Ho’oponopono is a Hawaiian practice of forgiveness that has come to mean “making right.” How often do you make things right?

I mentioned in my earlier post today that I listened to one of Jo Dunning’s recorded broadcasts where she sends out energy to help people heal whatever issues are going on in their lives. You are not required to identify the issues, merely to listen. The energy is accommodating, she says, which makes me smile. I am not always that way.

About halfway through her talk she related a story about a blood test that resulted in nerve damage to her arm. My body suddenly paid great attention. I have had nerve damage in my right arm for over 2 years as a result of shoulder surgery on a torn ligament. Like Jo, I tried numerous approaches to healing, none of which have succeeded. Jo discovered, after many attempts, that she alone would have to heal herself, and in her divine wisdom she turned to love and compassion. Every time she experienced pain in her arm, she gave it love. In a mere 3 days time, the pain disappeared, permanently.

Acceptance is the key. There are things about ourselves we dislike, would rather not have, don’t know how to deal with – pain, depression, wrinkles, creaking joints, debilitating disease, etc. When we fail to release our stress, the way we feel about certain situations in life, anger, shame, guilt, these things get stored in our body and slowly begin to cripple us. We look at what we have become and wish we were more beautiful, more flexible. We long to recapture the vibrancy and excitement of youth. We want to be anything but what we are. But when we can learn to love ourselves again, to accept what we are, to let go of our resistance and let ourselves be, then energy can flow through us with more freedom and greater abandon. Change can occur. We can become what we wish to be.

Ho’oponopono. Making things right. Giving yourself love and compassion.

       To my arm I say: I love you, forgive me.
       To my nose that I blow constantly: I love you, forgive me.
       To my wrinkles I say: I love you, forgive me.
       To my creaky joints I say: I love you, forgive me.
       To the age spots on my face I say: I love you, forgive me.

The list goes on. And to each issue I am giving love and compassion. I am letting my heart remember how it feels to love myself, to nurture myself, to be kind to this body of mine. To support and encourage it so that it will support and encourage me.

I am making things right. With acceptance. I love you, forgive me.