You know how much I love quotes, and I was lucky to be inspired last night to come up this one:
The creation of a peaceful world within oneself, and the connection to all on earth with pure love, is our spiritual destiny for a totally harmonious universe.
-- Shareen Iqbal
Monday, May 26, 2008
Loving Yourself
The World's Most Unusual Therapistby
Dr. Joe Vitale
www.mrfire.com
Two years ago, I heard about a therapist in Hawaii who cured a complete wardof 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 responsiblefor 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 showingup 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 responsibilityfor 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 yearsold, 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 hismystic 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 inyour life, there's only one place to look: inside you."When you look, do it with love."
This article is from the forthcoming book "Zero Limits" by Dr. Joe Vitale and Dr. Len
Dr. Joe Vitale
www.mrfire.com
Two years ago, I heard about a therapist in Hawaii who cured a complete wardof 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 responsiblefor 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 showingup 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 responsibilityfor 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 yearsold, 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 hismystic 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 inyour life, there's only one place to look: inside you."When you look, do it with love."
This article is from the forthcoming book "Zero Limits" by Dr. Joe Vitale and Dr. Len
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Discovering the Real You
As I continue on my journey of self-discovery of becoming my true being, I would like to share with you some of my findings. I've got this lovely book by Beverly Engel titled "Healing Your Emotional Self" and in it she deals with a lot of issues in reference to parenting/caretakers impact on the development of self. However, I choose to focus on the topic "Discovering the Real You" from a personal development perspective.
Engel says that in order for you to raise your self-esteem and feel better about yourself, you need to find out who you are -- not who you were told you are, not the persona you took on in order to please your parents, but the real you.
Engel states that one of the most effective ways of discovering who you are is to pay attention to your emotions. In fact, some define self-awareness as being conscious of our moods, and our thoughts about our moods.
Daniel Goleman defines "Self awareness -- recognizing a feeling as it happens -- is the keystone of emotional intelligence.... the ability to monitor feelings from moment to moment is crucial psychological insight and understanding.... People with greater certainty about their feelings are better pilots of their lives, having a surer sense of how they really feel about personal decisions."
Engel goes on to say that we can learn about ourselves through the emotions we experience and by being mindful about it. Once you are aware of your emotions, it can help you to change them.
Another aspect of self-discovery described by Engel is the experience of who you are, that is not a result of your history and conditioning and is not affected by your beliefs or opinions. This aspect of you is referred to as your true nature, your being or your essence, because it is the ultimate nature of who you are. Essence also refers to the part of you that is the most permanent and unchanging -- the part of you that is central in defining who you are.
I love this concept of discovering your essence because I believe it is actually our true definition of who we really are. It is the core of who we are. I would also like to call it as a discovery process of re-connecting to the spirituality that is within all of us.
Engel only talks about discovering your essence very briefly in her book, as her main focus is on how to heal the damage to your self-image and self-esteem caused by negative parental messages and offers treatment to help you lead a happier and healthier life. Since I'm a huge fan of happpiness, I'll read anything that helps to heal this world.
Quotes to ponder upon for today:
When the mind soars in pursuit of the things conceived in space, it pursues emptiness. But when the man dives deep within himself, he experinces the fullness of existence.
-- Meher Baba
We must never allow other people's limited perception to define us.
-- Virginia Satir
Self-nurturing means, above all, making a commitment to self-compassion.
-- Jennifer Louden.
Engel says that in order for you to raise your self-esteem and feel better about yourself, you need to find out who you are -- not who you were told you are, not the persona you took on in order to please your parents, but the real you.
- No one can tell you who you are.
- You are the only one who is capable of determining who your true self is.
- You will need to discover and create your true self.
- You will need to look deep inside to begin to find your true reflection.
Engel states that one of the most effective ways of discovering who you are is to pay attention to your emotions. In fact, some define self-awareness as being conscious of our moods, and our thoughts about our moods.
Daniel Goleman defines "Self awareness -- recognizing a feeling as it happens -- is the keystone of emotional intelligence.... the ability to monitor feelings from moment to moment is crucial psychological insight and understanding.... People with greater certainty about their feelings are better pilots of their lives, having a surer sense of how they really feel about personal decisions."
Engel goes on to say that we can learn about ourselves through the emotions we experience and by being mindful about it. Once you are aware of your emotions, it can help you to change them.
Another aspect of self-discovery described by Engel is the experience of who you are, that is not a result of your history and conditioning and is not affected by your beliefs or opinions. This aspect of you is referred to as your true nature, your being or your essence, because it is the ultimate nature of who you are. Essence also refers to the part of you that is the most permanent and unchanging -- the part of you that is central in defining who you are.
I love this concept of discovering your essence because I believe it is actually our true definition of who we really are. It is the core of who we are. I would also like to call it as a discovery process of re-connecting to the spirituality that is within all of us.
Engel only talks about discovering your essence very briefly in her book, as her main focus is on how to heal the damage to your self-image and self-esteem caused by negative parental messages and offers treatment to help you lead a happier and healthier life. Since I'm a huge fan of happpiness, I'll read anything that helps to heal this world.
Quotes to ponder upon for today:
When the mind soars in pursuit of the things conceived in space, it pursues emptiness. But when the man dives deep within himself, he experinces the fullness of existence.
-- Meher Baba
We must never allow other people's limited perception to define us.
-- Virginia Satir
Self-nurturing means, above all, making a commitment to self-compassion.
-- Jennifer Louden.
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