Ho'oponopono

Wise Woman recommended a dose of Ho'oponapano the other day.  I'm always up for trying something new so I asked where I could get some of this stuff and how did I take it.  Turns out to not be that easy. Or maybe it turns out to be easier than that, depending on your perspective.  Here's the explanation from the words of Dr. Ihaleakala Hew  via Wise Woman.

" Ho'oponopono is really very simple. For the ancient Hawaiians, all problems begin as thought. But having a thought is not the problem. So what's the problem? The problem is that all our thoughts are imbued with painful memories, memories of persons, places, or things. The intellect working alone can't solve these problems, because the intellect only manages. Managing things is no way to solve problems.  You want to let them go! When you do Ho'oponopono, what happens is that the Divinity takes the painful thought and neutralizes or purifies it. You don't purify the person, place, or thing. You neutralize the energy you associate with that person, place, or thing. So the first stage of Ho'oponopono is the purification of that energy. Now something wonderful happens. Not only does that energy get neutralized; it also gets released, so there's a brand new slate. Buddhists call it the Void. The final step is that you allow the Divinity to come in and fill the void with light. To do Ho'oponopono, you don't have to know what the problem or error is.  All you have to do is notice any problem you are experiencing physically, mentally, emotionally, whatever. Once you notice, your responsibility is to immediately begin to clean, to say, "I'm sorry. Please forgive me." 

Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Lew 

So I guess the message is that we are creating our own problems and trying to micromanage ourselves.  We try to shuffle our same, tired old thoughts around into boxes and issues and "to do" lists. We make our own problems. Sometimes just by thinking too much.  It seems we have created so many management positions we can no longer get the work done.

It would seem when you practice Ho'oponopono, you downsize the upper management structure a bit.  You stop having so many meetings.  You don't worry so much about strategies, approaches, and restructuring to solve your problems.  You quit!  You stop thinking and creating problems and just allow. You live in the moment.

You stop thinking and remembering and reviewing what you did in the past as a measurement for how to handle the future. You  find the magic moment of right now.  In that magic moment  there are no memories, no worries for the future, just this moment and what's the problem with that! 

Is this easier said than done? That was my first reaction to Ho'oponopona.  But that's because I was thinking that maybe I had tried that before. I was thinking my way into a problem because I had past attachments and memories. Too much intellect, not enough being. And maybe not enough allowing. Perhaps if we don't worry about the management structure we can just enjoy the process. 

Aloha!