There was a time when one psychiatric ward in Hawaii was considered so dangerous that no one wanted to work there.
Psychologists resigned,
Guards transferred,
Staff routinely called in sick and would eventually quit.
The patients were diagnosed with severe mental illness.
Most had committed violent crimes.
Some were restrained.
Some were heavily medicated.
Many were considered beyond rehabilitation.
This was the Hawaii State Hospital's ward for the criminally insane.
Most professionals believed this ward could not be stabilized.
And then,
Another new psychologist was assigned there.
Dr.
Hu Len was a licensed clinical psychologist with a Ph.
D.
Trained in western psychology.
He was also born and raised in Hawaii and practiced traditional Hawaiian healing principles.
From the moment he arrived and during his entire time at the Hawaii State Hospital,
He did not meet with patients.
He did not conduct therapy sessions.
He did not attend group treatments.
He did not intervene directly on the ward.
Instead,
He asked for patient files.
Administrators questioned this immediately.
Staff were skeptical.
From the outside,
It looked like he was doing nothing while chaos continued just beyond his office door.
Dr.
Hu Len did not argue.
He did not defend his approach.
He did not attempt to convince anyone.
Each day,
He sat alone,
Reading case histories.
As he read,
He paid attention not to the patient's behavior,
But to what arose within him.
Fear.
Judgment.
Anger.
Helplessness.
Rather than approaching those reactions outward,
He took full responsibility for them.
His premise was simple and deeply confronting.
If something appears in your experience,
It is connected to something within you.
Not as blame,
But as responsibility.
If he felt disturbed by what he read,
He did not label the patient as the problem.
He asked a different question.
What is happening within me that this is showing me?
And then quietly and privately,
He worked on that.
Nothing happened.
Administrators continued to wonder what exactly he was doing.
Staff assumed it was only a matter of time before the approach failed.
Then,
Slowly,
Something began to change.
Patients who had been restrained no longer needed to be.
Violence became less frequent.
The emotional charge of the ward softened.
Absenteeism dropped.
Turnover slowed.
Morale improved.
No credit was taken.
Dr.
Hu Len continued to insist that he was not treating the patients.
He was cleaning what was happening within himself.
Over time,
The ward that had once been considered unmanageable became calmer and more stable.
Patients were transferred,
Released.
The conditions that had once defined the unit changed.
Eventually,
The ward as it had once existed was no longer needed.
When Dr.
Hu Len later spoke publicly about this experience,
He was careful with his words.
He did not claim to have healed anyone.
He did not present this work as a technique for fixing people or controlling outcomes.
He said he healed the part of himself that was connected to what he was experiencing.
Dr.
Hu Len came to be widely known as the modern teacher and ambassador of this ancient Hawaiian practice.
Through decades of lectures,
Interviews,
And the book Zero Limits co-authored by Dr.
Joe Vitale,
This practice spread far beyond Hawaii and is now practiced worldwide.
Not as therapy,
Not as problem-solving,
But as a path of inner responsibility and reconciliation.
He taught that when internal data,
Memories,
And conditioning are cleaned,
What appears in the external world can reorganize.
Not through force,
Not through intervention,
But through inner alignment.
At the heart of the practice is a simple inward prayer that consists of four phrases.
I love you.
I'm sorry.
Please forgive me.
Thank you.
Each phrase carries a meaning.
I love you recognizes love as the healing force.
I'm sorry acknowledges responsibility without blame.
Please forgive me releases attachment to the memory or data.
Thank you expresses trust that the cleaning is complete.
The words are not spoken to anyone else,
Nor are they used while thinking about any specific problem.
They are spoken inwardly.
You do not need to know what you are clearing.
Your only role is to allow the cleaning to happen.
Dr.
Houlin taught that healing does not begin outside of you.
It begins with responsibility.
It begins within.
The practice he used was not created by him,
And it was not invented in that hospital.
Dr.
Houlin practiced and taught a modernized application of this ancient process,
Adapted from the traditional group format into an inner,
Individual practice.
The practice is called Ho'oponopono.
I love you.
I'm sorry.
Please forgive me.
Thank you.
I love you.
I'm sorry.
Please forgive me.
Thank you.
I love you.
I'm sorry.
Please forgive me.
Thank you.
I love you.
I'm sorry.
Please forgive me.
Thank you.
I love you.
I'm sorry.
Please forgive me.
Thank you.
I love you.
I'm sorry.
Please forgive me.
Thank you.
I love you.
I'm sorry.
Please forgive me.
Thank you.
I love you.
I'm sorry.
Please forgive me.
Thank you.
