فصل 8

The Evidence

Many people had breakthroughs from the dinner and from the Manifestation Weekend retreat. In this chapter you can read their true stories, so you have a sense of the power of the ho’oponopono process.

Here’s one from Louis Green:

Dear Joe,

I want to thank you again for putting together the evening with Dr. Hew Len.Thanks are also in order to Suzanne for working on the details, including ordering me a vegan dinner from the Hyatt. I enjoyed sitting with you and Nerissa and getting to know both of you, as well as the other wonderful people at our table.

I felt privileged to have a front-row seat to hear Dr. Hew Len and for his grace and generosity in counseling me in response to my questions.

The two weeks following that night have brought me many amazing experiences, which I will gladly share with you. One thing that I had to remind myself of is that Dr. Hew Len sought clearance from the Divine to assist me, so that while I tried to apply ho’oponopono as often as I could remember, which turned out to be sporadically, I was still benefiting from his prayers.

I Received the Request for Dr. Hew Len Stories

Right After Listening to the Recording

The first experience I will mention is the e-mail from Suzanne inviting stories and responses from the evening with Dr. Hew Len. Interestingly, I purchased Life’s Missing Instruction Manual and downloaded the MP3 recording of you and Dr. Hew Len. I had literally just finished another listening to the recording when I found Suzanne’s e-mail in my in-box.

My Lawsuit Went National with No Publicity

The second experience is pretty incredible. I had a new lawsuit to file before I left for Austin on February 23. I couldn’t get everything together in time to make the post office before I left, so I mailed it the next morning from an Austin post office (February 24). Inexplicably, my materials got lost in the mail, and didn’t arrive at their destination for filing until Monday, March 6.

I belong to a Listserv for consumer advocate attorneys from around the country. Last Friday afternoon, an attorney from Connecticut posted a capsule summary of a case that had been filed in Canadian County, Oklahoma, and asked if my colleagues in Tulsa had filed it. I almost fell over. It was my case. I e-mailed her back and called her office to find out how she found out about it.Then, I spent the next hour trying to find something on Google. No luck.

She e-mailed me back and said that she subscribes to an online service called Courthouse News Services (www.courthousenews.com), which has stringers (and probably moles) who monitor legal filings and opinions from around the country and report important, significant, or simply intriguing developments.The one-paragraph synopsis1 appeared on the front page, right column, of the web site, and I had sent out no publicity on the case. Ironically, the client’s father had visited my office earlier in the day, and I had to reassure him that I believe in my heart that we have a strong case to take to trial. It blows my mind to think that out of thousands of cases that are filed every day, mine made the news.

A Dinner I Arranged at the Last Minute Attracted Record Attendance

I’m on the board of our local vegetarian group, and our monthly meetings are usually on the second Saturday of the month.When I checked with the president about a place for the March meeting, I found out that no arrangements had been made. I volunteered to pick up the ball. On Tuesday, February 28, I went to the top restaurant on my list, only to find out that the owner was out of town until Friday, March 3, but they’d leave a message for her to call me when she got back in town. That wouldn’t work.

The next day,Wednesday, March 1, I went to a Thai restaurant that had been open for only a few months. I spoke to the manager and asked if they could do a vegetarian dinner buffet. I told him that based on my experience, 20 people would be a lock, and a really good turnout would be a little over 30. He said they could do it, but would want a $100 deposit to make sure that they wouldn’t take a hit if they bought a lot of extra food and no one showed up. I picked the menu, and it was an incredible deal: vegetarian sushi, soup, four entrées, dessert, and tea for $8. He said he would check with the owner, and I’d have to arrange for the deposit check. On March 2, we were able to confirm it. I wrote a short announcement that the president could take and put into our e-newsletter and e-mailed it to her.The dinner would be Saturday, March 11, and I requested RSVPs by Thursday, March 9 at 5:00 P.M.

Normally, our president gets the monthly newsletter out by a couple of days either before or after the first of the month. Most people get their newsletter by e-mail, and some get it by snail mail.We also post it at local health food stores and libraries.This time around, the president didn’t have time to put out a newsletter, and basically sent out my e-mail to her as the announcement on Sunday night, March 5.The snail mail notices went out by postcard on Monday, and there were no public postings. I was beginning to think that we’d be lucky to get our 20 for the dinner.

On Monday, the RSVPs started to trickle in. I heard from a couple of people. A few more came in on Tuesday, so I thought we’d get the 13 minimum we guaranteed with the deposit. However, starting on Wednesday, the RSVPs came pouring in like never before. By the end of the day, we were up to 37. It occurred to me that we might experience a different kind of problem, so I called the manager and asked him what the capacity of the restaurant was; he said 65.The responses kept rolling in on Thursday, and by the time we hit our deadline, we were up to 55. I was not very productive at work that day because I was so excited and focused on checking my e-mail every few minutes (attractor factor?). I called the manager and asked if they could handle that many, and he said, “Sure.” I take a kabbalah class on Thursday evenings and didn’t get home that night until after 9:00. I checked phone and e-mail, and received even more reservations.The count got up to 67. I began to seriously think about what to do with the overflow. My brilliant idea was to see if I could get the late responders who were begging to be able to attend to come a little later. More responses came in on Friday and Saturday.We got up to a stunning number of 75.

The event was a raging success! Not everyone who reserved attended, and a few showed up who didn’t reserve at all (typical).The energy in the restaurant was awesome, as before long we had filled every seat in the place.This made a great impression on several people who had made the Thai buffet their first event. Some of the old-timers who were founding members over 10 years ago said that this was the record attendance for a Vegetarians of Oklahoma event. Staggering the seating worked perfectly.There were some who came for dinner and had to move on to other Saturday evening activities.There were always seats available for those who came later.The people at the restaurant were understandably pleased because they’d never had a group that large in before.

Rental Car Miracles

I rented a car to go to Austin because I didn’t want to put the extra wear and tear on mine. I compared rates and figured out that I’d do just as well to rent a car for a week as just renting from Wednesday to Monday. I got a good price online to rent a midsize car, which I thought would be more comfortable than a compact.When I got to the rental agency, I found that there were very few vehicles on the lot. I did happen to notice that they had two orange Chevy HHRs, which have a cool “street rod” look.When I went to the counter, I was told that they didn’t have any midsize cars to rent me. I asked if I could have an HHR, and they said that I could, even though they were classified as full size for some reason. I thought it would be cool to rent an orange hot rod to drive to Austin, since orange is one of the school colors for the University of Texas, my alma mater.

However, when I drove it off the lot and to my office, I realized that while the car was neat-looking on the outside, it was cramped inside with bad sight lines. I wanted to return it. However, I needed the car to get to my office and to run some errands. I couldn’t get it returned during the day. I contacted the agency about swapping the car for a more conventional sedan, but they said that they still didn’t have what I wanted on the lot, and that I’d have better luck in the morning.

I packed overnight and in the morning.When I went out to the HHR to throw in my suitcase, I discovered to my horror that the car had a noticeable door ding on the rear passenger’s door. Of course, I always decline the extra insurance, and I didn’t remember seeing the dent the day before, so I thought I was screwed. I thought that I’d go ahead and hang on to the car for a week and see if I could figure something out. I left much later than I wanted to, around 12:30 P.M. on a Thursday, and got into Austin around 6:30.

Fast-forward to Saturday evening at 5:00 P.M., an hour before I wanted to get to the Hyatt for the event with Joe and Dr. Hew Len. I had spent too much time worrying about the dent and what I was going to do. I was at a shopping center in North Austin trying to find a disposable digital camera, with no luck.When I got back into my car to drive back to my hotel, it was getting dark and there was a steady rain. I stopped at a place preparing to merge onto a busy street, when I felt a sudden smack. I had been rear-ended. Immediately, I was thinking, Oh shit, first the door ding, then this. I have a dinner in an hour that I’ve already paid for and I need time to shower and change. On top of everything, this was a high-traffic area, even on a Saturday evening. I got out of the HHR after first grabbing the rental registration information. A young black man met me in the street. “My tires,” he said.“I’ve got to get new tires for my car. I couldn’t get it stopped.” Not a good thing to tell a lawyer, I thought. I said, “Crap, this is a rental car!”We walked to the back of the HHR to survey the damage.We both looked and were stunned. “There’s no damage,” the fellow said. “There’s no damage. Praise Jesus!” Being Jewish, I thought that was amusing, but I looked myself and couldn’t believe it. Incredibly, he was right—there was no damage.This car was apparently made with collapsible plastic. I knew that I was going to be sore, but I didn’t want to stick around and make a big deal of this. I wanted to get back to my hotel.We shook hands and went our separate ways. I was able to make the dinner and sit at Joe and Nerissa’s table.

I did some serious Ho’oponopono-ing about what to do about the door ding. I put off doing anything else about it until a couple of hours before I was supposed to return the car without penalty. I looked in the phone book and found a place that did paintless dent repair.The guy at the shop gave me an estimate of $95, but it would take him a few hours to complete the repair.That would put me into a rental penalty, which I really didn’t want to happen. I asked what to do, and the answer came clearly. Be honest. Call the local office of the rental agency and fess up. If they wanted to jam me on the repair, I at least had an estimate. I did call, and the guy on the phone told me not to have the car worked on, but to bring it by so they could check their records and survey the dent themselves. I said, “Fine.” I took the car back and left it parked in the return lane.The customer service lady started scanning the bar code and taking readings on the HHR. I told her what was going on, and she sent me to the office/trailer. I found the guy whom I talked to on the phone, and he punched the car’s identification number in on his computer. Miracle II:The damage was already noted on their records. I was not responsible. Hallelujah! I was home free!

My Sister Was Offered Her Dream Job

My sister called one week after the evening with Joe and Dr. Hew Len. She’s a vice president for a division of a very large, well-known company. She was contacted by a headhunter to find out if she would be interested in what she described as her dream job. She didn’t want to tell me the details on the phone. Instead, she e-mailed me the job description she received from the recruiting agency. I was knocked over. Let’s just say that the company is a luxury brand, and all I’d have to do is tell you one word, the company name, and that would say it all.A few months later, she was hired!

003

Here’s another:

While I was attending a Landmark Forum three-day seminar in October 2006, Joe’s shortcut to healing literally stopped the gushing waters.The nonstop gushing happened during the exercise called “being with people” or something like that. In order to “be with people” the seminar leader divided 74 people into four rows, and then we took turns, one row at a time, just being with people by looking them in the eyes without talking. I was in Row Three.

The seminar leader called Row One to step up onstage and face us, the audience.They looked at us sitting in our seats.We looked back. Then Row Two was ordered up to the stage and Row Two stood one foot away from (but facing) Row One.They were left looking into each other’s eyes for three minutes.Then Row Two was asked to leave the stage and return to their seats. Again, Row One was left onstage to look at us in our seats and us to look at them onstage.

The closer it got to my time onstage, the more I realized I was stressing, but I had no idea why. My hands started to sweat and I noticed I also fidgeted in my seat.The task at hand seemed simple enough. I had always given great eye contact during conversations with strangers and friends my whole life. I would be just fine.

Then I remembered that at my first Landmark seminar the forum leader shared his story of when he first experienced this same exercise. He said that when he participated in this exercise as an attendee over 20 years before, his knees shook so hard that an assistant from the seminar placed his jacket between his knees to stop the noise.

Thinking back to what he said, I felt like leaving the room. I told myself that I didn’t need to continue the exercise, that I was great looking people in the eye already! But I knew that leaving the room wouldn’t be tolerated. So I stayed in my seat, sweating and fidgeting.

The first time my row was invited onstage was to stand one foot away from another row and look into their eyes.Whew! I don’t have to look at 50 people. I just have to look at one! I thought.We got positioned and the seminar leader started guiding us through our three-minute process of self-discovery.Within the first 10 seconds I was crying uncontrollably, gushing water, and I had no idea why. I couldn’t stop crying. Every time I looked at my partner across from me I just sobbed. “Row Three, please exit to your left,” I heard. I said “Thank you” to my partner and left.

What the hell happened to me?! I was supposed to listen to what my inner voice told me, but I never heard a thing! I was just overwhelmed—no words. I didn’t learn anything! What kind of exercise is this?! I was confused, embarrassed, and left to ponder my experience as the exercise continued on the stage in front of me. “Row Three, please stand, turn to your right, and go to the stage.” Aaaaaargh! Not again! my mind screamed.

Now my row was facing the people seated offstage. I survived the three minutes this time because I just didn’t look at people who were looking at me. Now Row Four was ordered onto the stage and a new partner was standing in front of me, one foot away from my face.This time I was face to face with a kinder older woman who smiled at me shyly. “Okay, I think I can handle it this time,” I told myself. But then the tears started gushing as soon as the exercise began. Each time I looked into my partner’s eyes the tears just gushed and I turned away. She quietly tried to comfort me by telling me everything was going to be okay. I was embarrassed and confused by my unexplained tear gushes. The seminar leader was directing all of us to listen to what was inside our heads—what we said to ourselves. But my voice wasn’t talking.

Then I suddenly remembered that I could fill my head with thoughts instead of trying to listen to my thoughts. My inner voice wasn’t talking to me, anyway. Once I put thoughts in my head that were better than what was there, I immediately looked again at my partner and thought,Thank you. I love you.Thank you. I’m sorry. I love you.Thank you. I immediately got comforted and was filled with appreciation and love for the woman across from me. I felt better and the gushing stopped. I was looking at her and I was not gushing tears.

To my surprise, my partner started crying.Tears started streaming down her face and her head started shaking slightly back and forth as she whispered, “Now you’re making me cry.” I just kept sending her my private thoughts: “Thank you. I love you. I’m sorry. Please forgive me.Thank you.” And so on.Then my partner was directed off the stage and I was left standing again in front of 50 people who were directed to look and evaluate me and my row. But now I was at total inner peace and I was able to look at people who were looking at me. In fact, I sought them out. I looked only at people who were looking at me. I felt so much better! I could be me with strangers! I loved everybody and really, really appreciated them.

Soon the exercise was completed and the seminar continued; then we had a short break.The kind woman who had been my last partner sought me out and we talked about our experience. I told her I was obviously scared of people but I never knew it. She told me she felt like we really connected and went on to say that the seminar was helping her, too, because she realized she had a difficult time accepting love from others.Well, then it was obvious I had to share with her the healing technique I used to make me stop crying when we were onstage together. She started crying.We hugged and then parted to continue our short break.

Nerissa Oden

The VideoQueen.com

004

Earlier this year, I discovered that an employee of mine had been taking larger sales commissions than she should have.This amounted to hundreds of dollars in loss to me and my small business. She refused to take responsibility for these actions. She is a hardworking employee who would not get another job in our small town making the kind of money she does with me. I had compassion for her, but I was also very angry and hurt. In the days that followed, I couldn’t speak to her except about specific work-related subjects, and I could barely look at her. I didn’t know what to do. I turned to Joe, and what happened next was truly amazing. He thanked me for contacting him.Then he gave me specific steps to take to clear the energy. First, I needed to understand that I attracted the situation—not easy to do, but essential to the process.Then I must forgive myself, the employee, and the energy surrounding the problem. Next I must set new intentions for how I want the situation to be and begin repeating Dr. Hew Len’s healing words, “I’m sorry. Please forgive me. And I love you.”The result was extraordinary. I wrote the following note to Joe after I completed the process: Dear Joe,

Your suggestions were so right on. After I read them I had to drive from Wimberley to Austin, and I did each step that you laid out. It was simply amazing. I took plenty of time to understand that I truly attracted this and then forgave myself, my employee, and the energy surrounding it. I set new intentions and repeated that phenomenal Hawaiian healing method many times. By the time I reached Austin I felt like a ton of bricks had been lifted from my chest and stomach.

After I followed Joe’s suggestions, the energy completely shifted inside of me.The anger and hurt were gone. It was truly amazing.The working environment with my employee is fine now. Suzanne, if anyone asks me if this system really works, I say it absolutely works!

Victoria Schaefer

Publisher, Pedal Ranch Publications

Wimberley,Texas

005

Here is a testimonial submitted by Denise Kilonsky, Shreveport, Louisiana.

This is a dream I was given in October 2006 that fits in perfectly with Ho’oponopono.

I saw a world without prisons because there was no need for them as a result of the philosophy of Ho’oponopono.The simplicity of the message of Ho’oponopono that was shared by Dr. Hew Len, Joe, myself, and others who practice it was being shared all over the world in programs and seminars.These programs taught people, especially young children, how to love themselves, and in so doing to love one another.

I saw myself in my dream teaching seminar after seminar attended by thousands and thousands of people. In these seminars I was inspiring people to remember who they truly are, their Divine nature, and what to do to be that person—to remember that their true nature is to love.

In this dream, I saw a teenage youth gang member pointing a gun at another gang member’s head, threatening to shoot him.The youth under threat had just attended my seminar at his school. He kept talking about a miracle and wanted his tribe to experience the miracle, too. But they were sick and tired of hearing about it!

In this seminar, he remembered his true nature. He was sharing his revelation with his fellow gang members and they felt threatened by his message because it was all too simple and it just seemed too easy and hoaxy.

You see, in the seminar this young gang member had attended, he walked onto the stage and shot me in the gut.As I lay on the floor, my blood and life force flowing out of my body, I had the youth brought over to me and I embraced him and I whispered in his ear, “Please forgive me. I love you.” And I died in his arms, embracing him with every ounce of love in my being. In that instant, the youth got the message. As he embraced my dead body, he whispered to me through his sobs and tears,“Please forgive me. I love you.” In that instant, life force returned to my body and we were both filled with a beautiful golden light that was so powerful everyone in the audience and for miles around us could feel the love we two generated together.

As this love energy was noticed by those it touched, it grew larger and larger and spread out farther and farther. But not everyone was willing to notice yet.The young gang member this story is about, this young man who now held a gun to his own brother’s head, was unwilling to notice and receive the love.The saved youth said to him, “Please forgive me, I love you,” and embraced him and loved him as if he were loving and embracing all the darkest parts of himself.

And then it happened! The two were filled with the golden glow of love energy, and the other youth took the time to notice it and receive this love he was being given.When he received it he said to the other, “Please forgive me. I love you, brother. Please forgive me.” Guess what happened next?

The two were filled with a beautiful golden globe of love energy, which grew larger and larger. As it filled the room and touched each gang member—and they, too, noticed the love and received it—this golden love energy poured out into the streets and for miles and miles around. As others noticed, they passed it on and this golden love energy grew and traveled farther and wider until the entire globe was filled with love.

This is the Golden Age, the Age of Love.This is why we have been given this gift of Ho’oponopono, to remember who we are and that our true nature is to love.We all just want to be loved.

It’s a beautiful dream, isn’t it? The story of Ho’oponopono would make a beautiful movie. I think of the movie Pay It Forward and what an impact that is making in the world.The world is ready for Ho’oponopono.

006

Within the first seven days after I returned home from Joe Vitale’s very first Manifestation weekend, I could hardly count the number of miracles that happened. Like a sponge, I soaked up all the energy, the lessons, and the message, and my results continue to manifest at lightning speed.

To name a few of my tangible results: New clients flock to me. New contracts seem to appear out of thin air. I’ve been approached for countless joint ventures. My opt-in list has increased by more than 300 percent (at the time of this writing). I’ve been asked to make a number of celebrity appearances, and I can hardly keep up with all the amazingly inspired ideas that come to me out of the clear blue sky.

To think, just three months earlier, I was an unknown in my industry.

All of this happened without force, without trying, and without any real effort on my part. It has all quite literally flowed to me easily, effortlessly, abundantly. When I get an inspired idea, I now take action immediately, and I am positively blown away by the results.

I have frequently used the ho’oponopono “eraser method” to grow my business exponentially, and I can’t wait to see what I create next, as I continue to return to the whiteboard and clean, clean, clean.

Thank you, Joe and Dr. Hew Len!

Eternally grateful,

Amy Scott Grant

http://thesuccessmethod.com

http://newsuccess.org

007

Joyce McKee wrote:

During the past year, I took on a new role: I was a caretaker. My mother left her home of many years to relocate nearer her daughters, partly because of some challenges in our lives. Shortly thereafter, my sturdy, lifelong-rock matriarch was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and small-cell lung cancer. Wonderfully and gracefully, she chose to live out her remaining time with her daughters. She decided not to pursue cancer treatment at her age, 88 years old. So the medical professionals told us she would soon be out of time in this life.

The previous May, I attended Joe Vitale’s Beyond Manifestation weekend and learned of Dr. Hew Len and his Ho’oponopono practice. I was intrigued. Hearing of the amazing results with the mentally ill criminals when he went inward to clean and clear himself impacted me greatly.

The universe is so gracious and provides the teacher when the student is ready.The timing was perfect. My main question that weekend was “How can I be used to help my mother in her dying process?”

I was willing to show up and acknowledge to the universe that I am 100 percent responsible for my life—all of my life, including Mother. So I used what I had learned. I went inward and constantly cleaned and cleared.

The effects for my mother and me were simple yet exquisite. She remained clear of mind, pain-free, and able to take care of herself until the end.Yes, there were small crisis events when she needed the drugs supplied by Hospice; yet she was able to handle these situations in the comfort of home and was not rushed to the hospital.Those were transition-in-training moments, preparing us both for the final occasion when she would cross over to the other side.

The greatest gift was she lived on into “overtime.” She lived well past the forecasts. Each morning she was surprised to wake and greeted me with a cheery “Guess what, I got another day!”We had time for all the words of love to be exchanged and for just casual time together.We had time to truly prepare for her transition. I came to experience fearlessness about the process of Mother leaving us. She knew where she was going and so did I.When we had those tense moments of labored breathing, we saw the grace of God and there was no fear.Wow, what a gift!

The Ho’oponopono practice, along with my prayers, changed the way I approach life.The feeling of empowerment I experienced and still experience is wondrous.To know that I can have an active role not only in my life, but also in the lives of others leads me to constantly, moment by moment, seek the Source of All.

008

Here’s another:

When I attended the Manifestation weekend in May 2006 I was still feeling the emotional and financial pain of a $1.2 million contract that fell apart with a multibillion-dollar oil company midway into the contract.This was due to numerous internal issues in the oil company.

All the way home and for days afterward I said,“I love you. I’m sorry. Please forgive me.Thank you.” A couple of days after arriving home I started feeling weak, sneezing, and coughing. I knew that it was my body releasing.

Shortly afterward, I had a discussion with a marketing expert, and during our conversation there was shift inside my body and in my perception of the entire situation with the oil company. He simply asked me what was the largest amount of money a client paid me in one year to help the client reduce pain in the workplace.

I told him $600, 000, and then he said, “Wendy, you are there. You can use that to build an empire. How many people can make that claim?” In a flash I was able to see all the good instead of all the bad. Instead of only noticing the $200,000 they did not pay me, I was able to see the value in the $600,000 they did pay me.

I was able to see that focusing on the positive aspects turned on my passion, and this inspired me with ideas instantly. A light went on and I was in awe of something huge that had just happened inside of me. It was like there was light all around me that extended way out beyond my physical surroundings.

For two years I was the victim and angry with the people in the company who did what they did, and in an instant I was thanking them.

Shortly afterward, I developed pain in my left leg. I could not understand what had happened. I tried everything—massage, stretching, hot baths.Then I went to a Chinese medicine doctor who “read” my body and told me that I had been under a great deal of stress and that the pain was related to my gallbladder meridian—the anger meridian.

The energy was stuck and that was causing the pain. I was given four treatments of energy to release the stuck anger, and the pain left my body.

My body had been holding on to the anger I felt toward the big oil company, and when my perception changed it was ready to come out—only it got stuck!

Months after this experience, I discovered that my contact at the oil company who was instructed to break the contract with me refused to hurt another person and he quit his job.The department has been broken up and the services I provided are being handled in another department.

This energy clearing cleared the way for me to finish my e-book and launch my new web site at www.getinsideyourcomfortzone.com. The launch of the e book has created opportunities that I had not thought of.

It has been a dream of mine to teach the masses how to get out of pain from computer work. I am being given the opportunity to be the ergonomist for three popular web sites (so far), to answer questions about ergonomics, and to market my e-book, services, and other programs.

Perfect-size companies are calling me to consult with their employees to teach them how to get out of pain.The contracts are small and quick so that I have time to develop all the new inspirations that continue to come to me.

In addition, I am now teaching the Law of Attraction as a licensed and certified strategic attraction coach at www.theuniversallawofattraction.com.

The breakthrough I had shortly after the weekend was most definitely related to Ho’oponopono. It helped clear out the old to make room for the new.There is no other explanation.

Wendy Young

009

And here’s another:

As an interventionist, one of the largest obstacles that I help clients eliminate or navigate through is drama. In The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield, the concept of a “control dramas” is defined: “We must face up to our particular way of controlling others. Remember, the Fourth Insight reveals that humans have always felt short of energy and have sought to control each other to acquire the energy that flows between people.” Incorporating this concept into a more interventionistic model has allowed my own technique some intuition in cases where clients were distracted from their purpose or outcomes.

Joe Vitale first introduced Ho’oponopono to me, though he may not actually know this. So on the one hand, I have the concept of drama or control dramas, and as an interventionist I require a balancing-out tool in order not just to understand a client but to assist the client back to full use of his or her resources.

“Getting back to zero” was the balancer I had not yet perfectly framed before Dr.Vitale led me into the world of Dr. Hew Len. In the Western world, especially the United States, our mainstream culture and its pervasive messages are all geared to get us to move from ourselves toward the flashy instant gratification of the consumer-crazy world we live in. “From zero to 60” couldn’t be any more perfect as a catchphrase to define the emotional movement of a world addicted to consumption.

What Ho’oponopono has helped me understand is that healing and true fulfillment come from moving “from 60 to zero.” So many metaphysical constructs include the idea of “detachment” but it never seemed like a complete or perfect concept to me. In some instances trying to achieve perfect detachment just seemed silly. Now, however, with getting back to zero I really grasp the dynamic of detachment and how to get there.

It’s been 10 months since I had the good fortune to meet Dr. Hew Len at Joe’s interview with him high atop the Hyatt overlooking the Colorado River. Much has been transformed in me and in my family’s life. All my parents and in-laws are suddenly making huge shifts in their patterns and discovering they have manifested their dreams on a grand scale. My in-laws have purchased a half-million-dollar home to retire in that is one of the most peaceful places I’ve ever been (just down the road from Joe’s house). My mother has worked through physical and emotional obstacles, only to find herself marrying again and being very excited about her senior romance. I’ve suddenly had a stream-of-income shift myself in a field that didn’t allow me to cultivate and demonstrate my greatest strengths. My father (72 years young) has finally broken an income chain that had him commuting from Houston to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska (fifth most northern town in the world) every six weeks. One of my oldest friends has completely uprooted a very set-in-his-ways life and come to Austin where he is currently developing his own company and living a totally different paradigm. My brother-in-law is finally moving into his own home. My sister-in-law and her husband are moving from the suburbs onto a dream property themselves. My godniece, who just started high school this year, has already been in a prime-time TV series and was nominated as Homecoming Queen. And her mother has just been offered the most lucrative business opportunity of her life. All this has started and been brought to fruition since February 2006, when I first heard about Ho’ponopono. Suddenly my day-to-day living is filled with experiences that are colorful and fun again after having spent the past 17 years being serious and dreary.

Life is a habit, so I’ve been acquiring the habit of a good life.

I’m not in any way an expert on Ho’oponopono. It is still very new to me and I will not predict where it leads my life experience. I am grateful for Dr.Vitale revealing the world of Ho’oponopono through the presentation that Dr. Hew Len made those short months ago.Whether it be in my personal life with my beautiful wife or in my business life, reaching the zero state, 100 percent responsibility, apology, and forgiveness are powerful choices that have made a powerful impact in my life.Thank you, Joe, and thank you, Dr. Hew Len.

Bruce Burns

www.YourOwnBestGood.com

010

Dear Joe,

I wanted to give you a great big thank-you for bringing Dr. Hew Len to Austin.The program was wonderful, leaving me filled with new understanding about life and how universal laws govern our health and happiness. Please allow me to expand.

First off, I want to say that I am certainly not an expert on the practice of Ho’oponopono. So please forgive me if I’m reading too much into what was shared, but here’s what I walked away with after just one evening’s experience.

Dr. Hew Len talked a lot about something very dear to my heart—the art of going to zero. In fact, this seems to be a centerpiece of Ho’oponopono. Being a martial artist and qigong teacher for many years now, I have come to regard this ability of cleaning and emptying the mind (going to zero) as one of the greatest gifts known to mankind.

Dr. Hew Len reminded us of the importance of living in a state of openness, cleansing our internal reactions, and going to zero. I was in complete agreement with his outlook on life and thrilled to meet another human being on this planet who shares about truths I have come to love.

In the art and practice of qigong (internal martial art energy exercise), there is a very specific way to breathe and circulate our body’s internal energy.The ancient martial arts masters have discovered that there are universal laws working within our bodies and when we learn how to move our internal energy in a circular fashion we can create high levels of vibrant health and profoundly raise our consciousness.This process is often referred to as the microcosmic orbit.

(Fundamentally put—we breathe in and direct the life-force energy inside the breath down the front of our body into the lower belly region (an area known as the Dan Tien). Next we direct the energy up our spine and finally back around to the front.This ongoing process creates a microcosmic orbit within our energy-body, uplifting our health and our consciousness.) When Dr. Hew Len used a diagram to explain Ho’oponopono and show how communication and consciousness between people best flow in a circular direction, I was immediately struck by its similarity to the microcosmic orbit. In fact, it was off-the-charts exciting to see how the universe works with circles in a way I’d never realized before.

Through the diagram he drew I finally understood how most of the time we try to relate to people in a bidirectional, linear fashion.We talk at each other; we argue, negotiate, point the finger, and so on—and this all takes place in a horizontal direction.

However, I saw that by moving in an entirely different direction, we could effect the greatest change and the deepest connection with another human being—and that direction was a circle. For me, Dr. Hew Len’s diagram showed that by first going to zero—down beneath the conscious layer of the mind—we can let go of our reactions and attachments to what we are perceiving.We can then begin to rise up toward the superconscious state and eventually tap into Divine awareness.The Divine can carry our clear and loving intention down toward the other person, basically sneaking in the backdoor of their conscious mind, allowing for a pure and unfiltered connection and relating.

All I can say is it works like nothing else ever has. For example, just last week I was in a business meeting and the person on the other side of the table was asking for things that I initially felt were unfair and selfish. I caught myself tightening up within, and I remembered the diagram and the benefit of the circular direction, so I decided to stop fighting and I just let go.

First I connected to my breath and went to zero. Internally, I felt my awareness lifting up (just like the qigong exercise that I described earlier) and my disposition changed immediately. If I had spoken what I was feeling inside it would have been, “I love and support you. Please forgive me for being hard with you. How can I help you to feel safe and help both of us get what we are wanting?” Next something amazing happened: My friend (I was no longer seeing the person as an enemy or a threat) began to change, becoming much more open and receptive as if having stopped struggling with some internal conflict.Within 15 minutes we even came up with a solution to our previous dilemma, a solution that was perfect for us both—and one that I never could have conceived of in my previous state of mind.

As the mysteries of life unfold, you begin to see how everything is connected; everything comes from universal laws, and one of those laws is circles. In the movie The Secret, I remember you said that “the universe likes speed.” I would like to add that the universe likes circles, too, ☺ ☺ and life certainly flows all the more smoothly when you know in which direction the circle wants to go.

So thank you again, Joe. The diagram Dr. Hew Len used to explain Ho’oponopono has been so helpful. Seeing this process in a diagram has given me a great insight and a wonderful tool to catch when I am forcing things versus letting go and responding to situations from a state of zero.

Warmly,

Nick “Tristan”Truscott, Sensei

www.SenseiTristan.com

www.AllWaysZen.com

011

Every day since the May Manifestation weekend I say, “I love you, I’m sorry, forgive me, thank you.”

Nothing much has changed that can be easily observed, cataloged, or cheered, as I have, currently, a marvelous life.

Of course, I would like a bundle of wealth so I could easily visit my daughters and family in Queensland and my brother in Paris, and take my husband on the train ride of his dreams.And I’d like my novels to entertain the world. But these would be minor gifts compared to what I have now.

The invisible change is incredible.When I say, “I’m sorry,” I truly do feel responsible for whatever is in my consciousness at the moment. I can no longer separate myself from people who disagree with me.

I have never felt so connected.

I am sorry for what I am doing in Iraq, for one. I hate to make phone calls but I am making phone calls all over the country in case I can change what I am doing in Iraq. It helps me heal.

Because I feel forgiven, I am so very grateful.

BLACKOUT ON DEER CANYON ROAD

Late afternoon—sudden silence

The absence of electrical humming

can be humanizing

I felt electrically alive

No power in any room

in any house

up and down the street

No news of restoration

We bathed in the hot tub

dined outdoors on wine and cheese

conversed in hushed tones

and watched stars

A blackout on Deer Canyon Road

in Arroyo Grande, California—

unusual, luxurious—so not like

a blackout in Buffalo or Baghdad

Evelyn Cole

The Whole-Mind Writer

http://write-for-wealth.com

012

After I learned about Ho’oponopono from Dr. Hew Len and Dr.Vitale, I found out that my business is about constantly cleansing.When I cleanse and get back to zero, business runs smoothly. I’m constantly clearing and constantly getting back to zero, and Dr. Hew Len taught me how to do that.

I took a business colleague to meet Dr. Hew Len and Dr.Vitale and found we have so much in common that we went out on a date that same night. Eight months later we are more in love than ever.The key is to be with like-minded people and to forgive and transform.Thank you, Dr. Hew Len and Dr. Vitale, for bringing Ho’oponopono to a larger audience. Also thanks for being the perfect meeting place to meet my love of my life.

Chris “The Prosperity Guy” Stewart

www.TheProsperityGuy.com

013

The drive to Austin felt like a vacation after months on the road with the show. Leaving Houston behind was more than a 24-hour break from the all-encompassing universe of a production on tour. It was the juncture of a night of reckoning that would reorder my reality even before the dinner presentation that Dr. Joe Vitale was hosting began.

It had been months since I’d last listened to one of Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len’s Ho’oponopono presentations—a year and a half to be exact. Even though I’d never met Joe Vitale before, I felt grateful for the fact he had brought Ihaleakala to a location within driving distance and I could be part of the event in Austin.

As changing scenery and little Texas towns skimmed by the car window en route to Austin, thoughts of other Ho’oponopono presentations surfaced and things I’d forgotten came back to mind. I flashed back to the first of many times I’d heard Ihaleakala speak and had gotten chills down my spine when he read the Opening Prayer in Hawaiian. I remembered how I’d landed a book contract two weeks after taking my first Ho’oponopono training, virtually by just showing up at a publishers convention, talking and leaving my card.Two days later a publisher called and asked me to submit ideas for a book they were doing. I had the contract by the end of the month.

As the distance to Austin grew shorter, I also reflected on a time just six months earlier when a veterinarian in Montreal conveyed the sad news that my dear cat Maya had intestinal lymphoma. It was questionable whether she would live long enough for me to take her from the clinic.When Maya was released, the vet thought that with luck, I’d have a few weeks to “tell her good-bye.” I contacted Ihaleakala for help with a special cleaning, something to clean whatever this precious little creature had taken on of mine. It is now a year and three months since Maya’s diagnosis. Little could I have imagined at the moment I was prepared for her imminent departure that months and miles later she would still be with me on tour.

Seeing Ihaleakala again in Austin was like breaking through the surface after being underwater—one of those “back in the world” kind of experiences.Yet it was also immediate immersion into the most profound life-altering practice I have experienced in 25 years of delving into everything from Buddhism, Celtic spiritual traditions, traditional psychotherapy, dream analysis (and I was good at that), energy work, and even Wicca.

And there I was in Austin, face to face with Ho’oponopono again, a philosophy, a tradition, that virtually wipes the slate clean of the practices, procedures, and endless analytical activities I’d so diligently studied for so long before it—all in an effort to understand, fix myself, and live the life I came here to live. I have to admit, there was a part of me that was ready to jump right in among those who’d never encountered Ho’oponopono before and let them know “I already do that,” but I started cleaning and the nonsense (memories) dispersed.

Before Dr.Vitale had even introduced Ihaleakala that evening, a revelation hit me like a bolt of lightning, causing me to jump up from the table where I was sitting and run to the ladies’ room, choking back tears. In that moment in Austin, in a room that looked out on the downtown skyline, Ho’oponopono enveloped my being and I had a moment of clarity when I knew I no longer wanted to be on tour, no matter what. Six weeks later, Maya the cat and I were heading west en route to Los Angeles, bound for a new home in Topanga Canyon that surfaced just in time for our arrival when the person who was going to take it suddenly decided not to rent it.

Another seven months have passed and just last week as I wavered on the edge of yet another significant change, I read a phrase that Ihaleakala wrote:“Zero is home base.” I cleaned and stepped off the edge of another existence as I’d known it and now can say that I didn’t fall.

Thank you for this opportunity to share the changes, revelations, and reflections about Ho’oponopono that surfaced from my trip to Austin in February.

POI

Elizabeth Kaye McCall

014

Before learning about and applying the method, I was experiencing struggle in many areas of my life: a husband who didn’t believe in me and my ability to build a thriving practice, a practice that was far from successful, and a feeling that I was all alone in pursuit of bigger dreams and goals.

During the weekend with Joe when I learned the method, I met a young woman who had similar interests and goals and we agreed to do a business venture together.That venture was extremely successful and took my practice from limping to thriving in just two months.We are working on our next project. I feel as if we’ve been close friends for years and not months.The best and most significant change is that even before my business took off, the relationship with my husband changed in just a few weeks. I had been using the method whenever I experienced discomfort with my relationship and suddenly my husband was rereading my e-books, asking me questions, and sharing his own experiences. He took on more responsibility at work and has a renewed sense of pride and love for himself, which has a sizzling impact on our relationship!

I have an unwavering trust and confidence in myself and what unfolds before me, all the while just doing a simple method in minutes a day.

Thank you!

Karrie King

Author of The Red Hot Bedroom (www.redhotbedroom.com)

Creator of Joyful Spaces (www.joyfulspaces.com)

015

Ho’oponopono Goes Back through Time

I’m an animal lover.

A huge one.

I don’t care or worry only about my own—I love them all.

Years ago, a friend of mine turned me on to The Animal Rescue Site at www.theanimalrescuesite.com.

You can fund food for animals in sanctuaries by going to this site and clicking on the “Feed an Animal in Need” button. Every click provides .6 bowls of food to the hungry. A click per day is all it takes to make a difference. I’ve been visiting this site for the past five years, every day, without fail.

One Saturday morning, I was cleaning out my e-mails and feeling good about doing my part in the world—“feeding the animals in need.” I happened to notice a picture listed by one of the site’s sponsors.

What I saw was an animal in a cage trying to eat its way through the bars. It looked so sickly and gaunt that not even all that beautiful fluffy fur could mask its pain. In fact, it looked so terribly tortured that I couldn’t even make out what kind of animal it was! Was it a bear? A raccoon? I honestly couldn’t tell.Truthfully, I didn’t want to look closer. My fear told me that I would only be reminding myself how much pain exists in the world and that there was very little I could do about it. Still, I know better than to look the other way just so that I can feel better.

I felt this overwhelming need to tune in. I could hear the animal calling to me, asking me to wake up and pay attention. As I looked closer, to my horror I discovered that what I was seeing were captured bears, held in their cages for tens of years on end.

The bears live in cages little bigger than themselves for ease of “milking.” Bile is extracted through a cut made in the bear’s abdomen and into the gallbladder, where bile is stored after being secreted by the liver via the hepatic duct.A tube is inserted into this opening to tap the bile, or a steel stick is forced into the gallbladder with the bile then running down it into a basin. Between 10 and 20 ml of bile is tapped from each bear twice daily. The WSPA [World Society for the Protection of Animals] reports that, during milking, investigators saw bears moaning, banging their heads against their cages, and chewing their own paws.The mortality rate is between 50 and 60 percent.When the bears stop producing bile after a few years, they are moved to another cage, where they either are left to starve to death or are killed for their paws and gallbladders. Bear paws are considered a delicacy. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bile_bear) I felt completely sick to my stomach and had a knee-jerk reaction to unleash my anger toward these ignorant poachers. It took all the discipline I had to remind myself that shame and blame never change a person and that thankfully, thanks to Dr. Joe and Dr. Hew Len, I now had something much better in my bag of tricks that I could apply: Ho’oponopono.

I began to recite the phrases,“I’m sorry. Please forgive me. I love you. Thank you.”As I repeated the mantra over and over and over again, I visualized the bear farmers’ hearts being filled with love, understanding, and compassion. I saw them having their own “lightbulb moment” as my information passed through them and they got in touch with their own awareness.With their level of consciousness being raised and no one to blame for the blood on their hands but themselves, I imagined them falling to their knees in complete agony—begging and pleading with God and the bears to grant them mercy and forgiveness for the torture and suffering they’ve caused these beautiful creatures. Then, I saw them releasing all the bears and providing them with the medicine, care, and healing that they were in dire need of and finally setting them free again.

Many of you don’t know (as I didn’t know) that bear bile has been used for centuries.Today it is used in wine, shampoo, and medicine.The enormous weight behind this tragedy didn’t solely involve healing the present moment—my clearing work occupied going back through time, through the ages.There was hundreds of years’ worth of pain here to heal.

This experience consumed me. For hours that day, I couldn’t focus on anything else and kept repeating: “I’m sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you.”

The heaviness of this global pain was inescapable and undeniable. I was consumed with anguish. And I was grieving. It was as if I was the one who captured those bears and held the key to their prison myself.

Once a week, my husband and I make it a point to have a “date day.” On this day he invited me to go see a movie with him. I was in agony and didn’t feel much like going out. But I knew it wouldn’t make any sense to say, “No thanks. I’m really not up to it—I’m worried about the bears.” Keeping my own clearing work to myself, I agreed to go out with him.We went to see the movie 16 Blocks with Bruce Willis. Little did I know then that the theme of this movie would be in complete alignment with what I was already experiencing.The highlighted message in the movie was “People can change.” All throughout the movie, I practiced Ho’oponopono. In one scene, I noticed a bus in the background and the banner/ad on the side of the bus showed a picture of a teddy bear and the words beneath the bear read: “Send Love.”

My previous training would reveal to me that this was a “waking dream.” My current teachings would say, “Keep doing what you’re doing.You’re on the right track!” Is this how the universe speaks to us? I’d like to think so.

It was yet another reminder to me that the bear farmers didn’t need my anger to change; they just needed my love.The bears needed my love.The world needs our love. Love changes people and there are no exceptions to this rule. Sending love to a dangerous, ugly, or abusive situation is the only thing we can do if we’re looking for drama-free healing and everlasting change. It’s not always an easy thing to do, but herein forever lies the answer: love.

As my hypervigilance started to quiet down and the day faded into evening, the nausea, anxiety, guilt, pain, and grief that I was feeling earlier were finally starting to subside. Still, I continued to Ho’oponopono my way throughout the remainder of the day until I fell asleep that night.

Not too long thereafter, I was walking past the television one day and heard the newscaster announce a recent bear rescue. In my heart of hearts, I knew that this message was meant for me—that I was given confirmation of how we truly can make a difference in any part of the world, no matter where we live. And yes, even when we’re out eating popcorn and watching a movie.

Thank you, Dr. Joe and Dr. Hew Len and all of those before you who have brought the message of Ho’oponopono into our lives so that we can awaken and carry the knowledge that we have the power to heal the world and make a difference. Our work here has only just begun.

Please, let us always remember:

Harm none.

Love everything.

Love everyone.

Ho’oponopono travels across time. . . .

Suzanne Burns

www.ThankYouth.com

016

My Lifelong Search for an Asthma Cure Was Over . . .

One mysterious evening, after over 50 years of asthma and allergies, this condition abruptly, magically halted. Dateline: February 25, 2006.

Earlier that day, while relaxing over an Austin Tex-Mex lunch, I felt a quickening in my being. Oooooh, it felt very mysterious, like something was happening and I was somehow being worked on. A wave of love overwhelmed me and then I resumed lunch.

That evening in the hotel meeting room an electricity filled the air—an inexplicable pulsing of excitement. Dr. Hew Len, the speaker, ended up sitting at my table. Midway through the meal I told an asthma experience I had, and he used that later to springboard into his talk.

Well, I was familiar with the Hawaiian huna spiritual healing model but not the healing and forgiveness methodology and philosophy at the heart of the healing, which he explained at length. Dr. Hew Len told us he was working on clearing each of us in attendance at the dinner, by reading our names and getting clarity and “oneness” with us.

How he does it is by expressing love for each person, asking for forgiveness for any wrongdoing consciously or unconsciously from the past or present of himself and his ancestors, to us and our predecessors, all the way back to the beginning of time and microbic life forms.Wow! That’s a lot to clear—so that he and we can all get back to true relationship in and of Divinity.

The next day unveiled the miracle at hand. I met my mentor (from Joe Vitale’s Executive Mentoring Program) and his wife for lunch, being that I was from out of town and we’d never met in person. I had to walk quite a few blocks to the restaurant and realized I didn’t need an inhaler at all during the trek.That was most unusual and the first clue.They remarked how far it was from where my car was parked and I told them that perhaps I no longer had asthma and that it felt like it was so.

Later that evening I had the pleasure of dining with Dr. Hew Len and we spoke of the healing of Ho’oponopono and that now, having experienced its power in my life with asthma, I could go and help others with this problem. He also spoke of the importance of drinking water before each meal to flush out toxins and also to rid the home environment of clutter. Ahem!

Well, the best got better and better. It’s been nearly six months since, and even though I got bronchitis, I bounced back without medicines. I never wheezed or needed an inhaler or asthma drug of any sort. Since then I’ve been in homes with cats, dogs, and birds for hours at a time and had no wheezing or need for inhalers. My lungs are clear as a bell and I can breathe deeply and fully, and this for the first time ever.Wow!

Dr. Hew Len, though you don’t call it a healing or yourself a healer, and would say that the universe and my soul did it, thank you, and thanks to Joe Vitale for sharing Dr. Hew Len and a night of healing magic! I’m forever grateful.

Martha Snee

www.translimits.com

017

And here’s one more:

An Irishman Finds Aloha

Ten years ago, I began the study of myself through the use of Ho’oponopono. I came into the understanding of this Hawaiian problem solving process after years of study in Asian systems of healing, martial arts, and energy work.

I had been through what could be called the wringer in terms of my search for what could be understood as enlightenment, and being Irish, I am always looking for the proof of the pudding (meaning seeing results versus smokescreens of words). Being raised in South Boston, Massachusetts (a tough as nails, Irish working-class neighborhood where the sounds of gunfire and police sirens were like inner city birdcalls), chances of discovering metaphysical understandings of the universe didn’t often come up. So, upon finding an opportunity to attend a free lecture, I jumped at the chance to check out this Hawaiian understanding of life.

What I found was very different. Many systems utilize and move energy (like moving pieces on a chessboard). Ho’oponopono, however, awakened me to how to erase the negative elements that manifest as problematic situations inside myself (thus removing the chess pieces altogether). I was intrigued, to say the least. Many of the concepts at the time flew over my head, as all of the ideas were new to me. But at the end of the lecture, I figured I would give the two free tools that were given out as a gift a chance and began to use them as much as I could during the day and throughout my massage practice to see if the proof of the pudding was in the eating.

In the past, I practiced Tui Na, a form of Chinese medical massage, and over time, my viewpoint began to shift in terms of my understanding of treatments. Before doing the tools, I had a set understanding of what was wrong within a person based on the Asian traditions of energy and meridians. But as I used the tools, I noticed that my understanding of the how or why changed and that it did not correspond with my prior training, as I would be treating areas that had no correlation to the reported issues of the clients coming in. As I did so, the client(s) would report almost instant results for varied issues. Needless to say, I began to wrestle with my understandings and started to see a bigger picture of this Hawaiian art form begin to unfold.The next spring, I attended a full training and began to truly apply the methods and practices.

One day I received a call from a former client whom I will call J,a practicing psychologist. She asked me to see a patient of hers whom she was very concerned about (I will call her F), who had a clinical diagnosis of bipolar disorder, attempted suicide numerous times, and was committed on a few occasions for her own safety. I said to J, “What did I ever do to you?” She laughed and said, “I know you can help her.You have to. If you don’t, she won’t make it.” So I agreed.At the end of the call, J also said that F was once attacked by a massage therapist. I asked myself, “What am I going to do to help this woman?” When I went home that evening, I sat for a while and wondered what could I do. How could I effect change on this level? After some introspection, Ho’oponopono! Ho’oponopono! kept playing in my mind like a broken record. So I began to use the tools as I never had before. I put marathon efforts into each session before, during, and well after, never telling F anything about my secret. During our meetings, the treatment room was full of humor and the air had a sense of thick peace to it as I cleaned.To make a long story short, F had a complete turnaround and is now a productive woman able to handle life as it comes. She is walking proof that if we take 100 percent responsibility, situations can indeed shift.

My massage practice also has shifted and has moved ahead, and I rarely touch anyone anymore. Currently, I find myself driving through life, hitting speed bumps now and then, amazed at where the cleaning will bring me next. Has it been simple? No, but I truly value all the situations that have come up and made me realize who I am.

After many years as a volunteer for the Foundation of I, Inc. Freedom of the Cosmos, my viewpoint is simple:

There will always be stuff coming up in one form or another, be it family issues, stress, opinions, or war, and in the beginning it was hard to accept that fact. Now instead of saying “Why me?” (inducing a guilt response), rather I say “I am responsible” (without guilt), and simply let go through the usage of the tools and let God take over.

It is a tough, tough job to do. Did I say tough? But I have faith that a smoothness is occurring and that we just can’t grasp the totality of it, because there are so many realities that coexist in the same time frame as ours.We should not waste time with the how, why, or when, rather just the “do.” By doing so, we get out of the way of ourselves.As soon as we step outside of ourselves at all, in any manner, to blame, react, moan, groan, and so on, we lose sight of the issue at hand—namely, our chance to let go of the problem that is inside of us. If we blame, we become disconnected (like not paying our cable bill, zap! no HBO).

The choice for us is to not get all self-righteous, nor depressed, but simply to continue on without judgment against the most precious gift—the self.

If I slip up in the cleaning, I get up, brush myself off, and begin anew—one more chance to see the proof of the pudding.

Thank you.

Brian Om Collins