health « Secrets Of The Nurse Healers, A Blog, By Kate Loving Shenk

Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There!!!

You don’t need to do anything to be a presence for your
patients.

Let’s just say, you don’t need to do anything that anyone
can “see” but if they are tuned in, can “feel.”

All the work involved with being a presence isn’t really
work at all.

Presence is a “Be Here Now” experience.

Presence is a radiant tuning in to your patient.

Presence is an act of love.

Presence transforms sadness to the higher vibration of love.

Recently, I had the opportunity to participate in a death bed
vigil of a day old patient. I am not a hospice nurse. But my
job offers me the gift of allowing and opening to the higher
vibrations of the angelic realm, to the unseen guides and
ancestral vibrations as a soul passes from this realm and into
the next.

Or as a soul passes into this world, as in the birth experience.

My job allows me to connect routinely with source energy, the
energy which is love itself, the energy which is healing itself.

As vitality overtakes a newborn person, the unseen forces rejoice
and celebrate, even as everyone at the bedside rejoices.

And when a person dies, the unseen forces rejoice, even as the people
still in this dimension perceive death to be a negative phenomena.

Nurses find the act of “being” to be a difficult state to maintain.
We often feel that we must be doing something for a patient at all
times.

The trick is to “be” while “doing.”

Do a task but practice conscious breathing, practice opening your
heart, practice just “being” while “doing,” practice just being open.

Practice balancing the unseen realms with what is tangible.

Practice being flexible, nonjudgmental and helpful.

Ho’oponopono is a natural practice for nurses.

Ho’oponopono is an ancient Hawaiian healing technique that
simply requires the inner chanting of four phrases: I love you,
Thank you, Please forgive me, (for the part I played in bringing
about this “problem”), I am sorry (for the part I played).

As my dear one day patient was dying, I practiced inwardly
repeating these phrases.

Instead of consciously denouncing the act of this passing as
unfair, horrible or even as an act of god/dess, I just concentrated
on: I am sorry for the part I am playing in this little one’s
death, Please forgive me for the part I am playing in the death
of this newborn person.

I inwardly repeating this with rhythmic and conscious breathing.

At one point, the baby looked as if he was going to die. Breathing slowed,
and a cyanotic appearance took over the tiny body.

Suddenly he pinked up and lived another 22 hours.

Byron Katie’s The Work was also helpful to me in this situation.

Byron Katie’s “The Work” is a process where a “problem” is
scrutinized with Inquiry, or a series of questions, that puts
the responsibility right back where it belongs–inside yourself.

The 4 questions of Byron Katie’s “The Work”

1) Is it true?

2) Can you absolutely know for sure that it’s true?

3) How do you react when you think that thought?

4) Who would I be without that thought?

—and turn it around—

This one is a no-brainer.

This situation is unfair, and the parents don’t deserve this.

Is this true?

Yes.

Can I absolutely know that this is true?

Yes.

How do I react when I think this thought?

Judgmental and restricted.

Who would I be without this thought?

I’d simply be a healing presence for these wonderful people.

Turn it around?

The situation is neither fair or unfair. It simply is what it is.

Reality dictates that this newborn person is dying NOW.

My choice: to resist this or go with the flow, to allow connection
with the unseen forces, to be a healing presence, to see that
the sadness is really love.

Transforming sadness to an all-embracing, boundless vibration of love
is really what this situation, all situations and what life is all about.

The choice is to always choose love, no matter what.

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Kate Loving Shenk is a writer, healer, musician and the creator
of the e-book called “Transform Your Nursing Career and Discover
Your Calling and Destiny.” The book is designed to stimulate
nurses to love their work and to prevent on-the-job-burnout.
Click here to find out how to order the e-book:
http://www.nursingcareertransformation.com
Check out Kate’s Blog: http://nursehealers.typepad.com
http://mukunda22.powerfulintentions.com
http://secretsofthenursehealers.wordpress.com
And the Lens: http://www.squidoo.com/katelovingshenk
http://www.squidoo.com/thinkriches
http://www.mukunda22.powerfulintentions.com/forum/thinkandgrowrich
http://progressives4pennsylvania.blogspot.com
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Your e-mail address is safe with me–see privacy notice on my website!
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-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=–=-

Published in:

on August 8, 2007 at 6:39 am Leave a Comment

The Bewitching Hour

The beauty of living lies in what you think about every day,
every moment, every second.

Shaking yourself out of the habit of negative thinking takes
desire, persistence, faith, imagination, decision, the gentle
guidance of the conscious mind: just to name 6 of the 13
principles of Napoleon Hill’s “Think And Grow Rich.”

This book was obviously written under the influence of
Divine Inspiration.

And it’s Divine Inspiration we all can draw upon to change
our thoughts and neglectful attitudes towards self and others.

The hours when the veil thins and marvels magnify are 3am, 12pm,
6pm, and 12am. I have read this in many spiritual texts.

Opening the mind is the key to opening the heart. Many times this
is done in moments of solitude, away from TV, newspaper and
conversation of any kind.

We must deliberately elevate each thought that we have. By conservative
estimates, we each have 60,000 thoughts a day, most of these
negative and anxiety producing.

Many of the conversations that people have focus on what is missing,
the horrors of the news, criticisms of people, places and things.

Avoid these.

Last evening, I saw a TV program about dog fighting. I got up and walked away.
But what I saw was indelibly imprinted in my memory, giving the opportunity
to erase and clean these shared memories with the practice of Ho’oponopono.

( Ho’oponopono is an ancient Hawaiian healing technique that
simply requires the inner chanting of four phrases: I love you,
Thank you, Please forgive me, (for the part I played in bringing about this
“problem”), I am sorry (for the part I played).

So the practice of elevating thought processes and harmonizing thought
IS The Law Of Attraction.

This is the conscious and deliberate directing of your life.

People often engage in conversation about what is missing in their lives.

“With my luck, it won’t work out. It won’t happen.”

This is hogwash!

What is just as true and decidedly stress-free is: “with my luck, it
will show up faster than it normally would.”

“What I want is on its way.”

“I am a collaborator with fate!!”

The will to live is a potent indicator of longeivity and resilient
life outcomes. By adapting a dynamic world-view, feeling physically,
mentally and spiritually strong, and withdrawing all belief in
decline of any kind, will determine boundless energy and inner
excitement and joy.

If a person in her 30’s, 40’s and 50’s perceives decline when
thinking of herself in her 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, this is what she
will experience.

It is far more beneficial and joyful to imagine a life full of
radient health, with no focus on what is missing, avoiding all
violent thoughts in your consciousness, thus consciously
creating the world you wish to participate in.

Turn off the channel of false and harmful beliefs and thoughts.

Do not look at what has always seemingly been, or at what others want
from you.

If you have a conflict with someone, place your thoughts only on what
you truly want to have with that person.

Have a love relationship with your ex-husband and inlaws and with
everyone else on the planet.

Love them all. Love yourself.

Every moment is a choice and a new beginning.

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Published in:

on August 4, 2007 at 7:25 am Leave a Comment

I Am The American Health Care System

The practice of Ho’oponopono is a simple one. It’s a process
of cleaning and erasing shared collective memories, coming
to the sacred place of inspiration, where motivation occurs
from inner purity and loving grace.

This is done by inwardly and ceaselessly chanting: I love you,
Thank you, Please forgive me (for the part I played in bringing
about this problem), I am sorry (for the part I played.)

This is what Ho’oponopono calls taking 100% responsibility.

When a problem or a challenge surfaces in the mind, or in our shared
experience, these phrases transform the situation. They heal the
confusion felt as chaotic emotion and leave in its place a clarity,
a crystal clear mind where healing occurs.

However, when I am in a state of what appears to be insurmountable
conflict, I use Byron Katie’s “The Work” to help me.

Byron Katie’s “The Work” is a process where a “problem” is
scrutinized with Inquiry, or a series of questions, that puts
the responsibility right back where it belongs–inside yourself.

The 4 questions of Byron Katie’s “The Work”

1) Is it true?

2) Can you absolutely know for sure that it’s true?

3) How do you react when you think that thought?

4) Who would I be without that thought?

—and turn it around—

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

I went to see Filmmaker Michael Moore’s “Sicko” which had an
effect I did not expect or anticipate. Not only was the U.S. health
care system exposed like an open wound, but the health care of European
countries, Canada and Cuba was also investigated.

These were humane and charitable in comparison to our system.

Not that I haven’t seen our system at work for the past
23 years of my nursing career.

I remember fighting with health insurance companies for payment
when advocating for my patients, doing nurse practitioner work.
Additionally, four other people were hired to exclusively deal with the
denied claims of our indigent patient population.

When one of my 4 year old patients was in a car accident and paralyzed
from the waist down, we held a fund raiser to help fund a handicap accessible
van for him.

I sat with the child’s grandmother at the catered luncheon. She told us
she was going to suggest that the money we raise should go to buy the
child’s catheter supplies and medicines.

“You mean his insurance is not covering these?” I asked.

“No,” she said.

Back at the office on Monday, we got to work and confronted the insurance
company, demanding that they reimburse all past medical supplies. (Thankfully,
the child’s mother kept all past receipts).

While this issue was resolved, how many more were falling through the
proverbial cracks?

How much harm, even death was our dysfunctional health insurance
system causing patients in our care, without our knowledge?

The American Health Care system is sick, but as Ho’oponopono teaches,
we can heal it, by healing our perceptions of it.

It’s an inside job.

Byron Katie’s “The Work” offers an opportunity to work through stressful
beliefs that bring inner tension. I was able to use the One-Belief-At-A-
Time Worksheet to work through the following one-liner: The American Health
Care System won’t take care of me when I am old.

I was privileged to have a partner, whom had been through the School
Of The Work, help me see the fallacy of my thinking.

So, the American Health Care System won’t take care of me when I am old.

Is this true?

Yes.

Cab you absolutely know for sure that it’s true?

Well, no.

How do you react when you think the thought: the American Health Care System
won’t take care of me when I am old?

I feel tense, and sad because my mother died at age 73, because the American
Health Care System didn’t seem to know what to do with her after she had a stroke.

I feel serious with no sense of humor.

How do you treat yourself when you think the thought: the American Health Care
System won’t take care of me when I am old?

I feel a sense of urgency about doing something, like moving out of the country, knowing
that a plan to implement Medicare for all Americans may never manifest here.
This makes me feel angry and distrustful of the American government.

When did the thought: that the American Health Care System won’t take care of me
when I am old, first occur to you?

Probably first occurred to me when my mother had a stroke and died 2 months later.

Does this thought bring peace or stress into your experience?

Definitely stress.

Who would you be without the thought: the American Health Care System won’t
take care of me when I am old?

I would calmly get petition signatures for a single-payer plan in America.

I would have a sense of adventure about moving out of the country.

I would sit under this canape of greenery, protected by the leaves as a downpour
suddenly arises, with the distant sound of thunder accentuating the beauty
of mid-summer.

Turn it around?

The American Health Care System WILL take care of me when I am old.

I will take care of myself when I am old.

I will take care of other older people when I am old.

I am the American Health Care System!!

This last turn-around: I am the American Health Care System, had a certain
Power to the People ring to it!

Both my partner and I laughed hysterically with this turn-around.

I am a nurse, I love my patients, I love myself, and I am not separated
from the health care system I have dedicated myself to for the past 23 years.

The American Health Care System is not the enemy.

In truth, there are no enemies.

My stressful thoughts are opportunities to beam the light of Inquiry through the center
like a laser, so that a liberation beyond description results.

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Published in:

on July 9, 2007 at 8:39 pm Leave a Comment

Illness Is A Great Teacher

The first part of our lives, we come to learn the ways of the world.

The second part is spent unlearning.

Some of us are faster learners than others, and unlearners.
The trick is to remember the unlearning because if you don’t, you
get stuck in delusion.

For instance, I’ll use the example of illness, one of the Big Ones.

We learn early on to have an aversion to getting sick.

Yet we may get more attention, people take care of us, we may get
to stay by ourselves to contemplate the delirious thoughts rumbling
round and round in our heads.

Most recently, I was in bed with a fever of 103 degrees. I used “The
Work” of Byron Katie and Ho’oponopono to heal my thoughts about the
illness.

Ho’oponopono is an ancient Hawaiian healing technique that simply
requires the inner chanting of four phrases: I love you, Thank you,
Please forgive me, (for the part I played in bringing about this
“problem”), I am sorry (for the part I played).

Byron Katie’s “The Work” is a process where a “problem” is scrutinized
with Inquiry, or a series of questions, that puts the responsibility
right back where it belongs–inside yourself.

The 4 questions of Byron Katie’s “The Work”

1) Is it true?

2) Can you absolutely know for sure that it’s true?

3) How do you react when you think that thought?

4) Who would I be without that thought?

—and turn it around—

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

I awoke at 3 a.m. one morning with fever and said to myself: “I feel terrible.”

“The Work” began to immediately flow through me, as if called by the
Creative Source.

Is this true?

Yes, it is true.

Can I absolutely know without that it is true?

Yes, without doubt.

How do I react when I think the thought: I feel terrible?

Well, I create a story of how terrible I feel, how frustrated I am because
the fever won’t break, how I want to do other things but can’t. I just am not
enjoying myself.

Who would I be without the thought: I feel terrible?

I’d just be me, lying in bed with a fever, turning to look out the window,
witnessing hundreds of lightening bugs blinking majestically there,
like a mid-year Christmas light display.

I’d just be lying here saying: Thank you body, thank you fever;

I love you body, I love you fever; I’m sorry and forgive me for the part
I played in bringing about this illness.

Turn it around?

I don’t feel terrible.

I feel enlivened.

I feel like the inner fire of the fever is changing me forever.

I feel like the fever is the gateway to transformation.

I feel like the fever gave me this opportunity to spontaneously
use “The Work” without even trying to use it and that “The Work” was
using me.

Ho’oponopono effortlessly flowed through me like music to my soul.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

I was sick a few days after that, but didn’t complain to people about my illness,
didn’t want to, thus did not create a story that would make people say,
“Poor you.”

I didn’t have to dramatize the illness with a Poor me, martyr complex that
takes longer to undo than it’s worth.

I got to simply be sick, listen to thunderstorms, and the rain gently falling on
the vibrant green of summer.

I got to lie with my dogs who leaned over to lick my nose, every now and then.

Now THAT is a little bit of heaven!

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Published in:

on June 29, 2007 at 12:37 pm Leave a Comment

What You Can Learn From Criticism

Having to be right is a national pastime.

We all do it. We feel like we’re in control when we fall into
the illusion of having to be right.

The need to be the smartest person in the room stems from the
need to be right, correct and in control.

Because of this peculiarity, none of us likes to be criticized.

My mother used to say: It’s not what you say, but how you say it.

But she didn’t like to be criticized, either.

In recovery circles, we take an inventory of the wrongs we
have committed, the resentments we’ve held. Then, in order to
take 100% responsibility, we see the part we played in the
encountered difficulties, and when appropriate, go to the persons
we have harmed, and apologize.

We get to be wrong. They get to be right.

This is a lesson in humility.

Sometimes, people criticize in an abrasive and upsetting manner,
and we tell the story that we’ve been verbally abused.

When the old feathers get ruffled, this offers the opportunity
to practice Ho’oponopono incessantly, to erase the memory of
discomfort, and also to practice “The Work” of Byron Katie.

Ho’oponopono is an ancient Hawaiian healing technique that simply
requires the inner chanting of four phrases: I love you, Thank you,
Please forgive me, (for the part I played in bringing about this
“problem”), I am sorry (for the part I played).

Byron Katie’s “The Work” is a process where a “problem” is scrutinized
with Inquiry, or a series of questions, that puts the responsibility
right back where it belongs–inside yourself.

If you want to hear compliments, or you want people to agree with you,
go directly to your friends, or to the people who like you.

Growth is minimal in those encounters (although a compliment can
be the catalyst for great insight).

The teenagers and partners you live with, or the person you think is an enemy:
these are the people who lay it out, and nine times out of ten, won’t
always be kind in their appraisal of you.

This is a perfect time to continue the Ho’oponopono chants and go inward
for peace of mind.

Looking back over my life, any criticism I have ever received has been correct.
At the time, I didn’t like what I heard.

I said, “How dare she say that to me?”

Then during the 4th and 5th step inventory, I saw the part I played, took 100%
responsibility, made amends, felt immediate relief, and could go on as
a free-er human being.

The 4 questions of Byron Katie’s “The Work”

1) Is it true?

2) Can you absolutely know for sure that it’s true?

3) How do you react when you think that thought?

4) Who would I be without that thought?

—and turn it around—

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The Mini-Judge-Your-Neighbor-Worksheet

I am angry at my writing instructor because she said I need to be more
specific in my writing.

I need my writing instructor to re-evaluate her criticism and give me an
“A” for my essay.

My writing instructor should see that I far surpass all of the other
students in the class and I should get an “A”.

My writing instructor is an idiot.

UNDERLYING FEARS:

I fear that my writing instructor thinks I am a bad writer and
that she is right!

I fear that I can’t excel in what I love (my writing) and that I am a failure.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

My writing instructor shouldn’t tell me to be more specific in my writing.

Is this true?

Yes, because I am specific in my writing.

Can you absolutely know that this is true?

Well, no.

How do I react when I think the thought, “My writing teacher shouldn’t tell
me to be more specific in my writing?”

I feel uptight and exposed. I am afraid she is telling the truth.

What truth is that?

That I am a bad writer.

How do I react when I think the thought that I am a bad writer?

I feel miserable, sad and feel like crying.

Who would I be without the thought that I am a bad writer?

I would write for the pure joy of writing and not care what anyone
else thinks about it.

Turn it around?

I’m not a bad writer.

My writing teacher should tell me to be more specific in my writing.

Why?

Because that’s what writing teachers do; give constructive criticism.

I need to tell myself that I am a good writer AND be conscious of being
more specific in my writing.

UNDERLYING BELIEFS

Criticism is bad.

When someone criticizes me, I am exposed as a bad person.

I have to pretend that I am perfect.

1) Criticism is bad.

Is this true?

No.

Turn it around?

Criticism is good. It serves as an avenue for self-growth.

2) When someone criticizes me, I am exposed as a bad person.

Is this true?

No.

Turn it around?

When someone criticizes me, I can find the truth within the criticism,
and become a better person than I was before.

3) I have to pretend to be a perfect person.

Is this true?

No.

Turn it around?

I no longer have to pretend. I can be ME, and love myself and everyone else
without shoulds, without the need to be perfect.

I can love my flaws and everyone else’s flaws.

When I find myself resisting honest criticism, I can tell myself:
What I defend against is the truth I don’t want to face.

Then I continue my Ho’oponopono practice to clean and erase all memory
of past suffering brought on by the need to be perfect or to be
the smartest person in the room.

The need for perfection, to be right are examples of stress that lead to war,
abuse and violence.

Turn it around?

I don’t need to be perfect or right in order to be happy, here and now.

I don’t need a story.

I don’t need a personal history.

The world is mine exactly as it is.

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Published in:

on June 22, 2007 at 11:01 am Leave a Comment

Unexamined Assumptions

Recently, I decided to meditate on a situation that happened 34
years ago, where I had so far failed to forgive a person who killed
8 of my dogs.

I practiced the ancient Hawaiian healing art to erase and clean
the memory by ceaselessly and silently chanting: I love you,
Thank you, Please forgive me, (for the part I played in this situation),
and I am sorry (for the part I played).

One day I received a gift. I wrote a note to Byron Katie International,
asking what I needed to do to become certified in “The Work” of Byron Katie.

A few days later, I noticed I was placed on a “round robin” group of
Byron Katie graduates of the 9 day intensive “the school.” The idea
is that every month we pair up with a different graduate and do Inquiry
with our designated partner.

I was excited by this opportunity! Even though I’m not a graduate of
“the school,” I didn’t have time to be intimidated by that, because my partner
and I arranged to do the process of Inquiry the next day.

I’ve seen You Tube videos of people who are in the middle of taking the
life changing nine day course. They couldn’t find words to describe
the experience they were having. They reminded me of people having a peak
spiritual/religious experience, without drugs.

They looked like they had been to the mountain top: they appeared radiant,
free, ecstatic.

I prepared for this opportunity by filling out the Judge-Your-Neighbor worksheet,
found in all of Byron Katie’s books, and on her websites and blog.

THE 4 QUESTION AND TURNAROUND

1) Is it true?

2) (If the answer is “yes”): Can you absolutely know that this is true?

3) How do you react when you think that thought?

4) Who would you be without that thought?

And turn it around.

I. I am still angry at my neighbor because he shot 8 of my dogs 34 years ago.
His name is John Barley.

While I writing this out, I suddenly realized that I don’t know if John Barley
was the person who shot my dogs.

I never saw who actually did these acts. It could have been a son, nephew
or daughter, or his wife.

For 34 years, I assumed John Barley killed my dogs because all my friends
who lived with me told me he was the one who did it.

But did he really do it?

I told my partner about this revelation the next day on the phone. We were 3500
miles and 3 hours removed, yet “the work” brought us together in a timeless orb
of transformation.

I held a deep resentment towards a person for 34 years, going over and over
the crime in my mind like an unending movie frame, creating a story,
a drama, a scenario that everyone agrees who hears it: isn’t that terrible?
How did you survive? He is a terrible person!

I am angry at my neighbor because he shot my dogs.

Is this true?

Well I am angry but he probably wasn’t the one who really shot the dogs.

Here the story, brought to the scrutiny of Inquiry, begins to unravel.

How do I react when I think the thought, that I am still angry at my neighbor
for killing my eight dogs?

I feel constricted and judgmental, yet have a sense that I don’t want to
carry this around anymore.

I am relieved that the light of Inquiry makes assumptions seem laughable and
inconsequential.

Is there a stress free reason to keep this thought?

No, never is.

Who would I be without the thought, that i am still angry at my neighbor
for killing my dogs?

I would be a person who sees that people commit atrocities, mass genocide,
wage wars, and they kill dogs. From this perspective, I let it go.

Turn it around?

I am no longer angry (at whom ever did it) for killing my dogs.

I am not angry at my self for having this belief because I don’t need to
beat myself up.

The dogs aren’t angry because they were killed. Dogs take death fully in stride.
They live in the present moment.

They know how to love unconditionally.

So I choose to be more like my dogs!!!

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

My partner had an issue he needed to gain clarity on, so we did “the
work” on it.

I am happy to report that my first try at doing this process went well.

My partner gained a level of insight he needed to make a major decision in his life.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

When I take 100% responsibility for everything that has happened in my life,
the old and tired assumptions fall away. They serve only one purpose: to stay
stuck in a vibrational field of judgment and victim-hood.

The unexamined life is not worth living, said Henry David Thoreau.

Unexamined thoughts, assumptions and stories that hold you prisoner don’t
hold the key to your happiness.

The life-line is available.

Find a way, and use it.

Published in:

on June 15, 2007 at 11:14 am Leave a Comment

Who Are You After You Drop Your Story?

I am sitting with my deep blue Irises on this perfect
spring morning and I inwardly chant: Thank you, I love you dear
Irises for showing me the meaning of beauty and transcendence
here on planet Earth.

Human concerns and problems are nonexistent as I continue
my Ho’oponopono chant.

If an issue suddenly surfaces in the form of a memory or
an actual seemingly troubling event, I continue the chant, adding: I
am sorry, Please forgive me for the part I played or play in
bringing this story about.

Ho’oponopono is an ancient Hawaiian healing art that
teaches that by inwardly saying the phrases, I love you,
Thank you, I am sorry, Please forgive me, that shared memories and mental
repetitive tapes are erased.

These chants are ceaselessly repeated even in calm and
peaceful times, as I sit with my Irises and love them.

The phrases are a direct method of Letting Go/Letting God.
Ho’oponopono teaches that everything we see is a projection of our
emotional baggage and programs or of our love and harmony.

The choice is ours: to let go, to embrace, or react and
get lost in the confusion.

The challenge is: that everyone loves a story. Our
earliest programming for most of us is the bedtime story. Children
love these and we love to read them and tell them.

In my own life, the stories that seemingly happen such as:
The doctor was mean to me; The patient is homeless; my love affair
is over; she doesn’t love me anymore; he loves her more than he
loves me; are the same stories that happen to everyone.

New stories don’t exist. They’ve been rehashed for
hundreds and hundreds of years!

Ho’oponopono is a beautiful tool. As I inwardly chant my
phrases (I love you, Thank you, Please forgive me and I am sorry) I also use
Byron Katie’s “The Work” to dissect my stories and grant
them the freedom to be–or not to be.

I will use as an example a volatile situation that occured
in the workplace:

A provider does not respond to a call of an imminent delivery. The
nurses deliver the baby and when the provider arrives, she screams
at the nurses in front of the patient. The delivery was smooth,
baby was healthy, and mom was very happy, indeed.

I will use the Judge-Your-Neighbor Worksheet to do “the work”
for this particular story:

Inquiry: The Four Questions and Turnaround

1) Is it true?

2) Can you absolutely know that it’s true?

3) How do you react when you believe that thought?

4) Who would you be without that thought?
and–

Turn it around.

I. I am angry and frustrated with said provider because she
screamed at me in front of the patient. She has done this on
numerous occasions and we are all sick of it.

Is this true?

Yes.

Can you absolutely know that it’s true?

Yes. (Well, she really doesn’t do it all the time….)

How do you react when you believe that thought?

Judgmental and restricted.

Who would you be without that thought?

I’d be more relaxed and allow others the freedom to be themselves
without me having to be freaked out and offended.

(Here I can see that my thoughts and beliefs are what are
bringing me pain–not what anyone else does or doesn’t do!!)

Turn it around: I am not angry and frustrated with this person.

I am angry and frustrated at myself because I allowed someone
else’s behavior ruin my day.

I may not always be totally centered and caring for my
patients–How can I improve that?

II. I want (said provider) to take a communications class and get her
act together.

Is this true?

Well, not necessarily true.

Who would you be without this thought?

I’d think it was funnier and could laugh at it and move on.

Turn it around.

I don’t want her to take a communications class. What she does or
doesn’t do is her own business.

I need to take a communications class.

In fact, I want to take a communications class!

III. Said provider should get her medicines re-evaluated.

Is This true?

No, because I don’t even know if she is taking any medicines.

Who would you be without this thought?

More clear, more forgiving.

Turn it around.

Said provider should not get her medicines re-evaluated.

I need to get MY medicines re-evaluated!!! (Just kidding–I don’t
take any medicines but if I keep going insane with these judgments, I may
have to see a Doctor!!!)

IV. What do they need to do for me to be happy?

Stop screaming at nurses in front of patients.

Is this true?

No, because if this is what I base my happiness on, I will never be happy.

Why?

Because people will always be screaming at nurses in front of patients,
will continue to do so, and this is the way of it.

How do I know this? Because it continues to happen. Could even happen today.

Turn it around.

She doesn’t need to stop screaming at patients for me to happy.

I need to stop screaming at my self and stop thinking the world
needs to change for me to be happy.

V. What do you think of said provider?

1) Not fun to be around

2) Psychologically impaired.

3) She is mean-spirited.

Is this true?

No, she’s may be having a bad day.

Turn it around–

I’M not fun to be around when I judge other people.

I’m fun to be around when I don’t judge other people.

I’m psychologically impaired when I judge other people.

I’m psychologically sane when I don’t judge other people.

I am mean spirited when I judge other people.

I am kind when I don’t judge other people.

VI. What is it I don’t want to experience with this person again?

I don’t ever want to be in a situation where I am screamed at in
front of a patient, or screamed at ever again, under any
circumstance.

Is this true?

No, I see the absurdity of this, now.

Turn it around?

I do want to be screamed at–Why? Because the reality is,
people scream at each other. (And when other people scream at me,
I am given the opportunity to up my Ho’oponopono practice!!)

I look forward to other people screaming at me, because I can clean, clean
and erase with the tools of Ho’oponopono.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Ho’oponopono and The Work are examples of taking 100% responsibility.

Issues in the form of memory of shared human anguish arise and we clear,
erase and do the the work of Inquiry.

What would you be without your story?

I know I’d be closer to spirit, closer to the infinite, and I’d be a happy person.

Published in:

on June 1, 2007 at 7:20 am Leave a Comment

Hoponopono And The Work–For Nurses

I am a nurse with a prayer: that other nurses and healers learn
how to love and heal themselves.

This is a process that can be thoroughly enjoyed as nurses and other
healers learn to closely watch their thoughts, which is the key to
enlightenment and transformation.

Only as I heal can healing occur in my sphere of influence–which
encompasses the entire planet!!

Ho’oponopono is an ongoing process of cleaning and erasing shared
memories that cause pain and anguish. It’s an ancient Hawaiian healing
practice which recently has gained recognition.

We silently chant: I love you, Thank you, Please forgive me, I am sorry
as we direct these phrases to divinity as we understand Divinity to be
for ourselves.

When judgments arise, we concentrate the phrases on the judgments. And
even before the judgments arise, we ceaselessly say the phrases inwardly as
an inner mantra.

We may notice that fewer judgments arise.

Someone on my Ho’oponopono forum at Powerful intentions mentioned The Work
by Byron Katie as an adjunct to doing Ho’oponopono.

I bought Byron Katie’s first book “Loving What Is” in 2002 because of the
magnetic feeling her picture radiated on the cover. At the time, I did not
actually study The Work in any great detail for a variety of reasons.

Now, The Work in action is displayed on Byron Katie’s website, through a series of
excellent videos.

One thing I learned as a complete revelation, after viewing the videos on her website,
was that a judgment is not always obvious.

A judgment acts hypnotically to trick you into thinking that your thought, which
bring you misery, is the truth.

Forinstance, a person who states: “I want my cancer to stop growing” appears
to be making a perfectly legitimate request.

Ofcourse. If I had cancer, I would want my cancer to stop growing, too, and
so would most everyone else.

But only at first glance.

Byron Katie uses the following Inquiry to get to the heart of every thought
and judgment that is causing mental pain:

1) Is it true?

2) Can you absolutely know that it is true?

3) How do you react when you think that thought?

4) Who would you be without that thought?

5) Turn it around.

The following is a transcript of the session entitled: I Want My
Cancer To Stop Growing:

Byron Katie: Is it true that you want the cancer to stop growing?

Response: (after some time) Yes.

BK: So you want the cancer to stop growing. We’re looking at stressful reactions, here.
How do you react when you say to yourself that you want your cancer to stop growing and
it continues to grow?

Response: I have panic reactions.

BK: Give me a sress free reason to keep the thought–I want the cancer to stop growing.

Response: (after some time) I’m sorry, I can’t think of one.

BK: There isn’t one.

So I want the cancer to stop growing. Who would you be without that thought?

Response: I would be ordinary, in my own life, just the way it is.

BK: There’s 2 ways to live your life. One is stressed out and the other isn’t.
Either way, you are living it.

So, I want the cancer to stop growing?
Turn it around—What’s the opposite?

Response: I don’t want my cancer to stop growing.

BK: Give me an example of how that would be true?

Response: (after some time) My cancer has opened doors I could never open on
my own or I would not have easily opened.

BK: That’s one. Give me another.

Response: Because it has opened my heart.

BK: That’s 2 now give me another.

Response: Because I am so much more alive than I was a year ago.

(Clapping).

BK: You’ve found three, you can find four.

Loving what is isn’t kind of liking or sort of appreciating, it is good,
it is loving it all.

It’s really exciting and I’m inviting you–Just one more!

Response: I’ve found 2 more.

BK: I’m right there with you.

Response: I don’t want my cancer to stop growing because I can be more
of who I am, and can be of service to others.

BK: Did you consider that one or two?

Response: It’s a mix.

BK: Ok! One more!!

Response: (crying) I don’t want my cancer to stop growing because
I want to be the world’s greatest lover for my wife.

BK: There’s more. Just meditate and sit with it. More will come.

My own insight: (I don’t want myself to stop growing).

Byron Katie’s work can be applied to any thought we sense is holding us back.

The Work of Inquiry, as so beautifully given to us by Byron Katie, is a
way to expose those tricky judgments and beliefs that imprison our minds.

Add to this Ho’oponopono and we have a powerful duo of monumental proportion.

Don’t leave home without them.

Published in:

on May 24, 2007 at 1:25 pm Leave a Comment

Healing The Mind With Ho’oponopono

This week, I witnessed the advent of electronic charting in
our workplace, and am gratified to be learning for once and
for all how closing the mind and opening the mind yield two
entirely different results.

I view the IPROB computer system as a fragment of myself.

(IPROB is the new OB/GYN based computer program upon which
all of
us must now chart our patient’s medical record).

Ho’oponopono is an ancient Hawaiian healing technique that
nurses need to learn in order to survive as a thriving, active and
beautiful healing component of the health care system.

Using computers and other advanced technological machines
in our work tends to make a nurse feel separate from her
patients.

The strange temptation arises to gaze at the computer
wheneverI am in the middle of charting something. When my patient
speaks, I glance her way, glance back at the computer; glance at her,
glance back at the computer,like some sort of multi-tasking geek.

The reality is, that these technological advances can free
us up to be a healing presence for our patients.

But until I feel at peace with the machine, I can never
feel at peace with anyone or anything else.

A mind divided cannot be in harmony, which is what our
patients want from us: a well balanced and harmonious, happy
healing presence, takinggood care of her and making her feel good about being in
the hospital to begin with.

As soon as we come to see the IPROB machine as ultimately
meaning nothing,and that we make up our meaning about it and about
everything else, then an awakening occurs.

What I think about the IPROB machine is a reflection of my
mind, is not a truth or even a fact about it.

When I view IPROB as a problem, I am interpreting,
remembering, comparing and judging any memory I have about this and all similar
memories, certainly not living in the present moment.

Imagine two exact same scenarios experienced by two
different people:
One nurses decides that she loves IPROB. Consequently, she
is efficient,
moves patients through the system quicker, spends more
time with her patients,and barely has any problems or glitches in the system.

Another nurse decides that she hates IPROB. The computer
continually loses her entries, freezes up and shuts down.

I am somewhere in the middle, hating it and loving it,
trying to make philosophical sense of it, with varying degrees of success
and failure.

The mind creates the sress and fear, the balance and well-
being in these examples.

So where does the practice of Ho’oponopono fit into my
perception of what I see as a problem with electronic charting, with nurses
leaving the profession, with the nursing shortage, and with my own feelings of
powerlessness regarding all of it?

Firstly, Ho’oponopono teaches that problems and situations
do not exist outside of me, (or you), as we perceive them.

Perceptions are reflections of our thoughts.

If I perceive an outer manifestation as a problem, then I
have the opportunity to recognize that I am 100% responsible for creating it,
thus having 100% responsibility for erasing and cleaning the problem
and all my judgements and criticisms about the problem.

The perceived problems is simply a shared memory that we
all have in common, back to the beginning of humanity.

We clean and erase these problems by inwardly and incessantly chanting: I love you,
Thank you, I am sorry (for my part in creating this
problem), Please Forgive me
(for my part in creating this problem).

We inwardly and incessantly chant even before perceiving
the problem.

I feel relief by this practice because if I am 100%
responsible for creating all aspects
of my life, and if all of it without exception is an
inside job, then I can work
on it within myself without depending on anything or
anyone else.

At the same time, the phrases I love you, Thank you, I am
sorry, Please forgive me are
directed to my higher power, divinity, the angels, God/ess.

We let the unseen forces solve all “problems” as we chant
our phrases.

Ho’oponopono is an ancient Hawaiian healing technique that
nurses can use to
save themselves, save our profession.

This is a spiritual practice that in its simplicity, fits
well into modern
life. It applies to every single problem our world is
having at this time:
violence in our schools, homes and communities, drug and
alcohol addiction,
deep depression and sadness, suffering of all kinds.

None of it is “out there.”

If I see it, it’s mine.

My responsibility is to take 100% responsibility, to stop
the blaming, stop
the finger pointing.

Bless Ho’oponopono: Bless all the spiritual practices that
bring us peace.

Published in:

on May 16, 2007 at 10:15 am Leave a Comment

Happy Nurses Week and Please Save The Nurses

IPROB, an electronic charting system for Labor,Delivery,
and Postpartum, was introduced at our hospital a few days before
Nurses Week, 2007.

You might call this a lesson in mind over matter and attitude.
In most cases, minds were running amok, without direction,
in raw fear states with many nurses breaking down in tears.

Speaking for myself, I was on the verge of tears for a four
hour period the first evening I had to deal with it. I was
working in the emergency area of our hospital, and it was busy.

Help was just a phone call away, and I did call, particularly
when I had no idea how to admit or discharge a patient.

The fact that everyone else was in a state of near panic placed a
dark vibrational cloud over the entire hospital.

I came to accept a common site: of doctors and nurses huddled
over a computer, making sense (or nonsense) over data placed
in the computer, and by trial and error, were deciding what to do next.

By the end of my first four hours of a twelve hour shift,
I had an AHA experience. An inner voice of calm penetrated my
psyche and seemed to whisper,”This isn’t so bad! You can do it!”

I began to draw on my already growing experience with computers,
and put some missing pieces together.

I noticed the IPROB Help Team, besides the nurses who had helped
bring the system to our unit, were Israeli men and women. Detached
from our pain, they answered questions calmly.

And I liked them.

They were an amazing group who helped create IPROB
about ten years ago in Israel.. This team goes to the Hospitals that are going “live” in the U.S. and answer questions and ease the transition.

I decided to engage in conversation with them.

Do you have IPROB in Israel?

No, the system is too expensive for the frugal consciousness there,
they said.

Do you like the Universal Health care system in Israel?

We abolutely love it, they said.

Do you all have to serve in the military?

Yes, a mandatory 2-3 year (or more) stint is accepted by all.

Are you afraid to go out in the streets? Is it dangerous?

Not one of us has ever experienced terrorism, they said.

Or so they said.

The horror of terrorism wasn’t exactly the correct aura we
needed to create on top of the underlying fear surrounding IPROB.

The subject of terrorism was quickly dropped.

We were smack in the middle of a volitile environment.

People all have full and challenging lives. The reality of yet
another stressor seems to be effecting older nurses, in particular.

They (we) are questioning whether or not we want to live in a
fast paced technological workplace, with computers sucking out our vital
energy.

We question whether or not we want to retire sooner than later.

This is a problem in light of the nursing shortage.

Electronic charting in the medical record is sweeping the medical
industry.

How many older nurses are retiring earlier because of it?

And as we know, the retirement of older nurses is bad news for
health care to begin with.

If nurses are retiring sooner than later because of systems
that challenge a person’s ability to cope, then we are in for a
nursing shortage crisis that far surpasses what we had predicted.

Happy Nurses Week!

Keep the faith!!

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Published in:

on May 9, 2007 at 8:36 am Leave a Comment

Secrets Of The Nurse Healers, A Blog, By Kate Loving Shenk

Just another WordPress.com weblog

Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There!!!

The Bewitching Hour

I Am The American Health Care System

Illness Is A Great Teacher

What You Can Learn From Criticism

Unexamined Assumptions

Who Are You After You Drop Your Story?

Hoponopono And The Work–For Nurses

Healing The Mind With Ho’oponopono

Happy Nurses Week and Please Save The Nurses

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