Mana for the Doctor's Soul

Listening to Ho'oponopono teleseminars with Mabel Katz and Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len , we often hear about the need to "put ourselves first". What does this really mean? Cartoonist Mark Parisi (see his " Off the Mark " comic above) shows us one possible interpretation -- and it looks like those stampeding have taken the book title to heart. We often find humor in exaggerating troublesome concepts. With this, Parisi hits the nail on the head! People can derive widely different ideas from hearing the same phrase. For some, being told to "put ourselves first" might justify narcissistically exploiting others as if they exist only to satisfy our needs. Or, it could suggest ignoring the legitimate needs of others when they inconvenience us. I don't know that such interpretations express the true spirit of Ho'oponopono , since we can't hurt others without also hurting ourselves. In fact, some of Dr. Hew Len's most memorable telesem...

Recent family events have led me to review my 12-Step work in Al-Anon . It's a coming back to center on important principles that have helped me before. Some of the similarities between this and Ho'oponopono are striking. For instance, the first 3 "Steps" in Al-Anon say: 1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol -- that our lives had become unmanageable. 2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. We make moral inventory of ourselves, taking responsibility for our wrongs; we humbly ask God to remove our shortcomings. Through prayer and meditation we seek to improve our conscious contact with God, praying for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out. For some, Step One is extremely hard; so is the thought that any power but us will really be there for us. Learning to trust...