Mana for the Doctor's Soul

I've been fortunate to attend several teleconference calls with Mabel Katz and also a live seminar with Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len this past week. These are two of my most treasured teachers in the ho'oponopono process, a way of living that keeps me mostly sane these days. At first my intellect was doubtful that saying things like "thank you" "I'm sorry" "please forgive me" or "I love you" could make any difference in this tumultuous world of ours. How can such a nonsensical process solve problems? I'm trained to think through problems, dissect causes, consider options, and pick the most sensible way to fix them. My intellect loves to think it's in charge. Instead, ho'oponopono holds that our intellects can't possibly know what the problem truly is. After all, our conscious minds can be aware of only ~15 bits of information at a time, yet there are 15 million bits of information flooding our brains in any one moment! (Pl

I've just returned from a workshop with several other doctors, discussing how to modulate the stress in our own lives and teach others to do the same. Our perfectionistic personalities make us ripe for overwork, guilt when things go wrong, shame when we make mistakes, and anger when we can't control outcomes. Through both lectures and exercises, Lee Lipsenthal MD of Finding Balance Productions helped us see ourselves . . . and the view was not always pretty. Much of Dr. Lipsenthal's teaching involved ways of dealing with our own reactions, and how to keep what's important central in our lives and hearts. In fact, many of the exercises focused on heart-based breathing and meditations. I thought about how my personal practice of ho'oponopono fits into these ideas. It's a moment-to-moment working relationship between all parts of me and Divinity within, leading to forgiveness and peace. And, it's definitely heart-based. The process involves noticing whatever

Throughout training, physicians and other health practitioners are taught that patients come to us for help. They are 'sick', and in need of a cure. Medical interventions might come through surgery or other procedures, medication, or more rarely through focused talk. Still, the patient is always seen as the one with the "problem". At times, my patients' situations have uncannily resembled my own. Before Ho'oponopono, I would note the seeming similarity but not investigate further. Imagine my shock at hearing Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len , a psychologist who teaches ho'oponopono, tell me that patients don't come to me to be healed. Instead, they come to give me another opportunity to "clean", to make things right. Basic to Self-Identity through Ho'oponopono is the idea that what we think are "problems" in others is actually skewed vision on our part. Our vision is skewed because of unconscious memories or data in us distorting our view