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I have never been comfortable with prayer.  I think that stems from my refusal to ask for help until I really need it.  I started wondering if reading self help books, listening to podcasts and watching videos on how to improve and change myself had been my way of asking for help.   

Some of the things I have learned have been really helpful, others are creating more questions.  It is exhausting going the do it yourself road of self help, but who else knows me better than ME?  Some days I wish I had “the sorting hat” from Harry Potter, it would be so nice to hear: “you are meant to go.., do…” other days I am happy to go with the flow.  I have come up with my own mantra to help me: “Go jump into a cosmic black hole.”  The vision of my non serving thoughts being dissolved into nothingness makes me feel much better.

Lately I have been in a struggle with my ego.  I am not only purging my house of extraneous items but my psyche as well.  On the surface all looks well, but on the inside my left brain has been trying to gain back what my right brain has been able to accomplish thanks to the black hole.  Left brain doesn’t like changes, right brain is busy searching for ideas to help me toward a goal or dream.  It doesn’t appreciate all its hard work coming to a screeching halt while I ask myself the same questions I asked many months ago.  Who am I? Where am I going? How should I steer my life?  Those questions being quite annoying I directed my thoughts towards being patient with my indecision.  I also wondered if accepting several truths about myself was what I needed or if it was just my ego muddying the water.  The only way for me to get any peace of mind was by meditating.  There are many different ways to meditate, each person is different, I am not able to clear my mind of all my thoughts, which it turns out is not necessary to achieve a state of calmness.  Meditation has shown me that contentment is found within me.  I do not need to look outwards for contentment or happiness.  Meditation has helped me get better at living my life.

Research over the past two decades broadly supports the claim that mindfulness meditation – practiced widely for the reduction of stress and promotion of health – exerts beneficial effects on physical and mental health, and cognitive performance. Recent neuroimaging studies have begun to uncover the brain areas and networks that mediate these positive effects. However, the underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear, and it is apparent that more methodologically rigorous studies are required if we are to gain a full understanding of the neuronal and molecular bases of the changes in the brain that accompany mindfulness meditation.  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25783612

I feel much stronger mentally since I started meditating, however there are times when I need extra help, especially when I feel overwhelmed with emotions.  While listening to a podcast I was introduced to the Hawaiian Ho’oponopono prayer.  I have given up arguing about what the universe hands me.  I am not a religious person so praying feels awkward to me.  Who should I address? How can I ask for help when I don’t know who I am talking to?  So with misgivings I looked up what the prayer was.  To my surprise it comprised of only four short phrases that we often say in our daily lives.  The idea behind the prayer is of taking full responsibility for our lives, I have done that already. What surprised me what how easy it was for me to say those words and at how much comfort it brought me.  It did not matter what order I used but when worry and sadness started to envelope me I chose to pray again with the belief that it would help me come out the other way, it did.

If you are in need of help and if like me you do not like to pray, give Ho’oponopono a try and see if it will make you feel better.  Sometimes when or if you feel overwhelmed by the world around you that might be all you need to say.

Namaste and Aloha!

Ancient Hawaiian forgiveness prayer, Ho’oponopono:

I love you.

I am sorry.

Please forgive me.

Thank you.

…After Simeona’s death in 1992, her former student and administrator, Ihaleakala Hew Len, co-authored a book with Joe Vitale called Zero Limits[41] referring to Simeona’s Hoʻoponopono teachings. Len makes no claim to be a kahuna. In contrast to Simeona’s teachings, the book brings the new idea that the main objective of Hoʻoponopono is getting to “the state of Zero, where we would have zero limits. No memories. No identity.”[42] To reach this state, which Len called ‘Self-I-Dentity thru Ho’oponopono’, includes using the mantra, “I love you. I’m sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you.”[43] It is based on Len’s idea of 100% responsibility,[44] taking responsibility for everyone’s actions, not only for one’s own. If one would take complete responsibility for one’s life, then everything one sees, hears, tastes, touches, or in any way experiences would be one’s responsibility because it is in one’s life.[45] The problem would not be with our external reality, it would be with ourselves. Total Responsibility, according to Hew Len, advocates that everything exists as a projection from inside the human being.[46]