I love you, please forgive me, I am sorry, thank you

These words define a practice with a funny long Hawaiian name I'm not even going to write here for fear of spelling it incorrectly. I have been cycling through these words today and exploring their freeing powers, for myself, for others, for earth, for heaven.

The bottomline is that when I choose to hold on to feeling hurt or angry or upset with anyone, including myself, over anything at all, I FEEL CRUDDY. And I don't want to feel cruddy, I like to feel good, so I'm working to let go. And letting go isn't really work so much as it is a passive activity, like relaxing. I don't work at relaxing, I just relax. And in the same way, I don't work at letting go, I just let go. It's a happening, not a doing, it's a passive activity, and it does involve a sort of relaxing. Relaxing into love and trust and yourself. Being you, being love, being who you are.

I had these words running through my heart today as I looked through some photos of times past with family and friends. It felt good to say these words towards these people, and even towards places I have been, and experiences I have had. I found myself doing the same as I read a couple news stories today, checked email and visited friends on facebook. I found myself thinking that everyone could say these lines to everyone because we've all hurt or been hurt.

I love you.
Love is a real power. Practice feeling the energy of unconditional love, love with no strings or conditions attached that flows out freely and in freely with no expectation or judgment.

Please forgive me.
Forgiving doesn't mean forgetting, it just means releasing another person or yourself from your own wrath and judgment. I'm trying to think what else it means. It's really something that's difficult for a lot of us to grasp. It is strongly related to your ability to exercise unconditional love, and perhaps that's why this practice puts the words "I love you" first. Once you master unconditional love, you can forgive all.

I am sorry.
Part of me doesn't like to say this, and not because I have an ego issue or a nagging drive to be perfect where it's really hard for me to ever admit I'm wrong. If anything, I always leaned towards being overly-apologetic, and I think that's where my alarm goes off when I say that line. There can be a tendency when saying "I'm sorry" to say it in a self-deprecating way that means "I'm bad, I'm horrible, I'm a booger head, I'm stupid, I'm whatever, just throw me in a dark hole and pile some manure on me, please." I used to beat myself up like that. It wasn't even my fault and I'd apologize. Someone would stub their toe and I'd say "I'm sorry" as if it were my fault they stubbed their toe. I know that comes from a very interesting dynamic in my childhood now. I'm not getting into the details of that cobwebby thing here, but I will at least say that I don't think the "I am sorry" that this practice exercises has anything to do with the dark holes or manure. I'm thinking this "sorry" is also one that flows from love, and forgiveness, thus its rightful place as third in this power-packed lineup. I think it might be more an expression of sadness, like when you feel empathy, or you feel someone else's pain. Maybe you are looking through some photos in the news online and you see people with hurt expressions on their faces, and your heart goes out to them... "I am sorry".

Thank you.
Quite the opposite of "I'm sorry", "Thank you" is a phrase I love to use. Although, I will admit there's an ingenuine version out there that really reeks a bit. Like when someone orders you to do something really odious that they expected you to do for them earlier and they sneer "Thank you" after you do that thing finally for them. It's just a fake cherry on top of the sundae in that case. But the real cherry, now that's a doozy, and I am really high with gratitude at times the more I've really been embracing it in my life and living it. Gratitude, like love, carries a real and beautiful power to transform. In this practice, I'm assuming the "thank you" was placed after "please forgive me, I am sorry" to thank whomever or whatever you're saying this about for forgiving you and accepting your apology. Gratitude though is just a great topper, like the cherry on the sundae, to any interaction with anyone or anything. Be thankful and watch your life transform before your eyes. Things will appear more joyful, more perfect, more everything good to you once you acknowledge them with gratitude. Including yourself.

Much love!
-Annie