I AM SORRY. PLEASE FORGIVE ME. THANK YOU. I LOVE YOU.

“Ho’oponopono is an ancient Hawaiian practice for forgiveness and reconciliation. It’s more than a prayer, it's a process of making things right in our relationships—with our ancestors, the deities, the earth, those people that we love, and ourselves. It is the act and intention of holding a space for reflection, repentance, forgiveness, and gratitude.” *

I came across Ho’oponopono a few years ago. I was probably googling despair. Remedies for despair. Overcoming despair. I don’t believe I was in despair at the time but was certainly in something. And I found Ho’oponopono.  It didn’t really resonate with me that this was this thing that was going to settling into my vibration and become a mantra of sorts.

And then, a week or so ago, I found myself saying I am sorry. Out loud to my car. I talk a lot out loud to my car. It’s my safe place. And I was speaking out loud, a rhythmic I am sorry I am sorry I am sorry I’m sorry I love you I’m so sorry. 

I thought I was saying these words aloud to those in my life I had hurt in some way, to those people where I did not show up as my best for them, to those I love that I felt I had let down. And then I had this aha moment as I realized I was saying these words to myself, too. I’m sorry. I am so sorry. Please forgive me. ME. 

And in this aha moment I remembered the Ho’oponopono. Though I could not remember the name.

When I got home, I googled, I am sorry I love you Hawaii. And the Ho’oponopono came up for me. Again. 

“In native Hawaiian language, pono means balance, in the sense of life. The word Ho’oponopono roughly translates to cause things to move back in balance or to make things right.” *

This time it is the right time for this mantra of apology, forgiveness, gratitude, and love. For my little me’s who I didn’t even know I needed to protect. For my older me’s who did the best they could with the tools that they had. For the me that is me now and still believes the old me’s stories. And for those people I love outside of me, that I know I have wronged.

“The Ho’oponopono is based on the theory that we are all truly one energy. And so, this practice of repeating the Ho’oponopono is a practice of unity—of honoring the unbreakable bond that connects us to each other, even though we seem so separate. This means that we are truly saying these phrases to our own soul while we are saying these phrases to others, to each other, to the world. This is one of the highest forms of self-love.” *

“We are reclaiming our energy through love and forgiveness. When we connect in this realm, we are actually connecting with a piece of the universal soul. When errors are corrected externally, errors are corrected internally. When we cleanse our consciousness, we contribute to the cleansing of the collective consciousness. When we forgive others, we, too, are forgiven because—as within, so without—loving ourselves and loving each other is the same thing. And when we focus on healing the past, we help heal our life right here, right now because—as above, so below—when we right any wrongs in our thinking, we adjust and amend problems in the physical realm.” *
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I have been chanting the Ho’oponopono daily. I am sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you. And here’s this interesting thing—the rhythm of the way I settle into the chant of these phrases circles the I am sorry to the end and the Please forgive me sounds like it is the first in line. And then I catch myself and start again with the I am sorry as the beginning, till it becomes the end of the meditation again. This chant, that starts with repentance and ends with love in its original form, starts and ends with repentance for me. Repentance is the bookends. I am curious to see, when self-love grows, if the I love you will take its rightful place as the culmination of the meditation. So that the I love you for others becomes just as, if not more deeply, an I love you for me.
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*The Power of Ho’oponopono, Medium.com, May 22, 2022; *Understanding Ho’oponopono, GraceandLightness.com, January 1, 2022; *Why we need to say, I’m Sorry, Please forgive me, Thank you, I love you, ElephantJournal.com, April 22, 2017; *Ho’oponopono Prayer for Forgiveness, Healing and Making Things Right, HealingBrave.com, July 23, 2019