SPARK Insights™ Issue #0053

A Note on Today's Timing:

You're receiving this on Tuesday, November 11, 2025 at 11:11am Central instead of my usual Wednesday timing.

11:11 on 11/11.

When Life hands me that kind of alignment for a newsletter about synchronicity and ancient prayers?

I couldn't pass it up.

Sometimes Life won't stop tapping you on the shoulder.

Last week, it happened to me.

Back in early fall, I was watching The Pitt on HBO. There's a scene where the main character, played by Noah Wyle, is helping two adult children say goodbye to their dying father. And in this moment of profound grief, he introduces them to an ancient Hawaiian prayer.

Ho'oponopono.

I'd never heard of it. The scene was deeply touching. Then I moved on and thought nothing more about it.

Until this week.

I'm on my morning walk listening to my favorite podcast, Beyond Curiosity, hosted by my friend Brandon Fong. He's interviewing Dr. Steven Young, and amongst all the amazing things they're discussing, they talk about this prayer: Ho'oponopono.

That prayer from The Pitt.

The one I'd forgotten about.

Then I get home, open my email, and for some reason—some inexplicable reason—my eyes drift to my spam folder. There's a link to a podcast from Steve Ramona, interviewing someone I haven't heard about in 20 years.

The entire episode?

Ho'oponopono.

When Life shows you the same thing three times, you pay attention.

The Doctor Who Healed Without Treating

In the early 1980s, a clinical psychologist named Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len accepted a position that everyone else had refused.

Hawaii State Hospital.

The ward for the criminally insane.

This wasn't just a difficult environment. It was violent. Chaotic. The staff called in sick constantly or quit altogether. Patients were kept in shackles. The atmosphere was so toxic that, according to one nurse, paint wouldn't even stick to the walls.

Dr. Len took the job.

But here's what's remarkable.

He never treated a single patient.

Not one.

He didn't hold therapy sessions. Didn't sit across from inmates discussing their childhoods. Didn't prescribe new medications or implement behavioral programs.

Instead, Dr. Len would arrive each morning, go to his office, and review patient files.

And while he read those files, while he sat with the violence, the rage, the brokenness documented on those pages, he would repeat four phrases to himself:

I'm sorry.
Please forgive me.
Thank you.
I love you.

That's it.

Over and over again. I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you.

This ancient Hawaiian practice is called Ho'oponopono. It was taught to Dr. Len by his teacher, the late Hawaiian healer Morrnah Simeona.

And here's what happened:

Within months, patients who had been shackled were allowed to walk freely.

Staff who had been calling in sick started loving coming to work.

The ward, which had been painted multiple times with the paint peeling off, suddenly held a fresh coat.

Patients considered "hopeless cases" began to improve. Some were taken off medications. Some were released back into society.

After four years, the ward closed.

Not because of budget cuts.

Because there were no patients left.

When people asked Dr. Len how this was possible, how he healed an entire ward of violent criminals without ever meeting them, his answer was simple:

"I was simply healing the part of me that created them."

The Spells We Can't Remember Casting

I can't stop thinking about this story.

Not because it's miraculous (though it is).

But because of what it reveals about responsibility.

Over the past few weeks, I've had some intense coaching sessions. And there's a theme emerging that I can't ignore:

We're all walking around with rogue programs running in the background.

Spells. Codes. Beliefs that were implanted into our subconscious before we had any ability to reject them.

You see, before the age of seven or eight, your prefrontal cortex (the part of your brain that filters and evaluates incoming information) is undeveloped.

Which means when you were young, you had no ability to say no to an idea.

When a parent, teacher, coach, or authority figure said something to you, whether it was intentional or not, you absorbed it as truth.

"You're not smart enough."
"Don't be so sensitive."
"Who do you think you are?"
"Money doesn't grow on trees."
"You'll never make it as an artist."

These weren't just words.

They were spells.

And they cast a trajectory for your life that you had no idea would shape your decisions, your relationships, your sense of possibility decades later.

I see it in my clients constantly.

We start digging into why they're stuck. Why they can't move forward. Why they keep hitting the same ceiling. And inevitably, we get down to a story.

A simple, specific story from childhood.

And they can't let it go.

It's still running. Still dictating. Still limiting.

The person who said it to them? They might not even remember saying it. Hell, they might not even be alive anymore.

But the spell is still active.

Forgiveness Isn't About Them

Here's what Dr. Len understood—and what Ho'oponopono teaches:

You're not forgiving them for their sake.

You're forgiving them to break the spell.

When Dr. Len sat in his office repeating "I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you," he wasn't doing it for the patients.

He was doing it for himself.

He was taking 100% responsibility for what he was experiencing. For what he was seeing. For the role he played (consciously or unconsciously) in the reality he was witnessing.

And in doing so, he changed the reality.

This is the part most people miss about forgiveness:

It's not passive. It's not weak. It's not "letting someone off the hook."

Forgiveness is active. It's powerful. It's the reversal of a spell.

It's quantum.

Because here's what I believe, and what I've seen in my own life and in my clients' lives:

The act of forgiveness changes what happened in the past.

Not the facts. But the charge. The grip. The trajectory.

When you forgive—truly forgive—you're not just releasing the other person.

You're releasing yourself from the program.

And when you release yourself from the program, you course-correct your future.

My Challenge to You This Week

I've been using Ho'oponopono every day since this synchronicity showed up.

And I'm not going to lie—it's been profound.

I've been sitting with this prayer during my quiet time, reflecting on the people and moments that cast spells on me. The beliefs I absorbed that were never mine to carry.

And I've been watching those beliefs melt.

So here's my challenge to you:

Sit down once a day this week—during your quiet time, on a walk, wherever you can be alone—and repeat these four phrases:

I'm sorry.
Please forgive me.
Thank you.
I love you.

You don't have to have a specific person or event in mind (though you can if one comes up for you).

Just sit with the phrases.

Let them work on whatever needs to be cleared.

I've been having fun with this. I used AI to write a song around these four phrases to embed them into my subconscious in a way that feels joyful, not heavy.

You can listen to it here:
https://suno.com/s/lxzuUxoNjSWVkrNF

Maybe you'll write your own version. Maybe you'll find a different rhythm. The point isn't the delivery system.

The point is the clearing.

Because here's what I know:

The beliefs that are keeping you stuck, the programs running in the background? They're not who you are.

They're just spells.

And spells can be broken.

What Are You Ready to Release?

This is the question I want you to sit with:

What would become possible if you forgave the person who cast the spell?

Not for them.

For you.

What trajectory would shift?
What version of yourself would emerge?
What purpose could you finally express?

Because here's the truth:

You can't live your purpose while carrying someone else's curse.

The spells that were cast on you aren't who you are.

They're just programs running in the background.

And this week, you have the opportunity to start clearing them.

I'm sorry.
Please forgive me.
Thank you.
I love you.

Four phrases.

Infinite possibility.

Until next week,

-Coach Reg

P.S. I'd love to hear about your experience with Ho'oponopono this week. Reply to this email and let me know what shifts, what surfaces, what clears.

Sometimes the most powerful work happens in silence.

But there's also power in sharing the journey.