The Four Phrases;
I Love You...
I’m Sorry...
Please Forgive me...
Thank You...
These four ordinary phrases are the only tools you will ever need to practise Ho’oponopono. It is a deceptively simple technique, but don’t be fooled Ho’oponopono is a full time occupation; call it a state of mind... And it is very hard work!
The phrases are used to ‘clean’ the problem memory, and they form the foundation of all your future petition mantras sent to The Divine.
They are said silently to oneself, can be used in any order and repeated as much as you like. You don’t have to clasp your hands or close your eyes. You will see how this is impracticable later on.
Identifying the problem
First we have to identify the problem.
To do this we look at the situation we want to resolve.
Remind yourself that it is not the person or situation that is the problem. It is your perception of them/it.
Then ask yourself what is it in me that is causing this problem?
Say for example I was having some minor health issues. In this case chest pain.
After asking myself the question what is it in me that is causing this pain, this discomfort?
I conclude that perhaps I have not been taking care of my body as well as I should. That I’ve been neglecting it, taking it for granted. Not appreciating its gifts.
Or maybe it’s a symptom of some karma I’ve accumulated in a past life.
I then formulate my mantra in such a way as to accept full responsibility for the problem, as below;
I Love you my body...
I’m sorry for whatever I have done to cause you pain, or discomfort, or disease...
Please forgive me...
Thank You...
Here is the same petition but embellished in order to create feeling.
I Love you my body...
I love the strength and confidence you bring me. You have been loyal and faithful companion to me on this physical journey...
I’m sorry for whatever I have ever done to cause you pain and discomfort. Either in this life or any of my past lives...
I’m sorry for neglecting you, and not appreciating your wonderful gifts...
Please forgive me...
Thank you...
And again the same petition formulated in a different way;
Thank you chest pain...
Thank you for bringing this problem to my attention, so I can address and resolve it...
I’m sorry for whatever it is that I have done to cause you to manifest in my reality, to be part of my life...
Please forgive me...
I love you...
As you can see the phrases are very adaptable. They can be interchanged, used in any order and in any frequency.
So let’s have a closer look at the four phrases, and how they can be adapted to any situation whether general or specific.
Below is a sample of a simple non specific general petition that I send first thing in the morning and before bed each night;
I love you...
I’m sorry for anything I have ever done to cause hurt or harm, to anyone, or anything, either by act or omission. In this life or any other...
Please forgive me...
Thank you...
As you can see in this particular mantra we first express love;
Love for self, love for The Divine, and love for the opportunity to correct the problem.
I’m sorry shows our contrition, and acknowledges our role, and 100% responsibility in creating the problem.
Our plea for forgiveness surrenders us to the wisdom of a higher power to decide the best outcome.
And finally we show gratitude by giving thanks.
With Feeling or not?
Which bring us to one of the most common questions in Ho’oponopono...do you say the mantra with feeling or not?
Personally I prefer to embellish the wording of my mantras. I also use visualisation when petitioning. I feel it helps me generate the necessary positive emotions needed to properly activate and expose the troublesome memories.
This is where my interpretation of Ho’oponopono differs from that of Dr Len; who states that no feeling either positive or negative is necessary when saying the petition.
Before I explain further, I’d like to reiterate again that in Ho’oponopono there are no masters or leaders. There are no Popes or bishops. No gurus to guide you. It has no tenants, or rules to obey. No doctrines to follow, no wall to wail at.
There is only you...
You must trust in yourself to guide you, no-one else. The process is entirely open to your own interpretation. If it works for you it’s valid!
I’ll explain why I use positive feelings when I petition.
To me both the physical and spiritual worlds rely primarily on feelings to communicate, both with us, and with each other.
In all I have read and researched about the spiritual world and its laws, it clear that feelings and emotions, primarily love, are the lingu franca not words.
Any communication I have ever had with The Divine has always come with strong feelings attached. So when I send up my cleaning petition it goes with as much positive emotion as I can muster.
I soon found that whatever the issue was that I was addressing, the feelings that I needed to resolve it were usually the same; repentance, forgiveness, love, gratitude, compassion.
How could it be possible to say the following petition to Mother Earth without feeling?
I love you Mother Gaia...
I love you for your beauty, your majesty, your inspiration, the warm sun on my face...
You provide us with all that we need; food, water, shelter, the very air that we breath...
I’m sorry for anything I have ever done to cause you hurt or harm, either by deed or omission...
I’m sorry for neglecting you, for taking you for granted, for not appreciating your wonderful gifts...
Please forgive me...
Thank you...
Of course you can’t have feelings for something you don’t feel responsible for, or for an act that you can’t remember. You might not know the cause of a particular problem but you can certainly see its effects in your life...
In these cases it is the symptoms that we address, not the cause, as in this petition to solve a problem of low self esteem;
Thank you feelings of worthlessness and failure...
Thank you for coming to my attention so I can resolve you...
I’m sorry for whatever I have ever done to cause you to manifest in my reality, to be part of my life...
Please forgive me...
I love you...
Notice that I targeted the feelings caused by the memory, in this case feelings of low self esteem.
Ho’oponopono practise is more concerned in dealing with the resulting memories and their continuing effects, rather than the incident that caused them.
If you do want to know the details on your past life exploits in order to investigate further, there are many excellent hypno-therapists who specialise in past life regression. And numerous books have been written on this fascinating subject, some of which I have listed in chapter 13.
Three Step Clean
As mentioned before the process is extremely simple.
Cleaning a problem memory requires only 3 steps;
First Step; Identify the problem, by asking yourself what is it in me that is causing this problem?
Second Step; Using the four phrases formulate your petition mantra.
Third Step; Send the mantra to The Divine by internally repeating the phrases silently to yourself as and when the problem arises.
Repeat until problem is resolved.
Forgo any expectations on how, when, or even if, the petition will manifest...
One of the beautiful aspects of Ho’oponopono is that as soon as we have identified the problem, accepted responsibility for it, and sent our petition off to The Divine, our job is done. Finished completely. The rest of the process will happen automatically.
Our conscious mind plays no further part in the process until it receives the healing energy back from the Super Conscious.
As the Ho’oponopono process gets to work the world around you will quietly, without much fuss, begin to change.
Circumstances in your life will slowly improve as will all relationships you clean on.
So now you have the tools to begin your journey. You have the four phrases and know how to make a simple petition. It’s nearly time to go get cleaning.
But before you do, in the next chapter I have covered some of the main issues and questions that arose when I first began using the process regularly.