Hoponopono

Ho‘oponopono

Hoʻoponopono (ho-o-pono-pono) is an ancient Hawaiian practice of reconciliation and forgiveness. Hoʻoponopono is defined in the Hawaiian Dictionary as "mental cleansing”. Ponopono is defined as "to put to right, to put in order or shape, correct, revise, adjust, amend, regulate, arrange, rectify, tidy up, make orderly or neat. Ho'oponopono consists of four phrases:

"I am sorry. Please forgive me. I love you. Thank you.

Why would you start out "I am sorry; Please forgive me" when you need to forgive someone else for a transgression against you? Ho'oponopono teachers call this practice "cleaning," you clean yourself of your own negative feelings to erase from your memory or consciousness whatever negativity is not working for you. You are expressing the fact that you no longer wish to suffer from a current or past problem. In this kind of situation it is normal to want the other person to change. A normal response, yes, but impossible! The only person you can change is yourself. Furthermore, in a two-person situation you will have played some role in the relationship problem even if it's just a victim. You will be using Ho'oponopono to obtain forgiveness for yourself: forgiveness for whatever is within you that helped to create the problem.

  The next two phrases are "Thank you. I love you." The "you" could be yourself, the other person and/or the Divine. Conjuring up gratitude and love will help you anchor into a heart-based response. The mind by itself is never able to solve negativity and distress, whereas the heart is the repository of positive emotions. Feelings of self acceptance and self love are increased during this process. Turns out that loving yourself is the greatest way to improve yourself, and as you improve yourself, your improve your world. Ho'oponopono is also a mindfulness technique helping you to live in the present, not in the distressing past.

A well learned skill will help you...