How a Hawaiian Prayer Can Help Fund Your Film

Hoʻoponopono, the Hawaiian prayer of forgiveness and reconciliation, can release your creativity

by Carole Dean

Hoʻoponopono

Forgiveness is a higher vibration than love

“My enemy has come to ask me for forgiveness.” 

I was in the hospital with my father who had just had a stroke.  We did not know if he would live.  Dad was staring at the door to his room when he said those words.

I said Dad, you have to forgive him and let him go.  “Darling”, he said, “I forgave him long ago.  He must forgive himself.” 

That was one of the most important moments in my life.  Since then, I have learned that forgiveness is a higher vibration than love.  It is the vibration that we all want to reach while we are on this planet. 

Then, I found a wonderful Hawaiian prayer.  It has been an important tool for healing myself and forgiving others.  It brought balance in my life and I owe much of my success to its lessons.

I teach it to filmmakers in my Intentional Filmmaking Class.  It has helped them move past the frustrations and anger artists encounter. 

It’s allowed them to be heard, be creative, and get funded.

Hoʻoponopono

‘I’m sorry, please forgive me, thank you, I love you’.

Those are the few and powerful words of the Ho’oponopono prayer.  The literal translation of the prayer from Hawaiian is ‘to put to right; to put in order or shape, correct, revise, make orderly or neat.”

Many people believe Hoʻoponopono to be a mantra of mental and spiritual cleaning that could be compared to Buddhist techniques for clearing karma.  According to the Hawaiian worldview, “errors of thought” are the origin of problems in the physical world.  The prayer begins the process of cleansing them.

When we forgive others, we are really forgiving ourselves.

Money Has Ears

Ok, how can this help you fund your film?  If you feel like you have a strained relationship with money, you can use this powerful meditation to break through personal blocks.  Creative differences, funding falling through, or family issues distracting you from reaching your goals?   This prayer can help get all of that behind you. 

With Hoʻoponopono, you take total responsibility for your own actions and everybody else’s too.   You must let go of your ego when using this prayer.  Connection, clearing, and forgiveness are much more important than ego concerns about who is right and who is wrong.

This will move you out of any feeling that you have been victimized.  It will release anger that is blocking you from moving forward.

Rejection is a Daily Occurrence for Filmmakers

Each of you has to deal with rejection on a daily basis.  Healing and forgiving are partners in this Hawaiian prayer.  When you have been rejected by a donor or a grant, this can help you accept it and move on. 

There is power in release of trauma, power in release of anger, power in the release of frustration.   All of this power you have is now being used to handle, to keep in place, all of these emotions. 

You can heal yourself and remove any unpleasant situations, rejections or loss, with Hoʻoponopono.  This is asking a lot from a prayer and I believe it works. 

Bring up a rejection of a donation to your film or bring up a confrontation with someone.  Then, say this prayer daily for a week or until you feel you are in balance with this person or issue. 

You will begin to heal that hurt and soon you can say their name without any hurt feelings.  That is when you know you’ve forgiven them.

Give it a Two Month Try Out

Those of you who want to try this, please join me and let’s do it for the months of August and September.  This would give us lots of prayers to forgive people including ourselves. 

You might use a memory trick to tie new things to some habit.  For example, like when you brush your teeth, remember your Ho’oponopono prayer! 

Give yourself time to start saying it before the day comes on you or when you go to bed.  Pick someone, some event, that you want to heal and begin your forgiveness prayer. Say it at least 5 times for one person. 

I will do it with you.  This opens up our creative forces.

Look Online for a Guided Ho’oponopono Meditation

There are prayers on line from 7 minutes to over an hour that you can use.  I suggest you find one that works for you.

I am a long-time meditator.  I put myself into a quiet place or I do this when I go to bed.  In my mind, I bring up the person or event.  Then I say Ho’oponopono, their name, and then I slowly and sincerely repeat these words:

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

I suggest you do this 3 to 5 times for each person.  I send them forgiveness with each prayer, even when I think I am the wronged person! It does not matter, I know I must forgive them and I must forgive myself.

Forgiveness is the highest vibration on the planet and that’s where creatives want to live, where we are vibrating with the resonance higher than love.

 

Carole Dean is president and founder of From the Heart Productions; a 501(c)3 non-The Art of Film Funding Podcastprofit that offers fiscal sponsorship for independent filmmakers. She hosts the weekly podcastThe Art of Film Fundinginterviewing those involved in all aspects of indie film productionShe is also the author of  The Art of Film Funding, 2nd Edition: Alternative Financing Concepts.  See IMDB for producing credits.

 

Receiving Miracles 3 – Learning to Forgive

In Receiving Miracles 3, Carole Dean Covers The Final Step You Need to Take to Receive Miracles in Your Life and Your Filmmaking

Forgiveness can be one of the most powerful healing tools

In Receiving Miracles 1 and 2, we covered 6 things to improve your life and that will open you for receiving miracles. 

First, was about giving gratitude daily for the many things you have. 

Second, we learned how powerful your words are and to remember to watch your thoughts because they become words.

Third, was to hold yourself in the highest esteem at all times

Fourth, love yourself.  Praise yourself daily for the smallest thing you do.

Fifth, when you ask for a miracle don’t worry about the “HOW”! Focus on your to do list to achieve a miracle.

Six is visualizing.  It’s the ability to pretend like you did when you were a child. I want you to pretend you already have what you want….that is powerful.

Now, I want you to forgive.

Hoʻoponopono

There is an ancient Hawaiian ceremony called hoʻoponopono that is a powerful tool for transformation.   It can clear your DNA.  It can clear your lineage for 12 generations back. 

The word hoʻoponopono means “to set things right.” You do this by connecting to the source within you and accepting responsibility for choosing and creating this life.

Forgiveness can be one of the most powerful healing tools. Letting go of old hurts brings new energy and vitality to everyone.  Forgiveness-Hawaiian style teaches us to forgive not only in the moment but all the way back to our ancestors. The past is cleansed and our future is made free.

Hoʻoponopono is a practice of making things right and restoring the natural flow of life. We use it to release old hurts and painful memories, realigning one’s self with Spirit to strengthen our awareness of God within.

Four Short Sentences

I love you.  I am sorry.  Please forgive me.  Thank you. 

You want to repeat this dozens of times daily for the situation you want to mend or for things you want to achieve.  With them you can break down any barriers. 

I love you.  I am sorry. Please forgive me.  Thank you. 

These magic words will help you forgive anyone or heal altercations.  They will help you find answers to problems you face.  They can be used to help you heal your body. 

They can be used in emergency situations to resolve an issue.  They can be used to make your film.  To help you attract the right crew, to help you find the right scripts or to find the right subjects for your documentary film.  These words can be used to help you fund your film. 

I suggest you work on yourself first, keep forgiving yourself and visualize any problem solved.  Say these words with conviction and mean them.  Using this magic prayer can release hidden blocks in you, can help heal your body, heal your relationships and heal your film.

I love you, I am sorry. Please forgive me.  Thank you.

Please write these down and begin saying them daily.  Know that you can work on any part of your family or work on any resistance that keeps you from achieving your desires.  Your life will improve with forgiveness.  Please use this brilliant tool to improve your lives and create your film.

I want you to expect a miracle.

Carole Dean is president and founder of From the Heart Productions; a 501(c)3 non-profit that offers fiscal sponsorship for independent filmmakers. She hosts the weekly podcast, The Art of Film Funding, interviewing those involved in all aspects of indie film productionShe is also the author of The Art of Film Funding, 2nd Edition: Alternative Financing Concepts.  See IMDB for producing credits.