The Four Parts of our Essence

As humans we have four parts to our being, each part quite separate and complete, yet each one needing the other in order to function. These four areas are our physical body, our mental capacity or intellect, our emotional self and our spiritual body (also known as the etheric). We will cover what needs to be done in order to function well in each of these areas in other modules, but as a brief overview this is what each one needs:

• Physical – the body needs exercise, rest and good nutrition in order to function well. It also needs time out to rejuvenate, and time out to have fun. The physical is also the realm where you take the thoughts produced from your mind and turn them into reality. They go from being just thoughts to becoming manifest in the physical plane.

• Mental or Intellectual Self – this has to do with what you know and with what ideas your mind can come up with. The mind is hungry for learning, so in order to look after the intellectual self you need to feed your mind good, positive information that will assist in your development. As with the body, do not feed your mind ‘junk food’. There is some information out there that actually hinders your growth, so be choosy about what you read, are told or are taught. Also, you need to allow your mind to flow with creative ideas. We wouldn’t be where we are today without people who have had a vivid imagination.

• Emotional Self – the greatest thing you can do for your emotional self is to feel satisfied with your life and the circumstances you have around you. To pine for things to be another way is to lean out into the future and stop creating the best that can be done in the now. A good way to help the emotional self is to keep a Gratitude Diary, and write down things that you are grateful for at the end of each day. This will settle any restless feelings within you. Cultivate feeling good about yourself and your life and develop patience. The things you want can be had with time and effort.

• Spiritual Self – our essence is connected to the Life Force. All that we need is within us. Harness your own inner knowing and spiritual abilities to help you when you need it. Be aware of the difference between your psychic self and your Soul – they are not the same entity. A person can be extremely psychic and intuitive but not be operating from their connection with God / the Life Force / Love / the Universe or whatever term you use for your understanding of God. Don’t confuse the two. You are not grounded in Spirituality if your intentions aren’t honourable and if you do not come from a space of humility when you deal with others.

Each one of these areas needs to be looked after and balanced, as all four are interdependent. They should all be functioning well individually so that when they come to interact with the other three they can do so in an effective way.

Most of us have an idea of what we want from life, but our goals are not very specific. People will drift along knowing that they are unhappy but not quite knowing why or how to go about improving themselves. Making our lives as productive and happy as possible depends on doing things the right way and being specific. Our lives will not work if we operate in certain ways or without certain standards.