Taking 100% responsibility in Ho'oponopono: the very best way to get help

One of the main tenets in Ho'oponopono is taking 100% responsibility for everything that shows up in our lives. Yes, everything.

By nature, we balk at this -- it sounds so overwhelming!


After all, how can we be personally responsible for earthquakes, tsunamis, atrocities of war, or for other countries' starving children?  What about African elephants being killed, just for their ivory?  What about people who lie and steal from us -- and lovers who abuse, have affairs, or leave us?


You get the picture.  Think of the most recent outrage in your life, and just fill in the blank.


One reason the idea of 100% responsibility seems overwhelming is a follow up question: If I'm responsible for everything, does that mean I have to fix everything?  All by myself?


No, it doesn't . . . . but as Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len often asks, "Have you noticed that whenever there's a problem, you are always there?"  :-)


He's not really saying that we directly did anything to harm anyone.  But it's always US perceiving things as "problems," with our mental filters, opinions, and judgments.  We look at other people and think THEY ought to change, when WE'RE the constant factor in our [mis]perceptions.  We can't help but bring our own views and patterns into every relationship and circumstance, yet we don't even know we're doing it.


It's easy to get stuck here, and feel badly for all the "gunk" we're bringing in.


But in Ho'oponopono, being 100% responsible does not mean being 100% at fault or bad.  Instead, it means that we simply have the ability to respond in every situation.  And we can choose our response.


One path leads to overwhelm: trying to fix everything on our own.


Another path is to allow Divinity to help. In Ho'oponopono, this path is called "cleaning."  By using Ho'oponopono cleaning tools, we acknowledge that erroneous data or memories are running us and showing up as problems in our lives.  We can say, "I'm sorry for being unconscious, dear Divinity -- please forgive me.  Thank you for the opportunity to let go of this [data] now.  I love you."


It seems insanely simple -- too simple to possibly have any effects in our outer world.  And yet when we give permission by using the above process, Divinity can work behind the scenes to transmute the faulty data to pure light.  We are restored to our natural perfection, or returning to the "zero" state from whence we came. Then mana (life energy) and Divine Inspiration can enter us -- showing us what we can do next.  We can follow that inner direction.


We can continue choosing in every moment to use these tools to clean up our lives -- or not.  In fact, making such choices in each moment is the biggest responsibility we have. 
We can struggle and stew, or we can recognize the "problem" for what it is: an opportunity to let go.

Some problems, like the long-term one I wrote about last week, simply dissolve through using this process.  Others might not seem outwardly to respond for a long time, but we never know what's happening at levels we can't see.  Only Divinity knows that.


So very counterintuitively, taking 100% responsibility is the very best way to get reliable assistance with any problems we have.  Would you rather tangle with things all on your own, or allow Divinity to help?  What if the "problem" is not what we think it is at all?


I know which of these choices I'm picking -- at least when I'm grounded and calm.  Please, somebody remind me the next time I get off kilter and forget.  We humans can be pieces of work!


Peace begins with me,
Pam

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