Mana for the Doctor's Soul

  "Let the beauty of what you love, be what you do." ~ Rumi There are many ways to say "thank you".   Shown here in her pink finery is 7-month old Sienna Hoagland , who recently received a precious gift at St. Joseph's Hospital here in Phoenix: a new heart, just in time for Thanksgiving. Holding her is her mother Stephanie Provencio, and Dr. Stephen Pophal is in eye-and-finger lock.  St. Joseph's pediatric heart transplant program only started this year . . . and Sienna received its first successful transplant.  The gift was possible because of a selfless decision by parents in another state. Born with a cardiomyopathy, Sienna needed a pacemaker because her heart would only beat 50 times a minute -- far from the more normal 120 in babies like her.  Unfortunately,  pacemakers did not work as hoped. Sienna would not be alive today without the donated heart; it is rare for such a tiny organ to be made available. See how Sienna gazes at Dr. Popha...

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.   ~Plato Sometimes life can feel very difficult, even when practicing Ho'oponopono. Sometimes it seems like problems line up one after another, like legions of ants swarming in for a meal. Sometimes there are no words for such situations. I have been going through something like this for the last while. Morrnah Simeona, the Kahuna Lapa'au who modernized the ancient Hawaiian practice of Ho'oponopono as Self-Identity Through Ho'oponopono , said that talking about such things doesn't help anyhow. Being a psychiatrist trained in various kinds of "talk" therapy, I have struggled with this idea.  But in many ways I believe she was right.  For instance, many of us are very stuck in human stories of hurt, blame, resentment, anger, and shame.  No matter what the venue, our "talk" remains endlessly mired in these themes, and we have no insight into our own contributions to painful event...

 "The rainbow is a sign from him who is in all things." ~ Hopi saying A physician colleague wrote this past week asking about Ho'oponopono , as he had come across this blog.  He had also attended a recent Ho'oponopono training near his home.  It was a blessing to hear from him.   Although Ho'oponopono is a way for all people to make amends for our misperceptions about others and life itself, I feel this is especially important for those of us in healing professions.  Not all are willing to consider these ideas, but I offer this blog from the part of me who is in all things.   As far as healers go, Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len often shares that as a psychologist he was trained to "help" other people.  But in practice, this doesn't work.  How many patients do my colleagues know, who are not "helped" by what we do in medicine?  Is this not uncanny, when we are trying so hard? In Ho'oponopono, we are not really here to help others at all...

  People's experiences with Ho'oponopono are very individual.  For instance, after practicing this for awhile some feel peace, some feel nothing at all, and some might notice that they feel worse -- at least temporarily. Given our varying sensitivities, it's easy enough to understand the first two.  But feeling worse with a spiritual practice like Ho'oponopono?  How can this be? It might even scare some people away from doing it. My own experience has been all three (as well as others) at different times.   In this practice, we're adopting a world view that differs from most other cultural norms: accepting 100% responsibility for everything that shows up in our lives.  For many, this is a deal breaker and they get no farther.  After all, how can we be responsible for things we've never even been involved with in this lifetime?  Afghanistan?  Iraq?  Massive oil spills?  Patients committing suicide, or dying of cancer? We ...

Some people maintain that we're in conscious control of our thoughts and reactions, but Ho'oponopono suggests otherwise.   In fact Ho'oponopono posits that we are run by information that is so far unconscious we don't have a clue what's going on.  The "information" running us can come from generationally-transmitted memory, or from Divinity as inspiration.  We never know which it is. As a psychiatrist, this intrigues me.   Many psychotherapies aim to make the unconscious conscious -- hoping that by so doing, people can gain insight into their emotional troubles.  Healing is then possible.  Even cognitive behavioral psychotherapy is built on the idea that negative ideas about ourselves [negative self-talk] is what drives our sour emotions.   Yecchy, self-critical thoughts result in yecchy, depressive emotions and mood states.  Interrupt the cycle and you can interrupt the depression. We hope.  :-) A recent experience sho...

There has been a death in my family, and I have been spending time with my father.  His wife (my stepmother) has been ill for a long time -- but died in Hospice very recently.   It has been a difficult process for both of them, and for the rest of the family too.  Evolution is sometimes like that.  Even the beautiful, flowering lotus pictured above is known to grow from mucky origins. All along, I had been asking Divinity how to best to clean.  Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len had also been kind enough to share a cleaning tool with me -- which I have used liberally.  It has given me great peace. For the first few days after his wife of 45 years died, my father wanted no one to come.   After all, she wanted no memorial, and he didn't think he needed any help.  I spoke with him daily on the phone, and although he called himself "lachrymose," he insisted he was fine.  Despite Ho'oponopono I had struggled with this, not knowing what was corr...

The other day I received some alarming evidence of my own lack of clarity. It came in a friendly email, for which I am grateful. But the author went on to show me how I had apparently been unclear in my blog posts, or he would never have written me. After cleaning by myself for some time, I felt inspired to ask several other Ho'oponopono colleagues to join me. They graciously did. What had happened? The friendly person invited me to join his newly formed web site which cleans on behalf of its members, who pay a monthly fee for this service. He explained: "I teach and practice [a type of energy therapy] and Ho’oponopono. A couple of weeks ago my partner was watching Hew Len and got the idea that we should start a private members site to clean on behalf of the membership . It has been profound for us and our members. You have probably heard Dr Len talk about the gift of Ho’oponopono to “therapists”. People are attracted to your services because you are cleaning and ...