Huna Article

Huna International

Dirty Harry and Huna
by Jim Brinkley

I am not a movie fan. For me, to see a movie is to experience sensory overload. In my opinion, movies are too bright, too loud, and much, much too violent. However, I do force myself to go to at least one movie each decade, just so I can say I have done so. Choosing an animated film usually makes the experience tolerable. In the 90's I saw "The Little Mermaid" and "Aladdin" and I enjoyed them both. Once in a while, however, I do catch a more traditional movie on TV. There at least I can control the volume, the brightness, and I can simply turn off the sound (or the picture!) as I choose. It was on TV that I encountered Dirty Harry. Certainly Harry Callahan is not the kind of person with whom I usually associate and I didn't expect to learn anything from him. He surprised me. It was Harry who said, "A man's got to know his limitations." (Magnum Force, 1973)

The second principle of IHuna as taught in the Kahili tradition is that "there are no limits." But of course there are limits. There are just no absolute limits. The point of the second principle is that whatever limits you encounter are there because you decided to allow them. Those limits (along with everything else) were created in thought and they can be removed with thought. So if you feel that you are not realizing your full potential in life or that your life itself is not what you wish it to be, allow me to suggest that one path to improving your situation might be to become aware of your limitations. One way to do this is to begin paying close attention to your actions, to your words, and to your thoughts. l

Huna teaches us that we have each created our own reality but that we do not always do so consciously. For example, let us say that Joe is dissatisfied with his financial position. He feels that at this point in his life he should be earning a larger salary, own a bigger house, drive a fancier car, and have more money in the bank. From the Huna point of view, the first thing Joe needs to do is to see how he is limiting himself financially. As he begins to pay closer attention to his actions, he may find himself doing something like tipping only ten percent after a meal with excellent service. As he begins to pay closer attention to his words, he may find himself saying something like, "Someday I'm gonna be rich but right now I don't know how I'll ever pay all these bills." As he begins to pay closer attention to his thoughts, he may find himself thinking something like "I wish I had more skills so I could get a job that pays more." In each case, he is creating a reality of lack. As Joe (or anyone else) becomes aware of the limits he is placing on himself, he can begin to change them by changing his actions, his words, and his thoughts.

Perhaps you are like me, still searching for a life partner. After I began to study Huna and to become aware of the limits I had placed on myself, I realized that I held a deep seated belief that a person's life was not validated unless (s)he found a life partner. l had often said that life was Iike the ticket you tahe when entering a parking garage. The ticket has no value until it is validated but once it has been, it pays for the parking. I believed that my life had no value because it had not been validated by a partner. Once I understood that I was holding this belief and how very limiting it was, I decided to eliminate it. This took time but eventually I developed a deep knowing that every life has validity and that there is no one correct way to live.

Over the years I have removed many other limits from my reality. These include the five day work week, a single source of income, the misconception that I could only have one career at a time, a fear of public speaking, and a belief that I had nothing of value to teach and no skill in teaching. I now work three to four days each week, have several sources of income, am embarking on a second and third career, love to speak in public, and have accumulated over a dozen teaching awards. I share these accomplishments with you in order that you might be inspired to remove restrictive limits from your reality.

Sometimes we may discover limits that we decide to keep. During my search for self-imposed limits, I realized that I was limiting myself by only considering women with certain very specific attributes as potential life partners because I wanted to share those magical feelings of joy that occur when one is in love. I saw that many people married for other reasons, often very good ones. These include companionship, security, children, and family values. It occurred to me that there are very many loving, intelligent, caring, and spiritual women with whom I might connect, were it not for the limits I myself have created. After meditating on this for a long time, I made a conscious decision not to remove these limits.

In every area of our lives, there are limits. Using Huna, we can keep them, change them, or remove them. But before we can do any of these, we first must be aware of them. "A man's got to know his limitations."

Thanks, Harry.

Copyright Huna International 2000