By Gary Shunk
I had many life-changing experiences while at my Hoffman Process. One of those was being reminded, made aware of, the four aspects of my being: Body, Intellect, Emotional Self, and my Spirit. I was aware of these but to what degree? I had always considered myself as being “spiritual,” wandering around from one thing to another.
Learning About Being Human
The Hoffman Process grounded me. By that I mean, wait a minute, I’m human here in a body. Let’s learn about that. What drives me? What moves me? What am I thinking and feeling?
Regarding my body, I learned that my body can only exist in the Now. My body can’t be in the past and it can’t be in the future. Here is my body, right here, right now, in the Now. How wonderful of a reminder is that?!
I have also found that a great reminder of the Now is my breath, which happens in the Now, in my body. Not yesterday, not tomorrow, but now. My body houses my intellect, emotions, and my spirit. Today, my body wants a walk before the snow tomorrow.
An Equal Partnership
Several years ago, after my Process, a Hoffman teacher came to my part of the country, giving a one-day session. I don’t recall the exact title of the session. One of the statements he made was this: We are made up of body, intellect, emotions, and spirit. These aspects are supposed to be in an equal partnership. However, the intellect has promoted itself to the CEO of the other aspects, controlling, over-thinking with lots of fear. He suggested demoting the intellect from CEO to being an equal board member.
My intellect can be distracted by what happened 2 minutes ago, yesterday, or 30 years ago. It can also worry and fret about what tomorrow will bring. It can be a great tool and has helped me organize and edit this article, but not to be solely relied upon in my life. As a dear friend of mine reminds me: Most of life’s problems start right between my two ears. It can be a bad neighborhood. Don’t live there.
With Many Sides
My emotional self had been neglected pretty much my entire life. I am a child of the ’50s and ’60s. Be a man! Stuff my feelings! Hoffman reintroduced me to my emotional self and reminded me that it, too, is equally important in my life. If I’m feeling happy, or sad, or anxious – again those feelings are happening now. Sure, I may have been sad or happy in the past. What am I feeling now? During the Process, I was asked every morning: What are you feeling? As I write this, I am feeling full of peace and contentment.
In calling myself “spiritual,” I had the silly notion that my spirit lived, you know, “up there,” and some day it might come down and live with me. I was reminded that my spirit lives right here in my body. This filled me with joy and happy tears. My spirit doesn’t live on Mars, or the Moon, or was an elephant in a past life, or in the 45th dimension. Right here, right now. My spirit is my truest self. Bright, Light, full of Love and Joy. To be relied upon more and more.
What is my vision for my life right now? During my morning meditation, my spirit said, “Write about this today.”
Grateful for the Four Aspects of My Being
The Hoffman Process teaches, gives tools, and daily practices that help me keep in touch with these aspects of myself. The Daily Quad check can be done all alone, just me and my journal. It can also be done live on Instagram every morning. The Process also offers specific, live follow-up sessions that assist me in keeping in touch with myself. Hoffman has developed an app that provides many tools, meditations, and visualizations.
I am grateful that I found out about the Process. I am grateful that I got laid off from my job and had the opportunity to go to the Process without the hassle of taking time off. I am grateful for my friends who introduced me to it.