Ho’oponopono – Pam Grout

The wisdom of woo-woo

April 22, 2021 40 Comments

“I am what I pay attention to. I literally surrender my life force to it.”—Becca Brewer

In the corner of my living room sits a small black rock given to me by a bare-chested medicine man from the Cook Islands.

“Pa,” as he is known, plucked it out of a jungle river in the South Pacific Island, handed it to me and said, “Put this in the north corner of your living room and you’ll become a millionaire.”

I drink water from a blue glass bottle that I set outside in the sun to purify. This suggestion comes from Dr. Hew Len (the ho’oponono guy) who says “blue solar water” removes recurring and no-longer useful data running in my subconscious.

And I believe that every single hedgehog that shows up on the first of every month is sent to me by my precious Taz.

Admittedly, these techniques are rather unorthodox, definitely not something my accountant or my doctor would prescribe.

I follow them because I happen to know that reality is fluid and that wherever I put my mind, my finances, my body and my life will follow.

Beliefs and expectations are SO powerful that placebos (fake treatments like sugar pills, saline injections, and sham surgery) cause bald men to grow hair, high blood pressure to drop, ulcers to heal, dopamine levels to increase and even tumors to shrink. And although pharmaceutical companies would rather keep this on the down low, placebos relieve symptoms on par with real medication. Actual biochemical changes in the body make you wonder–—or it should—how “factual” facts really are?

So, yes, there are people who call me crazy, think I’m too woo-woo for drinking blue solar water and placing exotic black rocks in my home. But I don’t care. I’m rather proud that I use the luminous superpower of my thoughts and beliefs to imagine, expand and create.

And while the verdict’s still out on the blue water (I DO notice I’m less and less interested in all sorts of cultural expectations), Pa’s rock, which I carried home in my suitcase, was added to my living room just a few months before E-Squared hit No#1`on the New York Times bestseller list, right before it was translated into some 40 languages.

I was visiting the Cook Islands for this travel assignment.

As Harvard researcher, Ellen Langer likes to say, “It is not our physical state that limits us. It is our mind-set about our own limits, our perceptions that draws the lines in the sand.” #222 Forever

Pam Grout is the author of 20 books including E-Squared, E-Cubed, Thank & Grow Rich and her latest book, The Course in Miracles Experiment: A Starter Kit for Rewiring Your Mind (And Therefore Your World) that has just been turned into an app. Badass ACIM (badass-acim.com)

Turning Mr. Hyde back into Dr. Jekyll

March 19, 2018 40 Comments

“People show up in our lives as opportunities to reach out in love. In spite of what we see, there is fullness and glory. Our job is to call it forth, to strengthen it, to honor it, to pray for it to rise.”—Michele Longo-O’Donnell ho'

You may have heard about Dr. Hew Len. He’s a former psychologist assigned to the special ward at the Hawaii State Hospital, a notorious clinic for the criminally insane.

It was so bad that Hew Len’s predecessors all left in despair (usually in less than a month) after making zero inroads in the lives of the seriously disturbed murderers, rapists and you know, the type of dates we hope not to encounter on say, Tinder or Match.com.

Hew Len was different. He rarely left his office. In fact, not once did he meet with any of the inmates, preferring instead to retrieve their files one-by-one and practice the ancient Hawaiian art of ho’oponopono.

Basically, as he explained it, he was healing the part of himself that created such atrocities. It was pointless, he believed, to try to heal others. All he could do was heal himself.

Little by little, nurses started noticing changes. Inmates required less shackling, less pharmaceutical drugs. Some mystery person began tending the gardens, repairing the tennis courts. The atmosphere changed SO MUCH that the prisoners, one by one, were eventually released. After four years, Hawaii’s much-despised clinic for the mentally insane was shuttered forever.

Although ACIM Lesson 78 (Let Miracles Replace All Grievances) doesn’t actually prescribe ho’oponopono, it might as well. It reflects Hew Len’s belief that anything that happens TO us is our responsibility.

Anything we perceive, any person we don’t like is our creation and thus our responsibility. One hundred percent. No exceptions.

It sounds crazy. But it worked for Hew Len and it’s the only thing that can ever heal our lives. We must first heal our perceptions. The world is a projection of our mind and today’s lesson asks us to choose just one lucky individual and use him or her to heal the planet.

Even though I can barely pronounce it and have to frequently look up its spelling, I use ho’oponopono all the time. I’ve successfully turned Mr. Hydes back into Dr. Jekylls.

All it requires is saying these shockingly simple phrases to all ogres on your path:

I’m sorry.

Please forgive me.

I love you.

Thank you.

Pam Grout is the author of 19 books including E-Squared, E-Cubed, Thank & Grow Rich and her new book, Art & Soul,Reloaded: A Year-Long Apprenticeship to Summon the Muses and Ignite Your Daring, Audacious, Creative Side.