Maybe this sounds like a day you've had recently. You have a big meeting at the office this morning...and the alarm didn't go off. You stop at Starbuck's for coffee and the line stretches out the door! A fender-bender on I-95 brings traffic to a crawl. You finally get to work and some jerk pulls into the last parking space within earshot of the office, just as you're about to pull into it! You're about to give him a piece of your mind...and then you think better of it.

Are you overworked and feeling stressed out? Do you put in long hours and still feel like you're getting nowhere? Do people and situations keep showing up in your life that upset, scare or just annoy you?

How many other people do you know who are in the same boat? Yeah, a lot!

If only we could find out who's responsible for our suffering, maybe we could do something about it. Right? But look at how many people we interact with, or read about, or see on TV every day. How could we possibly get them all to stop causing us pain, anxiety, frustration and fear? And even if we could, there will always be more where they came from. Where does it all end?

It all ends where it began.

Ok....where's that?

The "where," and the way, to erasing the limits to achieving more in life than you ever imagined are both in you. We have created our own limitations by how we have thought about ourselves and everyone around us. And we each have the power within us to remove the mental obstacles that block our path, freeing our minds to find new and unexpected ways to get what we desire out of life.

My client Mary's husband passed away suddenly. In addition to the family mourning their loss, they also found themselves fighting over money and other property in the estate. This led to her children not speaking to each other, or to her. Mary was devastated. During our next session I introduced her to a simple technique that has the potential to break through seemingly impossible obstacles. Using this technique Mary immediately began to calm down, and she continued using the technique over the following days. After several days, Mary's son called her daughter, her daughter called her and they all made peace.

What is this technique? A self-help methodology so powerful it can clear your mind of subconscious blocks - unconsciously accepted beliefs, thoughts and memories you don't even know are holding you back. A process that is critical to my Life Cleansing Coaching Method. A process that transformed the ward of a hospital for the criminally insane from a nightmarishly depressing and dangerous place that even the staff hated to come to, to a place filled with hope. Patients formerly shackled were allowed to walk freely. Heavily medicated patients were getting their doses reduced. And many who were believed to have no chance of ever being released were being freed.

All because of Ho'oponopono (Ho-oh-poh-noh-poh-noh), an ancient Hawaiian healing process, updated for our times, that wipes our mind's slate clean, allowing us to start over with no preconceived notions. The technique was used by a psychologist, Dr. Hew Len, who joined the staff of the Hawaiian State Hospital, and who never saw any of the patients professionally! For three years he simply looked at their files and worked on himself. As he said in 'Zero Limits', the best-selling book he co-authored with Joe Vitale, "I was simply cleaning the part of me that I shared with them."

Huh?

What Dr. Len meant is that the problems we see around us aren't in others - they're in us. To change them we have to change ourselves - we are totally responsible for everything that happens in our lives.

Hard to accept? It sure is. We are so quick to blame others for our misfortunes - the economy, the weather, the government, terrorists, the guy who just cut us off on the highway - anything we don't like or that scares us or causes us pain. Ho'oponopono is based on the concept that we - literally - create our own reality. Therefore everything you experience is ultimately your responsibility. The good news is that, because you created it, only you can change it.

Ho'oponopono is about healing yourself through loving yourself. To "cure" anything or anyone, to change the way you experience your life you first heal yourself. Dr. Len calls it Self I-Dentity Ho'oponopono because it's the form of Ho'oponopono that's done entirely within yourself (other forms require a facilitator). As you heal (Dr. Len calls it "clean") yourself, the world around you is "cleaned" as well because youarethe world - you create the world you see.

So, how do you heal or "clean" yourself using Ho'oponopono? Through applying thoughts of Love, Forgiveness and Gratitude. Dr. Len recommends saying four sentences to erase old, unconscious memories as you think of a situation, circumstance or relationship that has been in the way of you having your desire:

I love you. I apologize. Please forgive me. Thank you.

Why these phrases? To remember your oneness with all that is, apologizing and asking forgiveness for forgetting the truth of who you really are - Source, God, Universe - whatever you choose to call the powerful Force of Life we all share.

In my personal life and in my Life Cleansing work I have experienced so many examples of Ho'oponopono's healing effects. There have been nights I have tossed and turned worrying about challenges in my life. By repeating those four simple sentences I was able to feel at peace, relax and fall asleep.

Suzanne was suffering from chronic headaches for several months. She incorporated Ho'oponopono techniques into her daily routine and is now free of headaches.

Sande was scheduled for bypass surgery, and she was scared. She repeated, "I love you. I apologize. Please forgive me. Thank you." over and over as often as she could. The day before her surgery she received a call from the doctor telling her the surgery was cancelled because they had looked at her test results again and found that the surgery was not necessary.

Debbie was very upset when her boyfriend didn't call her for several days after they had a big blow-up. For two days straight she practiced Ho'oponopono. On the evening of the second day David invited her to dinner, where he proposed. They are now happily married and both use Ho'oponopono to "clean up" their lives.

Taking responsibility for your life is the first step to changing it. Ho'oponopono offers a simple, powerful process to support you along this path. By itself, or in combination with other life-changing techniques, Ho'oponopono helps you break through your self-imposed limits, erasing the obstacles to achieving more in life than you ever imagined.