| Two years ago, I heard
about a therapist in Hawaii who cured a complete
ward of criminally insane patients--without ever
seeing any of them. The psychologist would study
an inmate's chart and then look within himself
to see how he created that person's illness. As
he improved himself, the patient improved.
When I first heard this story, I
thought it was an urban legend. How could anyone
heal anyone else by healing himself? How could
even the best self-improvement master cure the
criminally insane? It didn't make any sense. It
wasn't even logical, so I dismissed the story.
However, I heard it again a year later.
I heard that the therapist had used a Hawaiian
healing process called ho'oponopono. I had never
heard of it, yet I couldn't let it leave my
mind. If the story was at all true, I had to
know more. I had always understood "total
responsibility" to mean that I am
responsible for what I think and do. Beyond
that, it's out of my hands. I think that most
people think of total responsibility that way.
We're responsible for what we do, not what
anyone else does--but that's wrong.
The Hawaiian therapist who healed those
mentally ill people would teach me an advanced
new perspective about total responsibility. His
name is Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len. We probably
spent an hour talking on our first phone call. I
asked him to tell me the complete story of his
work as a therapist.
He explained that he worked at Hawaii
State Hospital for four years.
That ward where they kept the
criminally insane was dangerous.
Psychologists quit on a monthly basis.
The staff called in sick a lot or simply quit.
People would walk through the ward with their
backs against the wall, afraid of being attacked
by patients. It was not a pleasant place to
live, work, or visit.
Dr. Len told me that he never saw
patients. He agreed to have an office and to
review their files. While he looked at those
files, he would work on himself. As he worked on
himself, patients began to heal.
After a few months, patients that had
to be shackled were being allowed to walk
freely. Others who had to be heavily medicated
were getting off their medications. And those
who had no chance of ever being released were
being freed. I was in awe. Not only that, but
the staff began to enjoy coming to work.
Absenteeism and turnover disappeared.
We ended up with more staff than we needed
because patients were being released, and all
the staff was showing up for work. Today, that
ward is closed.
This is where I had to ask the million
dollar question. "What were you doing
within yourself that caused those people to
change?"
"I was simply healing the part of
me that created them," he said. I didn't
understand. Dr. Len explained that total
responsibility for your life means that
everything in your life--simply because it is in
your life--is your responsibility. In a literal
sense the entire world is your creation.
Whew, this is tough to swallow. Being
responsible for what I say or do is one thing.
Being responsible for what everyone in my life
says or does is quite another. Yet, the truth is
this: If you take complete responsibility for
your life, then everything you see, hear, taste,
touch or in any way experience is your
responsibility because it is in your life. This
means that terrorist activity, the president,
the economy or anything your experience and
don't like--is up for your to heal. They don't
exist in a manner of speaking, except as
projections from inside you. The problem isn't
with them, it's with you, and to change them,
you have to change you.
I know this is tough to grasp, let
alone accept or actually live. Blame is far
easier than total responsibility, but as I spoke
with Dr. Len, I began to realize that healing
for him and in ho'oponopono means loving
yourself.
If you want to improve your life, you
have to heal your life. If you want to cure
anyone, even a mentally ill criminal, you do it
by healing you.
I asked Dr. Len how he went about
healing himself. "What was he doing exactly
when he looked at those patient's files?"
"I just kept saying, 'I'm sorry
and I love you' over and over again," he
explained.
"That's it?"
"That's it."
Turns out that loving yourself is the
greatest way to improve yourself, and as you
improve yourself, you improve your word.
Let me give you a quick example of how
this works. One day, someone sent me an email
that upset me. In the past I would have handled
it by working on my emotional hot buttons or by
trying to reason with the person who sent the
nasty message.
This time, I decided to try Dr. Len's
method. I kept silently saying, "I'm sorry
and I love you." I didn't say it to anyone
in particular. I was simply evoking the spirit
of love to heal within me what was creating the
outer circumstance.
Within an hour I got an email from the
same person. He apologized for his previous
message. Keep in mind that I didn't take any
outward action to get that apology. I didn't
even write him back. Yet, by saying "I love
you" I somehow healed within me what was
creating him.
I later attended a ho'oponopono
workshop run by Dr. Len. He's now 70 years old,
considered a grandfatherly shaman, and is
somewhat reclusive.
He praised my book, "The Attractor
Factor." He told me that as I improve
myself, my book's vibration will raise, and
everyone will feel it when they read it. In
short, as I improve, my readers will improve.
"What about the books that are
already sold and out there?" I asked.
"They aren't out there," he
explained, once again blowing my mind with his
mystic wisdom. "They are still in
you." In short, there is no "out
there." It would take a whole book to
explain this advanced technique with the depth
it deserves.
Suffice it to say that whenever you
want to improve anything in your life, there is
only one place to look: INSIDE OF YOU. When you
look, DO IT WITH LOVE! |
