Ho'oponopono

ho'oponopono comes back to your own self

"Manipulation happens when I (as a therapist [or healer]) come from the idea that you are ill and I am going to work on you. On the other hand, it’s not manipulation if I realize that you are coming to me to give me a chance to look at what’s going on in me. There’s a big difference." -- Dr. Haleakala Hew Len

getting to the bottom of the ocean floor

It's been nonstop intense since I started this workshop. One thing arising after another.

If it's not a roommate's injury, it's my partner's mom in an accident, or another person I learn has lupus. Or the guy I met at the Starbucks downtown that tells me he has a long-standing cough ever since 9/11 and today doctors are checking out his left lung because there was a suspicious spot.That's just a typical 2 to 3 day period.

Or, I stumble (well, not really as I am still interested in what's going on in the Gulf, and was curious who won the Pepsi Refresh grants for the Gulf in the $250K category). And so I learn that mental health is at risk: "...suicidal ideations, debilitating anxiety and depression are increasing dramatically for people whose lives intertwine with a water-based culture."

A WATER-BASED culture means symbolically an EMOTION-BASED culture, and the Earth's emotional body (ocean and other large bodies of water) reflects unfelt emotions of other Earthly beings (uh, mostly humans hold back emotions).

In a way, the ocean (and actually most people will reflect your hidden/denied emotions back to you, that's the reason it's called projection/reflection) is very much like one of these "emotional children" showing us what we have been refusing to acknowledge:

"I listened to a little boy talking non-stop to his mother at the post office last week. Within five minutes of animated conversation I learned that he was well like and popular at school, enjoyed video games, and was involved in sports. But when an impatient, angry man began arguing with the desk clerk, the little boy became quiet, moved to a corner and looked sad. He had picked up on the man's energy and his joy was overcome by the man's energy.

 

These children are more than empathic, they are mirrors for emotion. Since they have high integrity, they express the repressed emotions they feel around them and show others what they are not looking at within themselves. One of my children was my emotional mirror and I could always tell what I needed to address by the emotional energy he was expressing." - The Emotional Child, Jennifer Hoffman (btw, I don't necessarily agree with this site's teachings, however, this excerpt is good depiction of reflection)

So what's the Gulf oil spill reflecting lately? Yes, I have heard that microbes on the surfuce are busily eating away the oil. But to be completely cleared, cleaned, we will have to be willing to go to the very bottom and hidden depths of it all. 

From my own experience post-tsunami I realized that once I actually felt the emotions I was trying to keep from overwhelming me (it felt like my heart was breaking), it also brought with up all sorts of unanticipated emotion not related to the disaster itself, including the unfelt grief  from my father's death when I was 17 years old.

"Oil from the BP spill has not been completely cleared, but miles of it is sitting at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, according to a study currently under way. - ABC News, September 12, 2010

The ABC News article continues: "Professor Samantha Joye of the Department of Marine Sciences at the University of Georgia, who is conducting a study on a research vessel just two miles from the spill zone, said the oil has not disappeared, but is on the sea floor in a layer of scum."

Anyone that has diligently done Ho'oponopono for a few weeks can probably testify that they are amazed at how much clarity they feel. They may be sleeping better, eating better, and generally feeling more vitality. Even my "arguments" are more clean (in that there's not hurling blame and anger, just plain and truthful). Truthfully, it's just the top layers that have been cleaned. Congratulations!

Ah, but there's more. That's fine. Believe it or not, it is not at always going to be this intense (timeframes somewhere between overnight and the rest of your life). It's really a matter of how courageously you confront everything that arises without judging your emotions and even your projections.You know you are done when there is no sense of division within you, and there's peace and joy.

So we're getting to the scum layer. The latest Ho'oponopono I've addressed, as I mentioned, a new acquaintenance I met about 10 days ago is going in to check his left lung. I'll write more about the left side, as this seems to be where most dis-ease and injury is happening in my circles, in a future post. He also suffers from a constant cough since 9/11 and had several bouts of severe pneumonia following the collapse of the WTC.

The symbols and messages about our emotions (via Louise Hay) are:

Lungs: Depression, grief or fear of life. Not feeling worthy. Affirmation: "I have the capacity to take in the fullness of life. I lovingly live life to the full."

Pneumonia: Feeling desperate, not allowed to heal deep emotional wounds. "Drowning under it all."

Coughs: A desire to bark at the world. "Listen to me!"

I'll leave it to you to do the Ho'oponopono; I already have. Just keep doing the cleaning as it's especially super-duper purifying when you finally get to the scum hidden deep at the bottom of the ocean floor.

Here's a great video on reclaiming projections (there are a few questions mid-way that are exactly the kind of questions I ask when I look within to find the "issue" out there), "I Hate BP" that one of the participants in this Ho'oponopono course sent along. In the text introduction it quotes A Course in Miracles:

"It[, the outer world,] is the witness to your state of mind, the outside picture of an inward condition. As a man thinketh, so does he perceive. Therefore, seek not to change the world, but will to change your mind ABOUT the world. Perception is a RESULT, and not a cause. And that is why order of miracles is meaningless. Everything looked upon with vision is healed and holy."

tailbone pain after fall down the stairs -- self-pity -- be your freak - embrace all of you -- emptiness dancing

 

From a dream dictionary, "Dance - To dream that you are dancing, signifies freedom from constraints and harmony/balance with yourself. You are working in cooperation with yourself." (This is the vibrational alignment with who you are that Esther and Jerry Hicks refer to in last post.)

Yesterday, a housemate (and it's occurring to me that there must be a "message" that out of the six people living in that house, every female is a dancer except me) fell down the subway steps and hurt her tailbone and her left wrist pretty badly.

COCCYX; The Coccyx/Sacrum is the seat of self-pity. There is a fear of asking for help. One would rather sit and feel sorry for one's self than get of one's ass and do something.

WRIST PROBLEMS: Not being flexible on an issue or situation. Not handling things with ease. Stubbornness.

From a dream dictionary, stairs represent: "Take you to another level of understanding or progress in your spiritual, emotional or material life." While another says that steps signify DNA strands. (I've read in esoteric texts that our DNA is capable of evolving as we spiritually evolve.) So I gather, tumbling down the stairs is a devolution of sorts. A conscious attempt at turning down/back to past levels and patterns. Paddling upstream.

Yes I had been feeling some self-pity for the past two days, for instance, wondering how it is possible that I do so much work in the world, yet cannot come out openly to talk about my methods nor my visions for liberating options (options, as they are not necessarily for everyone) in the world as they seem so fantastical and radical in comparison to the mainstream (yes, totally a belief system that I cannot speak without negative repercussions).

Because I feel silenced and censored, this leads to a resulting physical impoverishment too. Hiding my gifts from the world (rather than openly share my gifts, as Ho'oponopono for instance doesn't require any grandstanding announcements yet it is only one of the gifts I have to offer) hasn't brought even the minimal resources and flow into my life necessary to continue to do my work, or even basic subsistence. And thus the self-pity and impoverishment cycle is reinforced.

"Shortage of time is not your problem. Shortage of money is not your problem. Shortage of Connection to the Energy that creates worlds is at the heart of all sensations of shortage that you are experiencing.” - Esther and Jerry Hicks

These past two days of self-pity coincide to when I went to a special United Nations briefing on the progress of the Millennium Development Goals to reduce poverty, hunger, maternal and child deaths, and injustice in the world by year 2015. (Yes, I realized I need to do Ho'oponopono on each of the eight category of goals.)

Personally, I know that I feel unbalanced when I hear people expound on problems, and keep harping on them using words like "against," "fight", "conquer", "never tolerate," "without," "an end to," "let's end," "let's put a stop to," "no more" and other phrases that indicate a focus on what we don't desire. Yet, I thought I have to or ought to or should put up with these sorts of interactions and meetings in order to make a difference in the world.

When it comes to our activism, we have to ask ourselves if we are divided.  Do we see an enemy?  If so, then we are not seeing things in their true light and are part of the problem we are trying to solve. -- Adyashanti

Well, my spirit and body said otherwise as I dropped precipitously in my radiant joy and power meter, my Emotional Guidance System, in the past two days. There's no one to blame, I just had an expired belief that I "needed" to be there regardless of how awful I felt. So, today, I decided not to punish myself and I am not attending UN press briefings at all.

See I'm a creator,not a problem-solver. Yet obviously I am not "okay" with that and judge myself a freak. So I was surprised to read last night that Esther Hicks begged her husband Jerry initially to keep the Abraham translations a secret between themselves. She was petrified that people would think she was weird, or worse.

I'm reminded of one of my heroes, Buckminster Fuller, went through a pretty dark time of his life. His young daughter diedand h, then a business failed and he was bankrupt. He was facing Lake Michigan ready to commit suicide (pretty much the epitome of self-pity) when he felt an inner voice clearly saying, "You do not belong to yourself." And he realized he was part of a whole, and he redirected his life from there on out to being a prolific humanitarian and inventor, after he had spent two years actively purging (notice the "cleaning" metaphor) out old beliefs that he'd inherited from others.(Oh, and I cannot pass up mention that he was going to drown himself -- clearly, another water symbol. Yet his emotional strife was already drowning him. He confronted his deepest emotional fears and realized he was bigger this "little self.") If you are not familiar with Buckminster Fuller, here are a few of his words.

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” – Buckminster Fuller

"We are called to be architects of the future, not its victims." - Buckminster Fuller

So last night I realized that it was probably harmful to the world at large by harboring and rehashing unhealthy emotions (and actions), and voila!--Later I come home to find that my housemate fell down the stairs. I even asked her what time her accident occurred, and I realized that was when I was thinking that I must not wallow in discordant emotions because it would affect the world, too. (At that point where one is conscious that it is not serving anyone to hoard those emotions is pretty much when they dissipate. When you're really invested in keeping them, you're not that willing to be aware of any consequences.)

This acknowledgment of "as within, so without" is basically how Ho'oponopono worked for Dr. Len. He "cured" the entire asylum at Hawaii State Hospital by reclaiming every single shred of projection/reflection "out there" and embracing and allowing all of Self.

This very morning, I read on one of the websites I frequent:

Janet and Stewart, as you so often remind us that what we see in life is a reflection of what is going on inside our head. Using your deprogramming and hyperspace techniques, significant changes are happening for the better and I created them. Over four months I have observed at work changes that were unimaginable previously. There has been a complete reversal of the oppressive atmosphere. ALL of the old management with this attitude has been replaced, and new creative solutions are emerging along with a logical approach to issues. Also I'm not working so hard. Good news-Thanks a billion!!

In pretty much the same manner to Dr. Len and the hospital, this woman is cleaning up herself by utilizing the reflection "out there" and as she clears, so too does the entire mirror shimmering around her. (Well, that analogy of mirror gives more of a sense of duality than it really is, it's all One, Whole.) So Ho'oponopono is mostly a process of seeing that whatever you spot "out there" and either feels horrible, annoying, unforgivable, or on the flip-side so fantastic, holy, and too amazing to be attainable.-- is something you are pushing away and wanting to deny as being also your Self -- and thus, Existence, or Reality (or What Is as Byron Katie likes to say), or whatever we wish to call All this.

Usually projections bother us so much because we think we could never accept them within ourselves. So it's most likely that it is precisely hidden within ourselves. We are here to embrace all of existence because it is all of you, what you really are is all of existence. (That statement would be something you can inquire yourself, don't take it on as a belief or philosophy, but I have seen it for myself to be true.) So pushing it away feels painful at some point because we are pushing away OUR OWN SELF. So Ho'oponopono is basically the embrace of all - we are all of it -- and we encompass all of it. Be whole by not fighting or denyingor  any part of self. Our mind/brain might tell us otherwise, and that is what creates a sense of division, distance, separation, or a seeming "gulf"-- mostly why I called the workshop CLEAN UP THE GULF IN YOU.

"We cannot storm the gates of heaven. Instead we must allow ourselves to become more and more disarmed. Then the pure consciousness of being becomes brighter and brighter, and we realize who we are. This brightness is what we are.

When it gets very bright, we see that we are this brightness, this radiance, and then we start to realize from our own experience what this human birth is all about. This brightness comes back for all itself, for every bit of confusion, for every bit of its suffering. Everything that the "me" tried to get away from, the sacred Self will come back for. This bright Self starts to discover its true nature and wants to liberate all of itself, to enjoy itself, and to truly love itself in all of its flavors. The truly sacred is the love of what is, not a love of what could be. This love liberates what is.

The true heart of all human beings is the lover of what is. That's why we cannot escape any part of ourselves. This is not because we are a disaster, but because we are conscious and we are coming back for all of ourselves in this birth. No matter how confused we are, we will come back for every part of ourselves that has been left out of the game. This is the birth of real compassion and love. For too long it has been said by spiritual traditions that you have to slay so much to get to love. But that is a myth. The truth is that it is love that really liberates." - Adyashanti, "Emptiness Dancing" (more Adya quotes)

Yes! Emptiness Dances.

Dance, dance, dance revolution....

p.s. I'm not fond of ANY dream dictionaries online or offline, I usually use a combination and sift through them until one "strikes" me as the true symbolism for my case. Sometimes, the symbolism is clear to me without referencing one. If you know of a great dream dictionary, I'd love to hear about it.

non-resistance is like letting current glide you -- rivers don't stagnate -- emotions as gauge -- you do not need anyone's agreement to be have do anything

"Stop paddling against the current. [You don't even have the turn the boat.] The current will turn you. And this is the thing we most want you to hear: As the current turns you, that's the point of relief." - Esther Hicks channelling Abraham, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTMx3LFCuPE

I've been thinking more about my lifelong fear of water. Well, it was lifelong until after a year after surviving the Indian Ocean tsunami, when I finally made peace with the element.

Innocently, and unbeknownst to me, only an hour before the tsunami that would kill over 300,000 people I announced to my boyfriend while we were on a boat touring an island in the Andaman coast, "I'm afraid of water."

Water, as I would find out much later, lo and behold is the symbol for emotions. So it is fitting that emotions are so important to the clean up of the Gulf. 

I stumbled upon the book, "The Astonishing Power of Emotions," by Esther and Jerry Hicks yesterday. In it, they are cleverly advising that we can use emotions to steer the river of life. Yes, they use the metaphor of a Stream (or river) for the life-force and we're in a canoe. (More on the Stream metaphor -- video.) Feeling good, you're aligned with the flow, the Tao. Not feeling good, you're resisting (either by plugging away upstream or clinging to the shore or something unnatural). It's just information telling you what you are up to.

Row row row your boat, gently down the stream... Merrily merrily merrily Life is but a dream.

All day every day you can chose whether you are going upstream or downstream with the flow of life. So our emotions are a gauge of sorts -- feeling anything less than fulfillment, joy or peace? Then you're probably insisting on the upstream route.

Any pressure or tension we feel is resistance of the life current which is always encouraging (yes, relentlessly) growth and evolution. (Have you ever seen a stagnant river?) That's why non-resistance feels so easy, light -- like a release or relief, and is often accompanied by feeling of being powerful and energetic since you aren't draining energy with the current.

Here are a few nuggets from the book:

"When we speak of vibrational alignment, we are referring to aligning the vibrations within your Being only. It has nothing to do with anything that anyone else is doing." Esther and Jerry repeatedly say we are simply aligning with who we really are, and who we have become (who we really are has an unchanging eternal aspect, yet in physical form it is quite dynamic, ever-evolving and isn't content to rest on laurels).

"Allowing yourself to become what life has caused you to desire is not about action. It is about aligning of thought Energies. It is about focusing your attention in the direction of your desire rather than looking back at the current conditions that have given birth to your desire.

When you achieve vibrational alignment, any inspired action will feel wonderful. Without vibrational alignment, any action taken will feel difficult."

Negative emotions always indicate not "allowing yourself to be that new expanded version [of yourself in this moment]. You are not keeping up with who you have become."

You are not keeping up with who you have become. You can't hit pause on the river. So, again, you are resisting the pull of the current.

One woman asked Esther a question as she wanted to help her husband, who was dying of a terminal illness. As with Ho'oponopono -- you do not focus on "helping" the other person but in being in perfect harmony yourself. Or as Dr. Len calls it at Zero Point.

Esther Hicks calls it vibrational alignment. Sometimes the urge to help someone else only furthers the illusion of separation from Wholeness, instead of reaffirming Wholeness is here, everywhere, now. For the grieving woman Esther suggests, "...we want you to understand that you must find a way to feel good whether he gets better or worse, or lives or dies... For only when you are selfish enough to do that can you help him."

"Rather than seeking a medical cure [as the doctors have given up] for a disease, you must understand the vibrational cause of it, for there is not enough action in the world to compensate for misaligned Energy."

The way I use Ho'oponopono, is I look for the so-called "vibrational cause" (truly don't even consider it a cause as in cause-and-effect, I'm looking for a clue or the message of disharmony... notice the word "harmony" implies a vibrational component) using several sources for symbolism. Then I look within myself as to why that disharmony persists. Often there is a message for "me," even though it's "them". And if the projection does not appear "within" me; often I can see that I might be holding strong judgment or aversion towards people or situations with that symbol's content. So I look within with awareness until there is a moment of epiphany, understanding and acceptance/allowance. Then really the core work is done, as the "I love you. I forgive you. I forgive me. I love you. I release you...." is icing on the cake.

Later in the book The Astonishing Power of Emotions, by Esther and Jerry Hicks, one lady is fretting that her husband thinks all this manifestation (I think they call it Creative Process) and is often cited as the Law of Attraction is nuts, and he does not agree with her desire for a new house.

This is an important section as often emotions such as blame, anger, frustration, resentment result from believing that someone else (my partner, my company, my boss, my government, etc.) have to be in alignment with us to have what we desire. Not so. We are wholly responsible for our own desires, and our own unfoldment. (You'd be surprised how many dis-eases are tied to long-held resentment stowed in the body.)

Esther Hicks responds:

"When your life is intertwined with another, you often feel that you need to agree on everything and "pull together," so to speak, on the things that you are creating, but we want you to understand that you do not need another to "pull" with you, because the Stream of creation contains all the "pulling" power that is necessary. However, you cannot pull against yourself and get to where you want to be.

Esther continues and says if her day-to-day thoughts were truly focused on the new house, then it'd be a done deal. Yet the woman is too worried about her husband's uncooperative manner. "However, if you think about your husband's opposite decision, spending time in your own mind justifying why you want the new house and feeling unhappy about his unwillingness to even consider it, then your day-to-day thoughts do not match your desire. You would have, by virtue of thinking about your husband's opposing thoughts, introduced resistance into your vibrational mix, and you would not be currently moving toward the outcome you want. In other words, your attention to your husband's decision would have you pointed in opposition to your own desire. And so, it would feel to you as if he were the problem, when actually the problem would be contained in your own thoughts.

Some would say, "But if my husband would agree with me, then I wouldn't be having these contradictory thoughts.... But there is true entrapment in the belief that your creations would go better if everyone around you would cooperate, because in the majority of cases those around you are not going to focus with you in the direction of your desires for everyone has their own personal and selfish interests that are getting the bulk of their attention. The awareness that you do not need the agreement of any other to create whatever you desire is truly liberating. And, when you are no longer including the opposing thoughts of others into your vibrational mix, your power of influences increases powerfully."

"No one has the power to deprive you of anything. And when you understand that and no longer push against anything, all things that you desire will flow easily into your experience.... Let him think as he thinks, be as he is, and want as he wants, for in doing so, nothing about him will hinder you. But if you attempt to "reform" him, you will most likely be focused on unwanted aspects--which you will include in your vibrational mix [blaming is not a great one], which could, in time, cause you to resent him for (seemingly) holding you back from your desires."

Some additional thoughts that Esther had the woman consider in this situation that were particularly relevant:

"As I worry about what he's doing, I'm not really applying the Processes."

"Even someone as close as my husband needn't affect my point of attraction."

"And while our agreement is satisfying, it's not required for me to get what I want."

"I've had the experience of secretly desiring things that did come to pass."

"These wonderful things come to me without collaboration with others."

"I'm powerful enough in my own Beingness to create whatever I choose."

"I've been holding my husband in an unfair place by requiring his agreement."

"By holding to my ideas of what I desire, I'm in no way pushing against him."

"We make a good team because we approach life with a differing view."

"I'll silently and joyously create whatever I choose."

"In time, if he wants, we can openly co-create on many subjects."

rheumatoid arthritis -- step into authority -- forget Mr. Pleasant, and try Alive and True

I want to distinguish rheumatoid arthritis from arthritis (the last post), as it's classed differently being an auto-immune disease. (And the reason I'm covering this is because two people in my circle, not related by "blood" however have this dis-ease diagnosed and I'm doing Ho'oponopono on this within myself. I heal this disharmony within myself; I am never healing anyone else. That it affects ""others" is certain; but that cannot be the focal point or it exacerbates a sense of division rather than acknowledging wholeness.)

An autoimmune disease means that the immune system, which is something intended as a self-defense system to ward off external bacteria and viruses (any harmful foreign substance), has gone awry and believes your body is an enemy.

In a spiritual sense if one tends to view and reference the concept of "us versus them" and see external situations and people as "the enemy", or working at "cross-purposes" to you that will start to proliferate if you will, as ultimately there are no other people: It's all one whole contiguous continuous Being. You'd be only fighting yourself. I think spiritually speaking a healthy immune system will simply due to harmonious conditions basically deflect any discordant organisms; something like the way the positive pole of a magnet deflects negatively-charged iron filings. This is not actively fighting, it is simply a mismatch in  polarities. The magnet is perfectly pure and clear.

On the symbolism of rheumatoid arthritis via Louise Hay: "Deep criticism of authority. Feeling very put upon." She recommends the affirmation: "I am my own authority. I love and approve of myself. Life is good." (Again, I'm not keen on affirmations. You really are going to have to get to the root of the message not assuage it. This will require totally be willing to see the projection too. I recommend The Work, by Byron Katie.)

And from Lise Bourbeau (unfortunately, I've already reached Google Books' search limit, however, this is what I found): "Generally, if you suffer from rheumatoid arthritis you are very self-critical; you have difficulty doing what you enjoy and asking others for help...."

At some point, you will realize, there is no one out there stopping you from being you--you are your own authority. YOU ARE THE AUTHOR OF YOUR LIFE. There's no one holding you back (although your own beliefs about "power," and what others will approve of and will not approve of may be holding you back). There's no one else that needs to do X or Y, so then you can be free. No one is stopping you from doing what you enjoy. No one is doing you in. No one is your enemy. No one, especially those that believe they are in charge, is in charge. Life's in charge--and it ain't your enemy either.

For a long time, I would hear people say things like "I cannot afford to go to a doctor," or similar statements of powerlessness. As if the doctor is the authority of their healing, and their health is in someone else's hands. Having discovered that I can heal myself, this always felt strangely like purposefully denying divine authority by giving it to something/someone external.

Yet, what I often didn't see was all the other ways I gave away my own capability to be a sovereign authority channeling Life itself. For instance, I didn't see a way to be the authority of my own wealth -- of course, it was totally dependent on getting a job, or a foothold in the marketplace, and appeasing the masses with something "commercially" viable to sustain me. And of course being a radical, "the powers that be" were out to squash me somehow or another. MY mind would run rampant thinking it was Me versus the Mainstream. And even lately, one of my closest collaborators told me in an argument, "You're hippy-dippy" underlining how even my allies seem to have turned into adversaries.

And since this course is called, Clean Up The Gulf In You, in terms of the Gulf oil spill, it's pretty clear-cut whom the enemy-authority is. Why it's British Petroleum of course.

Now, all this might make some kind of rational "sense" as it's what we grew up believing--that other people are in charge, or even God is in charge, but it's not how creatorship and authority works.

Re-read the post on We Are Cause (as in we're not at the effect of the world, we're creators) and I also recommend Mike Dooley's book,  "Infinite Possibilities: The Art of Living Your Dreams" and Rhonda Byrne's "The Power". (Skewed a bit more Christian, yet also relevant are ""Fearless: Imagine Your Life Withou Fear", by Max Lucado and "The Mystical I" by Joel Goldsmith.)

There is no one holding you back. The projection is your thoughts/beliefs about reality are holding you back. (And it's a pretty flimsy barrier. No worries.)

As I was writing this post, the song Mr. Pleasant by the Kinks (1967) came on the radio. The first line that caught my attention was, "And the whole wide world is on your side..."

Wow, and the whole wide world is on your side. Sound perfect doesn't it?

"A violin that has been made by a master resonates only with pure tones, and it does so deep and abundantly. A cheap one resonates to many tones, but in a dull way.

Make sure everything you do, or add to yourself, is made of Pinus Resonanza wood, and according to universal proportions. Then your life will resonate with the good and worthwhile, and you will be a Stradivarius for yourself and everyone you meet. " - Hexagram 17, I Ching

Do you really need the world on your side? Are you waiting for the world to be on your side?

Does the iris require that the water lilies be on its side to be an iris?

Does wholeness have "sides"?

You don't need the world on your side. Muse on that one.

I realized that sometimes I purposefully gave away my authority in order to be agreeable, or in other words, not completely isolated and alienated. (Sure, that's a belief system too.) It's a kind of exchange: I won't be myself, so that I can be with you. Hmmmm. Yes, that's how convoluted our belief systems are sometimes.

So often we give away Life's authority in order to be nice and have friends rather than, say, enemies. We're the epitome of Mr. or Miss Pleasant. On doing the Ho'oponopono on this I see how I have dulled the "pure tones" of myself and no one really did this to me except my incessant beliefs, even if they seemed  reinforced by others, that I'm not acceptable as I am.

(Does the bird sing its song for approval? Or does it sing because it's a song bird?)

All this suppression in order to be a good girl, as defined by others and their own images of good. Yes, even this compulsion to teach the Ho'oponopono course is slightly that (sure, there's a kernel related to my true calling, but it's not my primary calling as "workshops" aren't really my purest expression of joy) -- the PERCEIVED need to be nice, good, compassionate global citizen as defined by the masses, or else suffer the consequences-- hmmm, exile or something, I suppose ;)

Yet, that's why rheumatoid arthritis is a definite message of feeling put upon. You aren't doing what you enjoy because no one will let you, because no will like me if I do, because they will leave me if I don't do what they want (and its variations). For me, it's an underlying belief that one shouldn't do what they enjoy 100% of the time because that's self-indulgent!! And self-indulgence might "hurt" other people. Really? As if self-sacrifice is helping?

Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive - Howard Thurman

Forget good. Forget Mr. Pleasant. Try Alive. Try True. Pretty much being just "okay" is a disease. It's a slow killer, yet it'll get you every time. Don't compromise. Don't settle for okay.

Anything less than joy (it need not be outrageous and loud, sometimes it's quiet and blissful) is not our natural condition, and it signifies a resistance to Life right this Now.

Now that I've seen through the message of rheumatoid arthritis and seen its application in myself sincerely (if it doesn't feel true, keeping being willing to see the message for you and it will arise in due time). It's time to allow and accept, I repeat the Ho'oponopono words: I love you, I forgive you, I release you, I love you...

Bye-bye Mr. Pleasant....

Oh Mr Pleasant, how is Mrs Pleasant?
I hope the world is treating you right,
And your head's in the air,
And you're feeling so proud,
'Cause you're such a success,
And the whole wide world is on your side, hey hey.
How are you today?

People say Mr Pleasant is good,
Mr Pleasant is kind,
Mr Pleasant's okay,
Mr Pleasant don't mind.
As long as Mr Pleasant's all right, hey hey.
How are you today?

How's your father, how's your mother?
How's your sister, how's your brother?
How's your brand, new limousine,
Twenty-four inch TV screen?
Did you like prosperity
More than you liked poverty?
Life is easier, so much easier,
Life is easier now.

Oh Mr Pleasant, how is Mrs Pleasant?
Did you know she was flirting around
With another young man,
And he's taking her out
When you have to work late?
And it's not so pleasant after all, hey hey.
How are you today?

People say Mr Pleasant is good,
Mr Pleasant is kind,
Mr Pleasant's okay,
Mr Pleasant don't mind.
As long as Mr Pleasant's all right, hey hey.
How are you today?

p.s. I try not to distinguish dis-eases that are "in my blood" (i.e. siblings, parents, cousins, etc) from those of my inner circle (anyone I deem as significant and their significant circle), although because the course is focused on blood, joy, and the oil spill, yes a future post will address the family karmic patterns.

UPDATE October 15, 2012:  I've been delving into the topic of the carrying of and healing of ancestral / generational pain, and came upon this video where the questioner is asking spiritual teacher Adyashanti a question. Her own mother had intense rheumatoid arthritis, and now her daughter is reporting how much shoulder pain she's carrying on this particular meditation retreat. It's too much to share here, watch:

 

long standing emotional disharmony is seen as a primary cause of disease -- don't suffer your reminiscences -- dropping personal history

If you spent any time with the metaphysical messages and symbols of dis-eases including references such as Louise Hay ("Heal Your Body Heal Your Life"), Lise Bourbeau ("Your Body Is Telling You: Love Yourself!"), Deb Shapiro ("Your Body Speaks Your Mind"), then by now you've realized that most dis-ease comes down more or less to messages such as:

• don't hoard past emotional memory in the body -- including anger, blame, judgment, grief, guilt/remorse -- as it pits the body/being in conflict with the present
• love and respect yourself (which is not dependent on anything or anyone else)
• don't cling to fear and doubt

It's very important if you're doing Ho'oponopono that you in your own body are healthy. Typically, if you are paying attention to the messages of your own body, subtler messages will begin to come into your awareness as accidents and diseases in the people that you know around you "out there." But first, and foremost, you need to pay attention to the knocking on the door closest to you--your body. (Yes, and it's all your body in the spiritual sense, but in terms of where to focus first if there's disharmony in your physical body that's what's trying to get your attention.)

"In traditional Chinese Medicine, long standing emotional disharmony is seen as a primary cause of disease." -- Lawrence Michael, Compassionate Dragon Healing

The specific dis-ease often gives one further way to pinpoint perhaps where and towards what we've held anger the most, and can provide a starting point. Yet, in the end, fear is fear. All fear originates with a concept (thought/belief, etc) of separation or division from the Whole.

This testimonial from a woman who suffered from arthritis describes how she came to view your body as a messenger (well, to be honest I consider the body's messages of dis-ease to be a message of last resort; basically I've ignored the subtler and gentler messages). Yet, it's still your friend, not the enemy here.

"Soon I was feeling so much better that I asked my doctor if I could reduce my medication. He said absolutely not. I then attended my first I Can Do It! Conference (I’ve since been to four more) in Las Vegas in 2005. I brought a good friend and had an amazing time. On the flight home, I remembered Louise’s words: “It came from nowhere, so send it back to nowhere.” That’s where I’d send my arthritis—back to nowhere. I no longer needed it. Within a couple months, I had weaned myself off all of my medication and told my doctor, “Thanks for the help, and good-bye.” Now when I get an ache or a pain, I’m not afraid; I simply ask myself what’s going on in my life that I need to deal with. I rely on my body to tell me, and it always does." - Gail, business owner, Canada, "Pain Has Gone Back to Nowhere"

ARTHRITIS SYMBOLISM:

"Feeling unloved and criticized. Strong resentments."

AFFIRMATION FOR ARTHRITIS: (again, I don't use the affirmations for anything more than to provide more clues....opting to do Byron Katie's THE WORK, and Ho'oponopono instead of reciting affirmations):

I am love. I now choose to love and approve of myself. I see others with love.

So the antidote is self-love, self-acceptance and releasing hoarded/pent-up bitterness. Well, this is the antidote to pretty much any disharmony in the cosmos, really.

"Ladies and gentlemen," [Sigmund] Freud proclaimed, "our hysteric patients [diseases that seemed to have no "cause"] suffer from reminiscences. Their symptoms are residues and memory symbols for certain traumatic events." - Harper's September 2010, The War on Unhappiness: Goodbye Freud, Hello Positive Thinking

Freud was on the right track here; yet he didn't go far enough: All illness is residue and memory symbol for certain traumatic events in the past.

We "suffer from reminiscences." Without referencing our reminiscences, we are naturally aware and joyful.

Even hanging onto "good" reminiscences obscure the present moment which is the only "place" or "space" or "time" where joy exists. (Funny as I'm writing this on the radio comes the lyrics, "Where have all the good times gone?")

"As soon as the mind identifies with past-stories you instantly feel regret, blame, guilt, shame, nostalgia, or pride. Past-stories are the ways you unconsciously choose to remember yourself: “I used to be so slender,” or “I was more confident then,” and thus judge how you are now. They are the ways you recall specific situations, and especially people in an especially positive or negative light thereby immediately hijacking the present with an old emotion that blinds you to the ever-renewing miracle of each moment: “My father abandoned our family.” “My mother gave herself away to men.” “Those were the most joyous days of my life.”

These past-stories become the emotional basis for interpreting the present... I project the past onto the present, and regardless of how happy or unhappy I may have been then, the effect is always to diminish the living presence of the Now." - Richard Moss

In general, except for two cases (which I'll write up in future) I've not had any accidents or illnesses in the last nine years since I began noticing my body is a messenger, as well as looking at the external world not as something to blame or find fault, but something that could show unwaveringly any "blind spots" (my projections). I've not had health insurance, and don't intend to get any either. The only "insurance" comes from absolutely, directly and honestly confronting what is currently happening without avoiding, resisting.

"I have no routines or personal history. One day I found out that they were no longer necessary for me and, like drinking, I dropped them. One must have the desire to drop them and then one must proceed harmoniously to chop them off, little by little. If you have no personal history, no explanations are needed; nobody is angry or disillusioned with your acts. And above all no one pins you down with their thoughts. It is best to erase all personal history because that makes us free from the encumbering thoughts of other people. I have, little by little, created a fog around me and my life. And now nobody knows for sure who I am or what I do. Not even I. HOW CAN I KNOW WHO I AM, WHEN I AM ALL THIS?" - Don Juan in Journey to Ixtlan, by Carlos Castenada (note: my capitalization)

p.s. Note that rheumatoid arthritis has a different message than arthritis being classed as an autoimmune disease. See next blog post for more on rheumatoid arthritis.

radical Creative Responsibility -- Response - ability: We Are the Cause - Gary Renard // You Cause What Affects You - Story Waters

These two excerpts (see full video above, and full excerpt in link below) both point to the idea (and it's not to be accepted on faith, but applied and investigated for yourself) that what you are is responsible for creating, not in a control-freak sort of way, but in the sense that our very existence in "form" is creative. Once we get past all the blocks (held/hoarded energy in the form of though-forms deeply grooved in our pysche and somatically imprinted in our body) of memory, we can live free zero to zero moment to moment without "limits".

What Dr. Len calls Zero Point is pure clarity, pure divine inspiration that is available each moment right now, but cannot be referenced from the past or our attempts to resusitate the past.

Excepted transcription from above video. I actually was introduced to Ho'oponopono a little while after discovering The Disappearance of the Universe, by Gary Renard. (Stumbled into the book while actually seeking a Spanish-English dictionary.) The video above doesn't really need much prefix or introduction. It's pretty much nondual referenced from a "Christian" point of view.

"When you get to masters like Buddha and Jesus, the kind of forgiveness that they're talking about comes from a place of knowledge that they had that I think people didn't quite understand about them.

For example, Jesus and Buddha understood something, and what they understood was that the world was not being done to them, it was being done by them.

It was not coming at them--which would put you in a reactionary state of mind--it actually is coming from you."

Interviewer adds: "Emanating from us. Emanating from the consciousness."

"Right. That's the difference between being a cause and being an effect. Most people live their entire lives at the effect of the world, or the effect of the body and it all seems real and outside of them.

It's being done to them. They believe that the universe of time and space was made by God. Which makes them a victim of God because it makes them a victim of a force that is outside of them that is doing it to them.

Jesus and Buddha, on the other hand, understood that the world was being done by them. And because of that it makes for another kind of forgiveness.

It makes for a kind of forgiveness where you forgive them not because they've really done something to you, you forgive them because they didn't really do anything to you because you're the one who made them up in the first place. So it's a totally different way of looking at things. It reverses the thinking of the world.

... The Course [in MIracles] says the secret of salvation [more like Nirvana than Biblical salvation, i.e. the cessation of suffering because the illusion of the one who suffers is seen through and through] is but this: That you are doing this to yourself. So this is a Course in cause, and not in effect."

... It does appear to be happening. I'm not here to say that it's not our experience--that we're here in bodies and that we appear are separate. I'm just here to say that that's a false experience. Even a physicist would tell you the same thing.

Einstein described our experience as kind of like an optical delusion of reality. We think we're here, that we're in bodies, that we're separate.

But a good physicist will tell you you're a non-spatial being having a spatial experience. In other words, you're actually everywhere, you're all of it--but then it feels like you're confined to this little speck of time and space in a separate body--but it's not true, it's an illusion."

See also: The Disappearance of the Universe, by Gary Renard
See also: No Boundary, by Ken Wilber

Excerpt from YOU CAUSE WHAT AFFECTS YOU, by Story Waters

"To integrate this idea is to see reality as the expression, rather than the cause, of what you are feeling. This is to remove time from the equation. For example, if something happens that makes you feel angry, rather than seeing your anger as the result of the event, see the event as being the expression of anger that you were already feeling. You brought yourself to the event in order to feel the anger, thereby releasing it. You freely participated in the event because it was a vehicle to outwardly express something you were feeling.

Without a belief in cause and effect you can no longer deny responsibility by blaming external events or people for your emotional state. No person or thing makes you feel anything. You choose to allow the experience of all that affects you emotionally. The idea of cause and effect is a symbol of the separation of our being over time. It is a way in which we simplify and make sense of the world. To let go of linearity is to bring great clarity into your life. It is to see that all experiences that you participate in are a choice. This brings into focus how you are responsible for your own life because it is you that chooses it.

Letting go of the idea of cause and effect will trigger many resistances. These will be walls that you created through blaming external forces for both your emotional state and the condition of your reality. To take complete responsibility for your creatorship is to release the idea of blame, and stand in the acknowledgement that nothing is limiting you but yourself. All the limits in your reality are but a reflection of ways in which you believe you are limited." - Story Waters

Bonus: One of the YouTube commenters on Gary Renard's video, necrossumus, notes wisely that this stuff ain't new. Advaita Vedanta is not so much any religion as a direct inquiry into the nature of reality  that arose from individuals living in the geography of Hindu thought: "

"Guys, the Course and Gary's teachings are at least old as Shankara. This is the original conception of Advaita Vedanta, the Hindu most promising philosophy. It is simply and only christianised, which is not so bad. Let the conservative christians open up gradually for the truth of oneness with the true reality of Brahman and the sat-chit-ananda.

Really very wise decision is the forgiveness process because it is easy for westerns and christians and is very direct aproach to the true reality."

Red rain coming down -- non-identification with emotions -- and warming the Gulf Stream

I'm in at an East Village cafe people-watching from a stool by the floor-to-ceiling window, writing, watching "my" emotional reactions come and swell and dissipate over and through me. (The way out is through... so I allow the emotions their free range...to run wild and if I don't stop them, they release upwards through the chakras, dissolve in space).

There's no doubt if you apply Ho'oponopono consistently when you perceive any external issues or problems, they will be followed at some point by intense emotional reactions stirred from their deep slumber in the somatic corners of your being into the wide expanse of your Awareness.

"In some sense man is a microcosm of the universe; therefore what man is, is a clue to the universe." - physicist David Bohm

If one is a keen observer, you may start to claim that perhaps these emotions aren't even really "ours" in any sense of ownership or possession. Where do they come and go? Look closer, and they are very much like weather. Sunny one moment, cloudy the next. This too shall pass.

A good old Buddhist practice is called RAIN, speaking of weather:

R- Recognize the present moment and what you are feeling

A- Accept what you are feeling

I- Investigate (hehe, sometimes I skip this in favor of just BEING with the emotion without layering any interpretative tour on it)

N- Non-identification (the key, in my opinion... this emotion doesn't define you, or them; and really is it even "yours", watch it as you would watch a gathering storm from the safety of a nice cup of white lotus tea in a cozy cafe in Manhattan for instance).

As I feel the depths of a lingering fear shake itself loose from my gut (it's a tight vicious churning ball of energy), it rises to my heart. My heart is lurching wildly. Yikes, and I sit with it and let it be even though it's a little raucous inside. 

Simultaneously a freakish rainstorm brews over Manhattan, and this Peter Gabriel song comes over the radio:

Red rain is coming down

Red rain
Red rain is pouring down
Pouring down all over me

I am standing up at the water's edge in my dream
I cannot make a single sound as you scream
It can't be that cold, the ground is still warm to touch
This place is so quiet, sensing that storm

Red rain is coming down
Red rain
Red rain is pouring down
Pouring down all over me

Well I've seen them buried in a sheltered place in this town
They tell you that this rain can sting, and look down
There is no blood around see no sign of pain
Hay ay ay no pain
Seeing no red at all, see no rain

Red rain is coming down
Red rain
Red rain is pouring down
Pouring down all over me

Red rain-
Putting the pressure on much harder now
To return again and again
Just let the red rain splash you
Let the rain fall on your skin
I come to you defences down
With the trust of a child

Red rain is coming down
Red rain
Red rain is pouring down
Pouring down all over me
And I can't watch any more
No more denial
It's so hard to lay down in all of this
Red rain is coming down
Red rain is pouring down
Red rain is coming down all over me
I see it
Red rain is coming down
Red rain is pouring down
Red rain is coming down all over me
I'm bathing in it
Red rain coming down
Red rain is coming down
Red rain is coming down all over me
I'm begging you
Red rain coming down
Red rain coming down
Red rain coming down
Red rain coming down
Over me in the red red sea
Over me
Over me
Red rain

When emotions long dormant arise, let them.

That is pretty much the kernel of what Dr. Len keeps refering to as Zero Point. At zero point, you don't need to reference and re-hash anything old anymore even if it was stored compactly in your body.

You can be so clear and fresh without boggage and baggage that you will respond to the present Now from pure inspiration.

Just let the red rain splash you
Let the rain fall on your skin
I come to you defences down
With the trust of a child

The trust of the child and the immense kinetic, near-boundless free energy of a child was restored to me earlier this week from the concentrated Ho'oponopono course. (I had not felt this free and joyous since a spiritual awakening in 2006, which only showed "me" that the "me" doesn't exist; so I'm not trivializing the process of Enlightenment nor glorifying it.)

Whatever I glance at, I see You. - Rumi

Mostly, the emotion that kept asserting itself was anger. (Initially--as anger is often a cover-up for sorrow and fear too. Then those might arise.) Rebecca Marina said something last Saturday that really hit home. Bitterness (another spin on anger and resentment) is often hoarded and preserved because we feel that if we keep it, we'll remember--and that person cannot hurt us again or that painful situation cannot happen again. It's a form of self-protection. I realized that I was falling for that belief-and yet, never has bottling anger really prevented any "bad" thing from happening again.

It only left me cold-hearted.

An Italian research study done by physicist Gianluigi Zagari shows the possibility that the Gulf Stream loop current that circulates warm waters regulating the US eastern and European weather may be broken.(The scientist says due to non-linear effects anything is possible in the future... but it's not looking so "hot" right now. Yet Now is a very shifty phenomena.)

I read that article and mentally filed it about a week ago. Then I did Ho'oponopono on it.

Where am I "cold"?

(And not to mention that someone in my close circle of relationships was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis which is a message that we've been too rigid, inflexible and hard-hearted.) Then add a participant in this course has a friend with a heart murmur (recently diagnosed) and the symbolism is:

You are responding with anger in a situation calling for love.

That pretty much sums it up.

Warm your heart. Heed your heart. Heat your heart. Your heart(h). Your heart is your hearth. Where are you responding with anger, instead of love?

A Course in Miracles says, Everyone is either coming from love, or crying for love. (Yes, sometimes their cries are pretty convoluted and easily perceived as selfish and/or cruel. But then that'd be your reflection, too. Mirror mirror on the wall....)

Just let the red rain splash you
Let the rain fall on your skin
I come to you defences down
With the trust of a child

After a flurry of rain and thunder, the ominous rainstorm in New York City came to a standstill in a few minutes time.

p.s. I'll leave it to you to do the symbolism. Red rain (the red, not black, of the Gulf oil spill), and blood (blood of the Earth=joy) etcetera. Enjoy.

Ho'oponopono on liver cancer -- anger is like a hot coal that burns the One holding it

"You don't cure the body with the body, you cure the body with the mind." -- Plato

I'm not sure about the "mind", but it's certainly not the body. The One Life, or Infinite Intelligence or whatever we wish to name something unnameable has no problems with perceiving perfection, which appears to the body as a "cure." In fact, it is actually (to me) more like pulling in a template for your perfect body from another dimension (or perhaps Emptiness, or what Dr. Len and Ho'oponopono described as Zero Point) that has and always will be immaculate, harmonious, whole.

I've had a friend who was young, and out of the blue developed a liver problem even though she rarely drank alcohol. In fact, the doctor had no idea as to the cause (but at that point, pinpointing cause wasn't primary, as healing was). I asked my friend if they were open to hearing metaphysical interpretation (which is in my mind not necessarily any more "spiritual" or less spiritual than drinking lemonade on the porch, or consulting a doctor, or playing a guitar... it's just a symbolic way of conveying information and messages). I knew they were harboring much resentment and blame toward their father, and avoided contact with him. But I didn't even tell her that, I asked her to see if there were people and situations--and to make a list--that she was holding anger against, as liver stores anger. From there, forgiveness or application of Ho'oponopono or any manner of things is possible. Years later, this friend has a good relationship with their father. 

Rarely do I spend time on Facebook, and even less clicking on Facebook links, but a friend forwarded this video and sighed, "I'm holding out for a love like this." Now, as I feel like I am recovering from a tumultuous relationship that went awry pretty much on the same day as I started the Ho'oponopono workshop, it's not exactly the first thing you think I'd click on.

As I was on the blog of the video author, I noted he had cancer. Clicking around some more, it seems like liver cancer:

Cancer: Deep hurt. Long standing resentment. Carrying hatreds.

Liver: Seat of anger, chronic complaining. Fault finding to deceive yourself.

The above are the symbols from Louise Hay, however, virtually everyone that does this type of work is quite familiar with cancer=resentment and liver=anger without referring to any reference materials (from what source I do not know).

So, it's not as I have to search far and wide to see where inside of myself--it's not anyone's fault--but it is a distinct message to me that I cannot ignore that resentment, and anger are not healthy. Anything I do to harm another (through harboring resentment and anger) harms myself, period. I know this. I have seen this in action in my own life. I know there is no "other." Everything is everything. And in this case, harming myself is harming Kristian as it is spiritually all One Body. (Metaphor one can use is to imagine you are a leaf on a tree, and you wish to cut a limb or root off the tree because you are pissed at it. Somehow believing that as a leaf, you are unrelated to the rest of the tree. That's how must humans perceive.) (Or the old adage: "Cut off your nose to spite your face." Uh, pretty stupid, eh? Unless you are so incensed you cannot see straight... cutting off the nose is obviously is harming the face.)

And yet, does knowing this all directly, deeply, did that stop me from wishing to emotionally hurt my boyfriend by staying mean and angry (and doesn't matter whether the anger is "justified" or not). Did that spur me to wish to drop all the pain and resentment and anger now? No, it had not.

Not until I read about Kristian. 

"Holding on to anger is grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned." - Buddha

Well, I think Buddha is only partially right--or perhaps they forgot in translation the capitalization--you are the One who gets burned. Anger has ripple effects most of us don't even want to begin to think about. I've had enough awareness in the past few days to see how dangerous this is even before this epiphany (including my left knee getting momentarily tweaked. Knee=inflexible pride Left=Not being receptive, denying intuition). Yet I'd not totally challenged myself enough to let go. Let go of resentment and anger.

Ho'oponopono work is not done by simply saying over and over in a monotone, "I love you. I am sorry. I release all this. I love you." It must be absolutely sincere, and not coerced.

Once I (or you, or anyone really) can really let go their anger and resentment, then Kristian's cancer is healed.

(Some of you won't believe that, that's fine. Or you will believe that the person with the cancer must do it himself, yes, that is ONE option.  I am not here to persuade anyone. If you want to try Ho'oponopono, fine-- it is not being forced on anyone. Here is a step-by-step example of using Ho'oponopono on shoulder bursitis.)

Bonus:  " The term used for this displacement of anger is "projection." The ego within us is constantly "cruising," looking for situations onto which anger can be projected with seeming justification, in order to convince our minds that the cause of the anger is without, and not within." - A Course in Miracles, Lesson 21

I recommend Byron Katie's The Work as a way to embrace our projections and question our "arguments." Another practice would be to silently declare whenever you feel anger towards something/someone specifically , "I am determined to see [specify person or situation] differently." Don't strive or strain for resolution, simply have the willingness and be open and receptive to any guidance that may arise either immediately or over time.

p.s. After I wrote this post, I see that Kristian's doctors say he has cancer in his liver and bowel. I say he is completely perfect and whole.

This is Kristian's video to his wife that is "virally" making its rounds in the Internet:

A walk-through of Ho'oponopono using example of shoulder bursitis and shouldering responsibility

[Context: Workshop participants share their reactions thus far to the readings and exercises and to the keeping of an optional journal on "What Touches Us". Particularly any reaction that are quite positive or quite negative. Workshop participants also shared if a relative, friend, or co-worker, someone in fairly close proximity in intimacy--or vice-versa someone that annoys them yet is in close enough proximity that they cannot avoid being involved--has had a recent diagnosis of an illness, or any chronic illnesses. The following is briefly edited from the workshop email to protect privacy:]

Whatever you shared and thought is what's vivid for you--so, what I'll address over the next few days. Basically, wanted to gauge what your reactions are, as often very intense (either admiring or annoying) spectrum of reactions shows us what we've yet to see and accept unconditionally accept about ourselves--and, thus the world. Usually these projections are things that are either too wonderful or too horrible for us to accept as part of ourselves, too.

So let's with what you shared about your friend's diagnosis. I'd like give you a few resources to look up symbolism, and see what it seems a heart murmur might indicate for you. Yes, it is probably a message for your friend too, but the focal point is that of yourself. There is no need to share this with your friend.

So I'll give you an example, as again I'm letting you see what the heart murmur might tell you for yourself first. Please respond with what you think the heart murmur is telling you about you.

There are other sources for symbolism, but Louise Hay typically seems to be pretty on target. I don't usually use her affirmations myself, as I take the symbolism and then use Ho'oponopono on it. Over time, I'll share a few more symbolism resources, but for simplicity take note of the two below as they will be something you can refer to after this online workshop is over.

Again, these are not the causes of the illness as the cause is basically lack of harmony in the world-at-large starting with your disharmony (and never "them"). These are the messages behind the illness that may provide a clue to restoring harmony in the present time to what Ho'oponopono refers to as the Zero Point.

HEAL YOUR BODY HEAL YOUR LIFE, by Louise Hay
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/8755001/Bodytalk---Louise-L-Hay---Heal-Your-Body

and as well, a shorter list, http://www.paganspath.com/healing/ailments.htm

and yet another chart, http://www.squidoo.com/spiritualmeaning

Look at all lists for clues.

Sometimes you have to really think through the symbolism. I'll give you an example. A friend shared on Facebook that he might not be able to go on vacation which he enthusiastically looks forward to attending each year, and is dealing with heavy-duty (I think he is using steroids for pain and inflammation) shoulder bursitis. Unfortunately, he didn't share which shoulder. It definitely does make a difference as to left or right as they indicate inner masculine/feminine as well as mother/father issues. But we'll ignore the left/right for now. But in general if you notice someone around you -- family, friends, co-workers etc have an accident or injury or illness, make note if it is left or right side (when applicable).

So I look up BURSITIS in the list:

Bursitis -- Repressed anger. Wanting to hit someone. Affirmation: "Love relaxes and releases all unlike itself."

So now going further (using my intuition as sometimes you can just tell by language/phrasing what body parts correspond to which blocks as I was having trouble finding "shoulder" when I Googled the metaphysical message) could I have anger at shouldering too much? Oh yes. I was angry with a housemate who was being destructive and "acting out" to the other housemates and myself and also to physical property. They left the other housemates' with the burden of shouldering the responsibility.

Plus, in general, and not pointed to anyone specifically, I do feel anger at shouldering so much responsibility on a global emotional body level (not as if I'm the only person doing this type of work by any means, but it does lighten up the entire universe when anyone does this emotional clearing work), and not feeling appreciated for it. The "repressed anger" is basically underlining the fact that it feels like I would not be a nice person if I were to get angry enough that I'd actually wish to hit someone--though in reality, yes, I definitely was that angry even if I'm not "supposed" to be. ("Supposed" to be I realize is other people's perceptions and expections.)

Later, I was stumped why I could not find Shoulder in list of illnesses. Well, turns out I had accidentally Googled: "shoulding Louise Hay" when I meant to type "shoulder Louise Hay" -- the Freudian slip told me everything.

Should-ing is an illness too that blocks our joy. I should..., you should..., they should... This is basically the key to all shoulder problems. (And in writing this up for the blog, recalled an acquaintenance in another city that just suffered from an assault that injured both her shoulders.)

Shoulder Problems -- Carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders. Feeling like life is a burden.

"Feeling like life is a burden" is a far cry from joy!

So now I've seen and identified it. I take some quite time to accept it (by the way, this is not meant to stir up self-guilt or self-blame for feeling the anger as that would be just to stack up more divisiveness upon a sense of division). The point is self-acceptance and awareness of everything, SEEING NOT JUDGING.

Then, next step is to do Ho'oponopono on the issue that appears to be out there ("out there" being my friend's bursitis), by mentalling or verbally saying:

"I love you. I release you. I love you. I am sorry. I love you..." [There are thousands of possible variations... I do this more or less silently, more like the intention of acceptance is the key.]

Try this for the heart murmur. And let me know how it goes. Also, if it seems appropriate [some workshop participants are already familiar with Byron Katie's The Work which is also based on reclaiming reflections], you can also do Byron Katie's THE WORK too on it. For instance, on the bursitis of the shoulder tied to anger with my housemate: "They should not have caused havoc in the house." TURN-AROUND: "My thoughts create havoc." (Much truer.) "They should take responsibility for cleaning up." TURN-AROUND: "I should take responsibility for my thoughts, and for my projections and clean up." (Yep, that feels true-- and is actually basis of Ho'oponopono and this course!).

It does seem like this takes a lot of time, however, over time it really does get to point that really does only take a few moments to pinpoint what's "out there", see what it indicates within us, and clear it. If it's a biggie, like the Gulf oil spill, it might take a few days or weeks to have the willingness to tackle it (at least that was so in my case!), but it's not really about time as much as willingness, sincerity, and acceptance. It is pretty instantaneous. And yes, my friend was able to go on his vacation after all.

Well, this is a long one, and seems a bit skewed on the work/process and no play direction (we'll rectify that in future soon!). Plus letting you know I'll share "how" or "why" Ho'oponopono works gradually over the next few weeks. Today just wanted to outline the overall steps.