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