOU say it is." What one might view as horrendous, might be a mere inconvenience to another. Unconscious memories determine much of this as well . . . which means that memories, not us, are making these decisions!

In homeopathy, we don't examine as much "who did what to whom" as we seek to perceive the pattern of suffering that remains. Then we prescribe a remedy that is as similar as possible to this suffering, to stimulate the person's innate healing capacities accordingly.

Ho'oponopono and homeopathy seem to work very well together. Both see our "problems" and suffering as ultimately coming from similar sources: unconscious memories too complex to be completely fathomed. But we can certainly see their result, and go from there! Also, neither asks "why" things are the way they are, but works with what is.

Ho'oponopono also helps keep the doctor peaceful and aware enough to hear what the patient needs to tell.

With a helpful homeopathic remedy, one can experience both relief from presenting symptoms, and important changes in consciousness too. Peace and serenity become more the person's norm than anguish and suffering. In my own healing, I've experienced revived energy for dealing with things that really need attending to . . . rather than staying mired in overwhelm. I've noticed a major change in my outlook from Ho'oponopono too -- what I used to see as insurmountable "problems," are now more often just opportunities to clean.

Not that I never get upset! But the Ho'oponopono cleaning tools do seem to vaporize much angst before it becomes a major storm. This has amazed me many, many times.

Perhaps one day I'll be good enough with Ho'oponopono cleaning not to need a homeopathic remedy -- but for now, I'm very glad for both. :-)

Peace begins with me,
Pam

Ho'oponopono and the HeartMind: Synchronization Supreme

Welcome to a brand new year, with more opportunities for Ho'oponopono cleaning! They're here in every moment.

Today I listened to a conference call with Paul Bauer, Susan Castle, and Keahi Kawehi Hanakahi, a kahuna on the Big Island of Hawaii. I've known Paul and Susan since 2001, when I first journeyed with them to Kealakekua Bay. Our friendship has grown since that time. In the past year they met Keahi, an amazing and heartful man who speaks from inspiration.

Much of the call focused on a planetary shift from mind to heart consciousness, where centering in one's heart opens the door to all possibilities. In Ho'oponopono, Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len speaks of being "pure in heart", and acknowledging that our conscious minds know nothing. In Ho'oponopono, the function of our conscious mind is not to think, but to choose whether to clean or remain stuck in memory.

"I never trust my mind fully," said Keahi, "because it was never meant to be trusted. With your mind, you can never let go of the leash -- the dog [mind] will always jump on someone and then there is trouble. I know what dogs do . . . once I let them go, they jump and bite people. And I think, 'I'm in the middle of something now.'"

Intellectual people (like me) might find these notions disconcerting. After all, we've been raised to value our thinking capacities, command of data, and ability to solve problems. But consider how many opinions, judgments, and assumptions our minds bring with them. Most of these are unconscious, making automatic decisions for us before we even have a chance to "think" consciously about what's present.

Dr. Hew Len has often mentioned the same thing, citing Tor Norretander's book, The User Illusion as he does. If any of us thinks we're really "in charge", reading that book sets us straight!

Unless we carefully observe and train our minds, unconsciously held information runs us and makes our decisions. Our minds are simply carrying out their jobs of protecting us from harm. But in doing that, they flag anything new or unfamiliar as possibly dangerous, and to be defended against. In this way, our very perceptions are limited or distorted -- and we don't even realize it.

How many troubled relationships have you observed, for instance, where the people involved see their conflicts in completely opposite ways? Also, how many times have you noticed they're unwilling to budge from their own points of view?

As a psychiatrist, I see this plenty . . . often in my own family. :-)

According to Ho'oponopono, all this trouble results from data or memories accumulated not only in this life, but through generations of our ancestors -- all the way back to single-celled origins and beyond. Morrnah Simeona once asked a particularly rigid seminar participant, "Did you know that you were once a seaweed?"

I don't know how he reacted, but it brings the concept home!

Ho'oponopono aims to help us release these unconscious memories that cloud reality . . . by asking Divinity's help. If we do this, Divine Inspiration can reach us. If not, it's blocked. Dr. Hew Len tells us that there are only 2 kinds of information in the world: accumulated memories, and Divine Inspiration. Which would we prefer be in charge?

"Judgment keeps us stuck," commented Susan. "When we're in judgment, we're living a memory. Inspiration can't come through, and there can be no pure, new creation."

None of this is to devalue the mind, Paul reminded us. Instead, it's to point out that the mind can be a strong and helpful servant, but a very prejudicial master. Our culture has perhaps over-valued it at the expense of the heart.

Paul also spoke briefly about the Chinese Medicine concept of "Xin", or "Heart-Mind". There, the two are not separate entities as they seem to be in western culture. Instead, they're a jointly functioning unit that, when well-aligned, allows us to live our lives in health and joy.

Echoing this, Ho'oponopono posits the need for solid alignment of all parts of the self, but especially between the Conscious Mind ("Uhane", or Mother) and the Subconscious Mind ("Unihipili", or Inner Child). Without this, chaos and suffering reign.

Heart consciousness -- awareness of what we're experiencing at the heart, body, mind, and even spirit level -- is indeed a whole other realm of possibility. It's also central to Hawaiian healing and manifesting.

For scientific information about heart consciousness, the Institute of HeartMath is a good place to start. Many people think the seat of conscious awareness is in the brain alone. But recent research suggests that consciousness actually arises from the brain and body acting together, with the heart carrying a particularly significant role.

The heart's nervous system (the "heart brain") enables it to learn, remember, and make functional decisions independent of the brain's cerebral cortex. But this extensive neural network isn't the only communication pathway linking the heart with the brain and rest of the body. The heart also communicates through electromagnetic field interactions -- and through all of these ways, it influences the function of higher brain centers involved in perception, cognition, and emotional processing.

Interestingly, the electrical component of the heart's field is ~60 times greater than the brain's. Also, the heart's magnetic field is ~5000 times stronger than the brain's -- and can be detected several feet away from the body by sensitive magnetometers.

Institute of HeartMath researchers propose that the heart's field "acts as a carrier wave for information that provides a global synchronizing signal for the entire body."

In other words, this is VERY powerful. What happens if it's immersed in disturbing memories and trauma, rather than synchronous waves of peace? hmmmmm . . . .

And if I were a Hawaiian kahuna wanting to synchronize myself in my life and work, what would I want to tune into? The Mind Channel alone, or the more powerful Heart one? hmmmmmm . . . .

When practicing Ho'oponopono, I've often noticed a sensation of warmth and relaxation centering in my heart area, and spreading throughout the rest of me. There is peace in my mind as well. In fact, my usual mind-chatter slows down greatly . . . sometimes to complete silence. What a blessed relief! I have never (yet) checked my HeartMath data while doing Ho'oponopono, but I bet there would be a lot of coherence showing up.

Interested in learning more about this crossover between heart consciousness and Hawaiian healing? Susan, Paul, and Keahi will be hosting a retreat on the Big Island in a few weeks, titled "The Ancient Secrets of Hawaiian Manafesting Retreat Seminar." They'll help participants learn to access their hearts' wisdom, trust its guidance, and release long-held unconscious blockages. Hawaiian sacred chanting, "talk story", and learning about "mana" and how to "manafest" are also planned.

Even the dolphins and whales will be there. :-)

If you have questions beyond the seminar information they've published so far, you can contact Paul and Susan at 847-520-1983. I'm sure they'll be glad to talk with you.

Peace begins with me,
Pam

Peace on Earth with Ho'oponopono

Christmas Eve is my favorite night of the year. It seems all things are possible, and all is well. Hope is present; goodwill glows in our hearts.

Even so, some are separated from families and loved ones by geography; some through misunderstanding; and others by choice. This is painful, because we heal and grow through our connections with others. Steeped in relationship, we learn what we need to know.

May all who feel estranged, alienated, or lonely find solace in this night. It celebrates when Divinity enfleshed in the form of a tiny child, loved and raised by humble parents doing the best they could. This is what we all seek to do, even as confused and confusing as we might be.

On this holy night, I remind us all of Morrnah's Prayer, which has been published on the internet and elsewhere in slightly different forms. Through it, we can re-establish harmony within ourselves, with Divinity, and with others. Thus it can create peace on earth. I feel special need to work with it myself tonight.

"DIVINE CREATOR, Father, Mother, Child as ONE: If I, my family, relatives, and ancestors have offended you, your family, relatives, and ancestors in thoughts, words, deeds, and actions from the beginning of our creation to the present, humbly, humbly, humbly we ask you all for forgiveness for all our fears, errors, resentments, guilts, offenses, blocks, and attachments we have created, accumulated, and accepted from the beginning of our creation to the present.

Let Divine Intelligence include all pertinent information we knowingly or unknowingly have omitted.

. . . . Cleanse, purify and transmute all these unwanted energies to pure light. Fill the spaces these unwanted energies occupied with Divine Light.

Let Divine Order, light, love, peace, balance, wisdom, understanding, and abundance be made manifest for us all in our affairs through the Divine Power of the Divine Creator, Father, Mother, Child as one, in whom we rest, abide, and have our being now and forever more. We are set free! And it is done!"

In hope and peace for all.

Peace begins with me,
Pam

Hafiz and Ho'oponopono on Forgiveness: Along the Way to Freedom

"Forgiveness is the cash you need.
All the other kinds of silver really buy just strange things.
Everything has its music.
Everything has genes of God inside.
But learn from those courageous addicted lovers
of glands and opium and gold --
Look, they cannot jump high or laugh long
when they are whirling.
And the moon and the stars become sad
when their tender light is used for night wars.
Forgiveness is part of the treasure you need
to craft your falcon wings
And return to your true realm
of Divine freedom."

~Hafiz, in The Subject Tonight is Love, translated by Daniel Ladinsky

Certain themes show up in cultures the world over. I love this poem from Hafiz, a 14th century Persian mystic whose work certainly predates what I have learned so far of Ho'oponopono, the Hawaiian method for making things right. It also seems fitting during a time of year when the conflict between commercialism and spirit can be so fevered.

Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len says that Ho'oponopono cleaning is also a method of "paying down the debt" or "mortgage" on our souls. As soon as we come into this world, we are laden with memories that run us, just as they do everything and everyone else . . . until we choose to ask Divinity for help and forgiveness. Then He can transmute whatever is up for release at that moment. So each time we choose to clean rather than engage in the day's drama, we're making a soul-mortgage payment too.

I don't know where all the "memories" come from, or how they get into us. But according to Ho'oponopono, our sharing them goes back to the dawn of creation.

The attitude we hold about this state makes a big difference. For instance, some religions speak of "original sin" -- a doctrine that humans all share the same fall from divine grace dating from Adam and Eve's eating the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. Depending on our early experiences with church, feelings of shame, guilt, and unworthiness can be so overwhelming that we dare not poke our heads out into life. Or, we might be so frightened of -- or angry with -- God that we refuse to connect.

I haven't had this feeling with Ho'oponopono cleaning. Instead for me it's a more gentle, tender recognition of our connection with all of life, with forgiveness needed for our misperceptions of it and each other. Perhaps this did start with Adam and Eve, I don't know.

But if we're to pay down our "debt" and be free, we can only do this through Divine grace -- cleaning of some kind. Forgiveness can be a kind of "cash" in this work. We don't know what's in our bank balance, or how much more we need to pay. Will we compare ours to others', and feel indignation if they seem less "righteous" than we think we are? Will we feel so encumbered we can't even start?

Or will we feel peaceful enough to just keep doing it anyway? And will we be able to forgive ourselves for our own unconsciousness, so that we're willing to reach out to the world despite our imperfection? It's my practice to do the best I can with it, even when seemingly "bad" stuff happens.

By the way -- I enjoy the physical kinds of cash as much as anyone else. :-) As Hafiz says: "Everything has its music. Everything has genes of God inside." All I've learned of Ho'oponopono speaks this way also . . . . cash included. But just like us, it holds memories that we can choose to clean with. That $5 bill I found the other day? Well, $23 more came to join it yesterday -- completely unexpected. A friend wanted me to buy her some herbal remedies, so she insisted on handing me this cash. It's now basking in the under-glass-of-water cleaning "spa" in my kitchen while her order is in transit. When it's time, it will go back into circulation, and my friend will have what she asked for too.

May we remember the music and genes of God inside all things, including ourselves.

"Forgiveness is part of the treasure you need
to craft your falcon wings
And return to your true realm

of Divine freedom."

Peace begins with me,
Pam

We Clean; God Smiles and Winks

For many people including me, it's been a challenging year. At times I've felt discouraged -- due to family concerns, finances, and sometimes even my worth as a physician.

My specialty is classical homeopathy, a practice that differs from most other psychiatrists like myself. Sometimes this is isolating, and I feel overwhelmed. People who come to see me are often very exasperated with conventional medicine, and their suffering is longstanding and complicated. Some are willing to work with me to understand their problems deeply enough to prescribe remedies effectively; some are not. Initial sessions are 2-3 hours, and I study a lot on top of that. I've seen the kinds of healing possible through these methods, so even though it's difficult for me I keep at it.

Through all this occasional anxiety and discouragement, I've continued to practice Self-Identity Through Ho'oponopono -- sometimes more consistently than others. The times I feel best are when I DO remember to "just do it!" no matter what, as Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len so often reminds us.

Today was one of my low-ebb days; I had a cold, was coughing and sneezing, and had accidentally forgotten the power connection to my computer when coming to the office. There was no time to go back home and get it before my first patient, and so I just did the best I could. I realized that if I was disorganized enough to forget something like that, I needed to do more cleaning. "I'm sorry, please forgive me for neglecting the cleaning this morning," I said. "Thank you for this reminder of what I need to do."

Realizing my own inner energy supply was low, I breathed 7 rounds of "HA". This helped connect all three parts of me . . . with a solid link to Divinity too.

I gently ran my pencil eraser over my appointment list, saying "Peace of I" over each name. I thanked Divinity for these people, even though my laptop would be dead before lunch. (I cleaned, but it still went "off" -- no miracle there! For some reason it didn't bother me like it normally would, though.) I simply dashed out at lunch to buy another power supply for use whenever needed (including today).

The day brought more people into the office, and I cleaned while listening to them. Bills as well as checks arrived in the mail . . . and I said "Thank you!" for it all. I even said "Thank you!" every time I sneezed. :-)

As I was leaving, one of my homeopathic patients came to visit her therapist, who also works in the office. She's a hardworking, serious woman who's been through much trauma and abuse; her previous psychiatrist had treated her with medications alone. I had continued her medicines for the time being, but also recommended talk therapy with EMDR for processing painful emotions. Her therapist is dedicated and very effective; they've been working together well.

After some months, this patient also wanted to have her case taken homeopathically -- which we did. I gave her a remedy based on her unique kind of suffering. With this, she experienced relief from the depression quagmire she had been in for so many years despite her pharmaceuticals; it was a clear improvement even beyond the excellent psychotherapy she was receiving. But she'd had a relapse during a recent visit with certain family members. I gave her another dose of her remedy last week when we met.

"Dr. Pappas?" she peeped her head in the door today. "I've got to tell you! When you gave me that remedy again, I could sleep all the way through the night! I've never done that before! I feel so much better. It's amazing that those little white pills do anything, but they do -- they really do!" I thanked her for telling me, and she went in with her therapist.

I was grateful for these results of a process that can seem so strange to so many. Somehow, hearing about them just at that moment was replenishing for me, in exactly the way I needed. I thanked Divinity for this little reminder that maybe where I am is just right at this time, after all. I kept cleaning with "I love you" on my way out to the car.

Walking through the parking lot, I noticed it was nearly empty. It was a lovely evening, and I enjoyed the feel of the air. For some reason I looked down, though . . . and there at my feet, no other car or person anywhere near, was a $5.00 bill! Now, that was a first for me.

"THANK YOU!" I said, picking it up. I immediately felt it wanted to come with me, to be under my glass of water money-cleaning "spa" at home. What a lovely reminder that I am cared for, and that I can also care for money. I brought the bill in, and it basks happily under the glass as I write this.

Someone asked me a couple of weeks ago whether I had ever experienced any "objective" results of my cleaning. I believe these small, everyday things described above are definite effects. I also believe my forgetting my computer power cord was a distinct reminder that I was in a disconnected state, and needed to power-up my Unihipili with some "HA" breathing. There are other documented stories in this blog as well -- look at what happened in Thanksgiving 2008, for instance.

I believe that if we keep to the cleaning, little reminders and messages do come. Some people call them "God Winks"; I'm just grateful for them, whatever they're called. They keep me going.

And now we'll see if my Inner Child and I can let go of this cold! We'll keep you posted, in between the Echinacea doses.

Peace begins with me,
Pam