’Tis the season for tools – let’s get through the coming holidays with humor and lightness of heart.
By Shawn McAndrew
Heads up! It’s almost the Silly Season. That’s what I call the time leading up to Thanksgiving and lasting until the end of the year. However, one could argue that Silly Season has been going on for the past year and a half, or more.
Many Opportunities
With so much going on in our world, there are so many opportunities for the Dark Side to enter our consciousness and whisper ugly nothings that keep us tied to the past. When we start to wander from reality, get stuck in the past, project what we think is really happening, it’s time to turn to Hoffman tools.
One of the things I love so much about the Process is how many ways we can turn pain into growth, anger into acceptance, self-deprecation into self-love and compassion. If we only ever followed the Cycle of Transformation (Awareness > Expression > Compassion & Forgiveness > New Ways of Being) we would have enough to get us through tough times. And we have so much more than this at our disposal.
Tools & Practices
At the end of each day during any multi-day program offered by Hoffman, we get a run down of the tools and practices that we learned that day. Some we do several times throughout the program; some we learn and are able to use more post-program. The beauty of these tools and practices is that they are available at any time, either by looking through our student workbook, revisiting them on the website, or using the Hoffman app to access them.
We are never without them for very long. Of course, the most at-hand method is our knowledge. We do lots of Dark Side Flings or Hand On Heart practices during a program. We can use those anytime, anywhere without having to check our resources. Staying in contact with your program buddy, or attending a Hoffman Process grad group or Hoffman Essentials practice groups (most of them are online now, so you can attend one anywhere in the United States – even some in other countries!) are also great ways to keep community alive.
’Tis the Season for Tools
As the days grow shorter, the nights longer, creepy crawly thoughts have more time to take over. Don’t let them. Stay present and compassionate with yourself. Keep up the good work you started in your Process or Hoffman Essentials. As long as we are breathing and alive, we have the opportunity to keep moving with spirit and the light. Let’s get through this Silly Season with humor and lightness of heart. We can all use a good tool to pry out the negative messages.