<p><strong><font color="#339966">This is another email I received.<br />At first I thought it a story that I would like to check the facts on before passing it on.<br />Later I decided that it was a powerful enough story to pass on anyway.<br />I hope you find it inspiring too.</font></strong><br /> </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><font size="3" color="#3366ff">HO'OPONOPONO<br /> by Joe Vitale</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#3366ff"> &quot;Two years ago, I heard about a therapist in Hawaii who cured a<br /> complete ward of criminally insane patients--without ever seeing any<br /> of them. The psychologist would study an inmate's chart and then look</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#3366ff"> within himself to see how he created that person's illness. As he<br /> improved himself, the patient improved.</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#3366ff"> &quot;When I first heard this story, I thought it was an urban legend. How</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#3366ff"> could anyone heal anyone else by healing himself? How could even the<br /> best self-improvement master cure the criminally insane? It didn't<br /> make any sense. It wasn't logical, so I dismissed the story.</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#3366ff"> &quot;However, I heard it again a year later. I heard that the therapist<br /> had used a Hawaiian healing process called ho 'oponopono. I had never</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#3366ff"> heard of it, yet I couldn't let it leave my mind. If the story was at</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#3366ff"> all true, I had to know more. I had always understood &quot;total<br /> responsibility&quot; to mean that I am responsible for what I think and<br /> do.<br /> Beyond that, it's out of my hands. I think that most people think of<br /> total<br /> responsibility that way. We're responsible for what we do, not what<br /> anyone else does--but that's wrong.</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#3366ff"> &quot;The Hawaiian therapist who healed those mentally ill people would<br /> teach me an advanced new perspective about total responsibility. His<br /> name is Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len. We probably spent an hour talking on<br /> our first phone call. I asked him to tell me the complete story of<br /> his<br /> work as a therapist.</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#3366ff"> He explained that he worked at Hawaii State Hospital for four years.</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#3366ff"> That ward where they kept the criminally insane was dangerous.</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#3366ff"> Psychologists quit on a monthly basis. The staff called in sick a lot</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#3366ff"> or simply quit. People would walk through that ward with their backs<br /> against the wall, afraid of being attacked by patients. It was not a<br /> pleasant place to live, work, or visit.</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#3366ff"> &quot;Dr. Len told me that he never saw patients. He agreed to have an<br /> office and to review their files. While he looked at those files, he<br /> would work on himself. As he worked on himself, patients began to<br /> heal.</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#3366ff"> &quot;'After a few months, patients that had to be shackled were being<br /> allowed to walk freely,' he told me. 'Others who had to be heavily<br /> medicated were getting off their medications. And those who had no<br /> chance of ever being released were being freed.' I was in awe.'Not<br /> only that,' he went on, 'but the staff began to enjoy coming to work.</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#3366ff"> Absenteeism and turnover disappeared. We ended up with more staff<br /> than<br /> we needed because patients were being released, and all the staff was<br /> showing up to work. Today, that ward is closed.'</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#3366ff"> &quot;This is where I had to ask the million dollar question: 'What were<br /> you doing within yourself that caused those people to change?'</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#3366ff"> &quot;'I was simply healing the part of me that created them,' he said. I<br /> didn't understand. Dr. Len explained that total responsibility for<br /> your life means that everything in your life- simply because it is in</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#3366ff"> your life--is your responsibility. In a literal sense the entire<br /> world<br /> is your creation.</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#3366ff"> &quot;Whew. This is tough to swallow. Being responsible for what I say or<br /> do is one thing. Being responsible for what everyone in my life says<br /> or does is quite another. Yet, the truth is this: if you take<br /> complete<br /> responsibility for your life, then everything you see, hear, taste,<br /> touch, or in any way experience is your responsibility because it is<br /> in your life. This means that terrorist activity, the president, the<br /> economy or anything you experience and don't like--is up for you to<br /> heal. They don't exist, in a manner of speaking, except as<br /> projections<br /> from inside you. The problem isn't with them, it's with you, and to<br /> change them, you have to change you.</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#3366ff"> &quot;I know this is tough to grasp, let alone accept or actually live.<br /> Blame is far easier than total responsibility, but as I spoke with<br /> Dr.<br /> Len, I began to realize that healing for him and in ho 'oponopono<br /> means loving yourself.</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#3366ff"> &quot;If you want to improve your life, you have to heal your life. If you</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#3366ff"> want to cure anyone, even a mentally ill criminal you do it by<br /> healing<br /> you.</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#3366ff"> &quot;I asked Dr. Len how he went about healing himself. What was he<br /> doing,<br /> exactly, when he looked at those patients' files?</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#3366ff"> &quot;'I just kept saying, 'I'm sorry' and 'I love you' over and over<br /> again,' he explained.</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#3366ff"> &quot;That's it?</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#3366ff"> &quot;That's it.</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#3366ff"> &quot;Turns out that loving yourself is the greatest way to improve<br /> yourself, and as you improve yourself, you improve your world.</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#3366ff"> &quot;Let me give you a quick example of how this works: one day, someone<br /> sent me an email that upset me. In the past I would have handled it<br /> by<br /> working on my emotional hot buttons or by trying to reason with the<br /> person who sent the nasty message.</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#3366ff"> &quot;This time, I decided to try Dr. Len's method. I kept silently<br /> saying,<br /> 'I'm sorry' and 'I love you,' I didn't say it to anyone in<br /> particular.<br /> I was simply evoking the spirit of love to heal within me what was<br /> creating the outer circumstance.</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#3366ff"> &quot;Within an hour I got an e-mail from the same person. He apologized<br /> for his previous message. Keep in mind that I didn't take any outward</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#3366ff"> action to get that apology. I didn't even write him back. Yet, by<br /> saying 'I love you,' I somehow healed within me what was creating<br /> him.</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#3366ff"> &quot;I later attended a ho 'oponopono workshop run by Dr. Len. He's now<br /> 70<br /> years old, considered a grandfatherly shaman, and is somewhat<br /> reclusive.</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#3366ff"> He praised my book, The Attractor Factor. He told me that as I<br /> improve<br /> myself, my book's vibration will raise, and everyone will feel it<br /> when<br /> they read it. In short, as I improve, my readers will improve.</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#3366ff"> &quot;'What about the books that are already sold and out there?' I asked.</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#3366ff"> &quot;'They aren't out there,' he explained, once again blowing my mind<br /> with his mystic wisdom. 'They are still in you.' In short, there is<br /> no<br /> out there. It would take a whole book to explain this advanced<br /> technique with the depth it deserves.</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#3366ff"> &quot;Suffice It to say that whenever you want to improve anything in your</font></p><p><font size="3" color="#3366ff"> life, there's only one place to look: inside you. When you look, do<br /> it<br /> with love.&quot;</font></p><p>&nbsp;</p>