
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Ho'oponopono and Hope for Medicine

Monday, September 22, 2008
Love and 100% responsibility -- enough to turn the tide? We're the ones we've been waiting for

This does not mean we're insignificant. Far from it.
We may feel small, especially if not part of financial institutions, lobby organizations, or political machines. But through what we do in each moment, we can turn the tide. We can accept responsibility for whatever memories we share that show up as stock market upheaval, political and military warfare, corporate greed, and a host of other national ills -- because sure as we're alive, we all share this shadow.
Through our choices, we can allow Divinity to transmute whatever memories need addressing in us. All we need to do is say, "I love you." According to Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len, that's code for, "I'm sorry, dear Divinity, for whatever is going on in me that presents as this problem now. Please forgive me. Thank you for the opportunity to clean (and release) this now."
In his article, "Who's in Charge?", Dr. Hew Len explains further about "I love you."
As crazy as it may sound to our intellects, this is the greatest thing any of us can do in any situation. And although there are no expectations for "how" things will resolve, we can know they will. Clearing ourselves of old, outmoded "stuff" allows room for Divine Inspiration and Love to fill in the vacuum in us. We can do this not for any particular outcome other than experiencing the peace we're seeking.When your Soul experiences memories replaying problems, say to them mentally or silently: "I love you dear memories. I am grateful for the opportunity to free all of you and me." "I love you" can be repeated quietly again and again. Memories never go on vacation or retire unless you retire them. "I love you" can be used even if you are not conscious of problems. For example, it can be applied before engaging in any activity such as making or answering a telephone call or before getting into your car to go somewhere.
I heard a wonderful song today by singer-songwriter Karen Drucker that inspires me with hope. Though not specifically about Ho'oponopono, it resonates well with it -- and is what I wish to communicate to all today. "We are the ones we've been waiting for," after maybe years of waiting for someone else to save us. Enjoy!
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Ho'oponopono and money -- what to hold onto in a financial hurricane?

President Bush and the federal government are working out a $700 billion financial rescue package, in hopes of shoring things up. But hammering out details isn't easy.
The whole thing summons fear -- some kinds crashing through our lives like King Kong, while others linger like twining tendrils of unease the morning after a very bad dream. Depending on our need for financial security, we are vulnerable to all of this.Doubt that money and security are linked in any formal way? Consider the name of the organization in charge of protecting investors, maintaining fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitating capital formation: the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. hmmmmm . . . .
Does Ho'oponopono offer any methods for dealing with situations like these, that generate such fear and INsecurity?
Fortunately, yes. I've learned a great deal from Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len at live Foundation of I seminars, conference calls, and recorded CD's. I've also been participating with Mabel Katz's weekly teleseminars for well over a year now, including special series' on wealth, success, business, relationships, and other vital topics. She's currently running a special series titled: "The Easiest Way to Peaceful Relationships, Wealth, Success, and How to Take Good Care of Ourselves with Self-Identity through Ho'oponopono."
This last week I asked Mabel about Ho'oponopono and dealing with our nation's financial crisis. I was thinking about all the people who have lost their jobs or homes, have trouble paying for their basic needs, and who have lost retirement funds in the stock market recently. So many souls, and so much pain and angst.
Ho'oponopono sees the "problem" as our reactions and associations to events, rather than the events themselves. The idea is that once we clear ourselves of these reactions or memories, we can be open to inspiration from Divinity -- possibly about things to "do" in the situation.
There are certain cleaning tools that can help us with financial concerns, such as mentally placing the identity of money in a glass of orange juice whenever such worries arise. Dr. Hew Len described this in detail on the available CD and MP3 recording, Conference with Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len and Mabel Katz at the Love and Understanding Institute.
But what Mabel really emphasized in answering my question was not the particular "tool" used. Instead, she focused on the need for continuous cleaning: practicing Ho'oponopono with the fears and worries coming up with these financial situations I was asking about. Since I am the one asking, it is my responsibility to do the cleaning -- not waiting for anybody else to do it.
Mabel likened our current financial issues to a tornado or hurricane we are going through, on the way to something better coming in its place. She spoke of our need to hold onto something stable and "trust, trust, trust." For people practicing Ho'oponopono, this "something stable" is the practice itself.
Further, shared Mabel, we need to really concentrate on this practice ("the cleaning") no matter how things appear on the outside. "I am sure if we asked God, God would have a solution to all this. So, let's give permission to God, especially since this is a situation that brings so much fear and doubt. . . . don't get distracted or let appearances blow you away."
She commented that this is a very good opportunity to do the cleaning and to trust, "because, what else can we do?"
Good point. I can use my energy for the worst worries imaginable, or can hold onto practicing Ho'oponopono like one might to a sturdy tree in a hurricane.
Perhaps, suggested Mabel, what we're seeing might even have to do with "putting money first, and a lot of other things that have to be corrected. This is waking a lot of people up -- and sometimes it's the only way."
I don't know what's going on in the larger scheme of things. And I told Mabel that to my conscious mind, the whole thing seems much too big for my little cleaning to have any effect. "Each time you have those thoughts, you clean," she replied. "Don't go deeper into those thoughts. You are not small. You can make a big change in the world just by cleaning."
I cannot "see" the immediate results of any of this cleaning as others (such as Kamaile and Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len) can. But I can at least deal with my individual "data" or reactions to what I see in the news and in my bank account. I am cleaning, and I join with many others hoping for the best as the storm eventually settles. And if anyone else is noticing reactions similar to mine, I'd be grateful for your help cleaning too.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Peace within the storm

Heading for the church, he was met by residents who helped the lion wade inside. Though water crept up to people's waists, and two-by-fours came floating through broken windows, Shackle stayed calm as a kitten. The people locked her in the sanctuary overnight, where she took reign on the altar.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
The power of "I am sorry"

Newsweek -- 9/15/08, page 20
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Something greater than myself, in me

The artwork above is a painting by Navajo artist David K. John, and hangs in my office. Titled "Rain Chanters," it depicts beings that are sacred to the Dine (the Navajo people), and which can offer healing assistance. It blesses the space where I see my patients.
I am grateful for any feeling of help when working with my patients. To me this is a huge responsibility, and doctors, nurses, therapists, and other caregivers can easily feel overwhelmed. We're all the time trying to understand and solve others' problems.
In Ho'oponopono, we're only one "I'm sorry" or "I love you" away from coming back to Who We Really Are: connected at all times with Divinity (or Love, or the Creator, or any other term that feels comfortable for you). Peace and healing can bathe our weary souls.
Friday, September 5, 2008
From rat brain to right mind -- transmute your stress and survive

Anxiety, depression, and infertility are a few of the known results of chronic stress.
Typical of many in contemporary biomedicine, these researchers describe effects in terms of neurohormones -- in this case, corticotropin releasing factor (CRF). In response to stress, the hypothalmus (a part of the brain) secretes CRF; this stimulates the pituitary gland to make hormones that go on to stimulate the adrenal glands (ACTH).
In acute stress, CRF levels rise, leading to a complete hormonal fight-or-flight cascade. Once the stressor passes, CRF levels fall. This process in our bodies helps us respond to immediate dangers such as floods, earthquakes, and things that go "bump" in the night.
But with chronic stress, ongoing high CRF levels bathe parts of the brain associated with fear and emotion (such as the amygdala), possibly leading to anxiety, depression, and infertility. What helps us function acutely, can wear us out chronically.
In this study, researchers used a viral vector to increase CRF in the amygdalas of female rats. Rats continuously exposed to CRF from this area of the brain showed anxious and depressed behaviors, as well as disrupted ovarian cycles -- suggesting that persistent release of CRF (as in chronic stress) affects multiple body systems.
In fact, these changes were likened to those seen in human females exposed to stressors daily. Hmmmmm . . . .
The whole purpose of the study was to help researchers devise better treatment options, but again they're looking for a biological intervention point. This makes me wonder: what is the "disease" to begin with? Is elevated CRF the root cause of our pain, or is this chemical change and its myriad effects only a very potent side dish?
And what if there are ways to modulate the effects of chronic stress that don't rely on drugs to rearrange our neurohormones? What if our consciousness itself could impact the fluctuation of CRF plus a slew of other important biological substrates?
In some ways, this is the basis of psychotherapy: the idea that developing insight into our fixed [problematic] behavioral patterns can allow us to release and replace them with healthier modes of being. As a psychiatrist I've been trained to help people in exactly this way as well as others. However, this also involves teaching people to cope, manage, and learn new behaviors. Then they go back into the pressure cookers that delivered them to us initially.
What if it were possible to simply let go of stressful responses in the first place? Then we wouldn't be needing animal models to show us the way to heal.
According to Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len, Ho'oponopono does offer such a method -- and it does it very simply. We can choose to engage in stressful reactions, or let go of them -- allowing Divinity to transmute them and fill us with itself instead.
In the book Zero Limits, by Dr. Joe Vitale and Dr. Hew Len, the latter states:
"The updated Ho'oponopono, a process of repentance, forgiveness and transmutations, is a petition to Love to void and replace toxic energies with itself. Love accomplishes this by flowing through the mind, beginning with the spiritual mind, the superconscious. it then continues its flow through the intellectual mind, the conscious mind, freeing it of thinking energies. Finally it moves into the emotional mind, the subconscious, voiding thoughts of toxic emotions and filling them with itself. "
Morrnah Simeona, the native Hawaiian Kahuna Lapa'au who by modernizing an ancient spiritual cleansing ritual developed Self-Identity through Ho'oponopono, explained further:
"We are the sum total of our experiences, which is to say that we are burdened by our pasts. When we experience stress or fear in our lives, if we would look carefully, we would find that the cause is actually a memory. It is the emotions which are tied to these memories which affect us now. The subconscious associates an action or person in the present with something that happened in the past. When this occurs, emotions are activated and stress is produced.
Ho'oponopono is a profound gift which allows one to develop a working relationship with the Divinity within and learn to ask that in each moment, our errors in thought, word, deed, or action be cleansed. The process is essentially about freedom, complete freedom from the past."
So rather than analyzing, solving, managing, or coping with problems, Ho'oponopono purportedly allows us to go to Divinity within and ask that these "errors" be corrected. When we give permission by saying, "Thank you" "I'm sorry", or using any other ho'oponopono tools we know, our problematic memories can be transmuted into pure energy -- leaving behind the "zero" state from which we were created. Divinity can then fill us with Inspiration. ahhhhhhhhhhh . . . .
Personally, I'd prefer Divine Inspiration over disrupted brain chemicals any old day. What about you?
Learn more through the Foundation of I, or teleseminars with Mabel Katz.