What is physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual intelligence –

Have you ever stopped to reflect on how your body and mind are doing? From the moment you come across these reflections and start looking for answers, you are already practicing self-knowledge.

According to the Hoffman methodology, created by the American businessman Bob Hoffman in 1967, and which is the basis of one of the largest self-knowledge courses in the world, people need to focus on discovering and integrating four human intelligences.

“However, as we are not trained to recognize them or encouraged to develop them, we spend our lives underusing these true capabilities. Each of these intelligences should have equal importance and power. But, due to lack of self-awareness, valuing a certain intelligence and disfavoring others ends up generating mental confusion, anxiety, depression, among other problems”, explains Heloísa Capelas, specialist in self-knowledge, emotional intelligence and personal innovation and CEO of the Hoffman Center.

WHAT EVERY HUMAN INTELLIGENCE IS

It’s everything our body already does and also everything it’s capable of doing. For example: he is so intelligent that he breathes without us having to order him; our organs function without us having to ask or send a command (at least, we don’t have to consciously do so). With training, our body is able to learn, to strengthen, to resist. This is all physical intelligence.

Ability to identify one’s emotions, to name and manage them. And managing emotions means embracing them, acknowledging that they are there, and then consciously deciding what actions to take based on what you are feeling. That is, emotional intelligence is also the ability to decide considering one’s own emotions, and not discarding what one feels about a given situation.

Intellectual intelligence:

The one we are most used to working with and valuing. It’s our ability to study to learn new things, new skills, new languages ​​and whatever else we want. It is logical reasoning, technical mastery, pure and simple knowledge that is behind the greatest achievements of humanity.

spiritual intelligence:

It has nothing to do with religion or religiosity. In fact, it is the competence that connects us to the universe, it is our internal wisdom, our intuition, that part of us that simply knows the answers and the paths, and is not afraid to make mistakes.

3 questions and answers about the four human intelligences, by Heloísa Capelas

What are the consequences of the imbalance of these intelligences?

As long as we remain unbalanced, it will be more difficult to find the inner peace necessary for assertive decisions and emotional health. The lack of balance and integration between our intelligences keeps us trapped in childish, compulsive, automatic and unconscious patterns of behavior. I go through life without ever noticing what I’m doing, why I’m doing it and what results result from it. Therefore, I am always faced with the same problems, but, as I always give the same answers, I am trapped in an extremely harmful vicious circle.

Is there any intelligence that deserves more attention than others?

No, they should all have the same value and attention. However, even today, our society continues to value intellectual intelligence much more, almost as if it were the only possible and appropriate measure to define a person’s abilities. It is true that this scenario is slowly changing.

Research is beginning to conclude – and the market is beginning to realize – that it is of no use, for example, to have the best trained professional in a given area, if he is not able to work in a team, to share knowledge, to lead with positivity. And these attributes will only be available to this professional if, in addition to intellectual intelligence, he also develops other skills.

Once in balance, how to maintain this state of harmony between the four intelligences?

With self-love and forgiveness. To be integrated and in harmony, we too need to accept that we are and will be imperfect. The pursuit of perfection is one of the biggest causes of imbalance in people. Because they believe they can and will be free of faults, every time they face their own mistakes and inabilities, they punish, take revenge and mistreat themselves. In this scenario, it is impossible to find harmony, mainly because we are imperfect in essence! Our mission is not to never make mistakes again, but to always learn. And that requires self-love and forgiveness: I look and recognize that I’m not perfect, that I have my good and my bad, and that despite my flaws, I deserve to love and be loved; therefore, I accept that, from time to time, I will make mistakes and I will learn from my mistakes. That simple.