Happy Ho’oponopono!

The Hawaiians have a practice called Ho’oponopono (HO-OH-POH-NO-POH-NO), which the New Pocket Hawaiian Dictionary defines as: to correct, edit, revise, put to right; mental cleansing, as by family discussion. It is the last definition which is in common usage today, so that if one speaks of ho’oponopono, it is assumed that one means resolving a dispute by discussion, or making amends. It is an important and profound custom, one which does indeed bring about a mental cleansing.

Many families have the custom of making ho’oponopono each night (if needed), so that they never sleep under the same roof with unresolved disputes, holding onto hard feelings and developing grudges. It makes for a calm and peaceful life, one in which people remain clear with each other on a daily basis.

The practice teaches children from an early age that difficulties in human relationships arise, that there is no shame in this, and that the way to handle such problems is to address them openly and immediately. It teaches family members how to both seek and serve as mediators, and everyone learns how to forgive and be forgiven.

Along with the custom of ho’oponopono comes the belief, in this culture, that a pregnant woman who carries her baby to term without making ho’oponopono (if needed) will not have a successful delivery. Either the child will have problems, such as deformity, or the mother will be harmed during childbirth. In other words, carrying bad mana (energy) throughout the pregnancy will become manifest in some way during the birthing process.

There is a public health initiative here on the island which helps low-income mothers throughout their pregnancies, and guess what? A part of the intake screening is to determine whether the young mothers-to-be need to make ho’oponopono. If so, the program’s nurses provide whatever support is required to help expectant mothers accomplish this.

All of this makes a great deal of sense to me. . . It’s one of my New Year’s resolutions. I’m making a list of all those with whom I need to make ho’oponopono, and I’m DOING IT! And I’m finding it’s not so easy. As I began to search my heart, I found I had quite a few grudges lurking about. Some of them have been around for quite a while, too. So long, in fact, that they seem to be part of me.

Thus, my current task is to give up that part of me, to lose it to a higher purpose. Again, not an easy task. But necessary, I believe, to my psychological, spiritual, and, yes, to my physical health.

Aloha, Makahiki Hou (Happy New Year), and malama pono (take care). 

– Anna Hollingsworth