By Gary Shunk
“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.” Buddha
I have written about this before and probably will continue to. Two aspects of myself that the Hoffman Process reminded me of, awakened within me, were the awareness of my Emotional Self and of my Spiritual Self. Many tears flowed around these two aspects. A joyous reunion for me.
Checking In With My Quadrinity
I learned the Quadrinity Check-In, which allows me to check in with my body, my intellect, my emotional self, and my spiritual self. It is a very simple process of getting in touch with these aspects of myself. There are many ways to practice a Quad Check: There are daily Hoffman teacher-led check ins on Instagram. The Hoffman App, which has many Quad Checks, is available at the app store. I prefer the manual way of writing in my journals. Pause, get calm, turn my awareness within, converse with the four aspects of myself, and write.
“To fall in love with yourself is the first secret to happiness.” Robert Morley
Self Love for All Aspects
I’ve been doing some inner child work recently. I’ve been writing to my inner children with love, approval, and appreciation for their brilliant qualities. After my morning Quad Check, I was journaling and I started writing about self love. What is it? How do I do that? And my pen flew across the page.
The first thing that flowed out was taking good care of myself. Getting good sleep, rest. Eating good food. Exercising. Being outdoors in nature. Cooking. Reading. Actions that I enjoy doing. Taking good care. These can vary from person to person.
“Your greatest responsibility is to love yourself and to know you are enough.” Unknown
A Feeling of Self Love Exists Within
What it came down to for me was feeling the love that exists within me. Taking good care of myself is action oriented and worthy of doing, for sure. But feeling, for me, is different. Sitting quietly in meditation and feeling the love that exists within my heart is grounding. I don’t have to create it! Drinking it in. Being with it. Allowing the love to come out to play. Letting that love fulfill me.
Self-Love. Feeling it! It’s there. Always has been. And it’s for me!
“Love is a state of Being. Your love is not outside; it is deep within you. You can never lose it, and it cannot leave you.” Eckhart Tolle