Mana for the Doctor's Soul

Sometimes despite our best intentions and Ho'oponopono cleaning, outer situations don't change. In fact they may even seem to deteriorate. This can be extremely frustrating, leading us to think that nothing we do -- including Ho'oponopono -- "works." Maybe we expect that if we clean (or share our supposed wisdom), others will do as we think they should do. When they don't, we get agitated. There's a precious balance between doing what we realistically can in support of others, and expecting them to follow our suggestions. It can be hard to maintain this balance. A situation in my family has been causing great pain, and I've been asked for my thoughts. I've been cleaning, and sharing when it seems right. But for the most part, my words fall on deaf ears. The question is recovery from alcoholism, a condition which eventually leads to death. My upset is a complex blend of concern, love, indignation, fear, anger, and incredulity that others don't ...

Why would you imagine that people come to see a psychiatrist -- and a homeopathic psychiatrist at that? All kinds of stresses and suffering lead them to my door. But out of all the problems I hear, the most frequent is their relationships with each other. That's right. Some want to be in relationships and can't find them; others are in relationships and want out. Still others are so focused on tormenting each other they wouldn't think of leaving -- but both partners become ill. In homeopathy , we explore the person's inner experiences. This is not to create a chronological "who did what to whom" kind of document. Instead we want to discover how the life force has tried to adapt to perceived problems; this is revealed through the person's pattern of symptoms and ways of suffering. Through this understanding we can find a medicine from the natural world that contains this same energy pattern -- and thus can catalyze healing. Believe it or not, there are simi...

Sometimes we attend seminars and leave untouched; other times we are forever changed. I experienced the latter this past weekend, through " The Easiest Way Live Seminar" with Mabel Katz and Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len . Too many places in me were touched to write about them all at once. They'll have to come out over time. One, though, involves the human fear of being "nothing" -- with the surprising recognition that there is also great freedom in this. For me this was like a spiritual cleanse, unsticking clogged energies like the best bran muffin one could hope for. The very essence of Ho'oponopono is that we come from nothing (the Void) as an exact likeness of the Divine. " We are perfect, but we've got doo-doo [extraneous data or memories plugging us up]," said Dr. Hew Len. Hawaiians even have a term for this situation: kukai pa'a (intellectual constipation). Ho'oponopono cleaning is all about letting go of this "doo-doo" so t...

What might it be like to live without extraneous data or memories affecting our relationships? Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len often remarks, "Love is blind." One could be "in the moment", all the time, through practicing Ho'oponopono constantly. There could be a world without preconceived notions, judgements, racism, border wars, or other disruptive human rigidities. We could recognize that we really know nothing, and deal with what shows up rather than struggle with what our intellects think "should not be." I offer a story* about 2 very unlikely friends at The Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tennessee: Tarra , an 8700-pound Asian elephant and Bella, a fluffy white dog. The 2 are inseparable -- and they don't seem to care what anybody thinks about it, either. Terra and Bella: A Heavenly Match Born in Burma in 1974, Tarra was prematurely weaned and separated from her mother at 6 months -- then sold to an animal broker in the United States. After flying t...

Over the last few months I've been dealing with a family situation that's had me stumped. A mixture of love, concern, anxiety, hurt, anger, and guilt comes along with it. The specifics aren't so important here, but one issue for me has been what -- and how much -- I personally should "do" about this situation. After all, one tenet of Ho'oponopono is that we are "100% responsible" for everything that shows up in our lives. Does this mean that when the proverbial you-know-what hits the fan, we have caused it -- with all attendant blame and guilt? And if we have caused it, does it mean we need to fix it? Maybe other people get confused about these questions too. My feeling of stuckness led me to ask Mabel Katz last night to talk about the "100% responsibility" part of Ho'oponopono. We were chatting on one of her Thursday night Ho'oponopono question and answer calls . When in the thick of things, she said, "it can be hard to rememb...

A new year is always a chance to start anew, releasing what no longer fits. Some of this could be grudges and hurts held for years. You know the ones: she said this to me; he didn't do that; I got passed over for a promotion; my spouse left me . . . and on and on. Sometimes we simply aren't speaking to someone, and we can't even remember the original insult because it happened so long ago. Perhaps the length of passing time makes it feel too embarrassing to break silence -- after all, how could we explain that we've been stewing in resentment all this time? We might continue the glacial freeze rather than lose face. One of the most painful situations can be when we've sincerely apologized to someone for a hurt we've caused, but they continue the silence anyway. Then we're left with both guilt from our earlier transgression as well as feeling rejected anew. Oh, we can really get embroiled in our woundings. Sometimes we can become so aligned with having been ...