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Toni Reece: Okay, Shirleen, we are now officially being recorded for the Get Inspired! Project.  Thank you so very much for agreeing to be part of this project, and before we begin with the questions, can you please introduce yourself?

Shirleen Von Hoffmann: Sure.  My name is Shirleen Von Hoffmann, and I am from Sacramento, California.

Toni: Shirleen, what do you do?

Shirleen: I am a cancer coach.

Toni: Can you just give us a little bit of background as far as what that means?

Shirleen: A cancer coach provides support in any way needed to cancer patients as they go through their cancer regimes and treatments; you know, all of it.  I provide support in the way of food, by taking them to appointments, transcribing notes while we are at the doctors, explaining terminology, research, whatever they need.  Support … sometimes just being a friend.

Toni: Right.  Well thank you for that introduction.  And that leads very nicely into the first question, which is, when you think about the work that you do or even in life in general, who do you inspire, and how do you do that?

Shirleen: Well, it is my goal to inspire everybody I meet.  When I am working with cancer patients, I inspire cancer patients by what I do for them.  I do it at no cost; it is my soul work.  I try and inspire everybody I meet by my attitude — my positive, outgoing spirit — and if I run across people not doing the right thing, I have no problem telling them you are not doing the right thing, and give them food for thought.  So hopefully, I inspire everyone that I meet.

Toni: One comment that you made was that it’s your soul work.  Can you tell me what you mean by your soul work?

Shirleen: Soul work is what I consider to be work that you do for no pay for a perfect stranger.

Toni: Oh, okay … wow, okay, that’s fantastic!  So how you go about inspiring others is with your attitude and the behavior in doing this soul work, is how you will go about inspiring the people that you work with.

Shirleen: Correct.  Many times, when I tell people what I do, they are inspired and they want to help, and that is certainly how I became inspired, by another organization that does the same things for AIDS patients.  So I think inspiration begets more inspiration.

Toni: Almost like a chain reaction.

Shirleen: Correct.

Toni: Fantastic!  What do you do when you are working — again, it can be life or in business, — when you are doing this type of work, what do you do to help explore potential in others?

Shirleen: Well, I challenge them to think about what they are doing to be a better person and to do the right thing.  And I do that consistently in my relationships with close friends and family; and if you can spark a fire in one person to think differently about something, I think it makes a big difference in the world.   You know, I am very outspoken, and I will tell people things and hopefully it inspires them for the better.  I also sometimes will give people a taste of what I do and let them do one piece of my cancer coaching.  For instance, I may let them deliver food for me to a cancer patient, and I may say “do something on your own; stop by, get them flowers.  I am sending them soup; pick up some hot bread, do something on your own and go experience what it feels like to do what I do”, and I get really, really great results from that.  People love helping me.

Toni: So, what I am hearing from you is that when you help others explore their own potential, one of your techniques is to actually have them experience what you do that inspires other people — the cancer patients that you work with — and that provides them with that experience which lifts their own potential that they may not have done in the past.

Shirleen: Correct.  And it is contagious.  It’s contagious; I get the best positive experience reactions when they come back and tell me how it felt to help that person.

Toni: And that is a way that you explore their own potential.

Shirleen: Yes.

Toni: Okay.  What do you look for, and what do you need to be inspired?

Shirleen: I need a healthy body and a healthy brain, I guess, to get up every day.  I try and live life every minute to its fullest, and a ton of people always ask me how I fit in all the things that I can do in a day, and I don’t know, I have seen enough people get cut short in life. I have quite the thirst for life and for fitting in as much of it as I can and trying to stay as positive as I can.  So as long as I have a healthy body and a healthy mind, I can explore my potential every day.  I am constantly reading.  I am a writer, an author, a cancer coach, a sales coach.  You know, as long as God keeps giving me breath and a healthy body and mind to do what I do, that is all I need.  I take it from there.

Toni: It sounds like there is quite a bit here; the healthy body and the healthy brain and your thirst for life.  Are there certain techniques or tools or resources that you look for when you have to fill yourself up to recharge your own battery for inspiration, to keep that healthy body and healthy brain?  Are there things that you look for and techniques that you use?

Shirleen: I exercise every day, but I do meditate.  During meditation, kind of do a routine where sometimes I ask for things, but most of the time I ask to be led in the right direction that day.  So, meditation, faith, exercise, having a positive attitude.  Your attitude usually will be very positive if you are happy and doing the right things in life.  It seems like the attitude follows.

Toni: Do you ever think that you are on the wrong path and search for affirmation that you are on the right path?

Shirleen: I constantly search for affirmation that I am on the right path, and when I get it, I know that I am.  If I don’t get it, I let things go.  But for the most part, if I receive signals that I am on the right path … I was in the corporate world for many, many years, successful, and finally partially retired and started doing more writing and I am gifted in writing; I can write an article that most people might struggle with for days in a couple of hours.  So, when people read my articles and accept them easily and say “great article, we love it, we are going to print it” that makes me know that I am on the right path.

Toni: You talked about having the healthy body and the healthy mind in your writing, and all of the things that you do and the good attitude that you have. When you are searching for affirmation or you’re working on that healthy body and healthy mind, what else do you do when you need to explore your potential further?  What else are you looking for?  What else do you seek when you know that you need to explore your own potential?

Shirleen: I am a big believer in the law of attraction.  I am a big believer in karma, so I practice the law of attraction a lot.  It’s challenging work as well, to practice it, but I try and practice it, and am learning about it more and more every day; but I love the whole idea of positive thought, what you put out comes back to you.  I believe in all of that.  And then spiritually, you know, finding a faith that fits you perfectly, I think that helps a lot, too.  It took me many years to find a faith that I felt perfect with, and recently I have done that, and I think that really, really helps complete the whole package.

Toni: So you, in your exploration, you’re looking for a deeper understanding of the laws of attraction and challenging yourself with that since it is a challenging work as you said; and I’m wondering as well then, Shirleen, when you are looking for inspiration and you have to have that healthy mind and healthy body and the exploration work that you do — which involves having spirituality, finding the faith, the positive thoughts, the laws of attraction — how does that then all tie back to your work and your exploration and your inspiration?  How does that all tie back to when you are inspiring others?  How do they connect?

Shirleen: Well, it’s my belief that love is the only thing that matters.  And I know it sounds a little corny, but I have seen enough people die to know that when they die, that love from family and friends is all they take with them, and love is what sustains us here on earth.  Love for your fellow mankind, love for your family and friends, love for your husband or wife, the love of life, and the love of your God is what motivates people to do great things.  Without it, people are miserable.  So it is kind of cliché, but it is very, very true.  It is the only thing you take with you.

Toni: And does that translate, then, back — because that is so important and so profound — does that translate back then to you receiving and giving that back to those that you inspire?

Shirleen Von Hoffman: You betcha!

Toni: So it really does come full circle for you.

Shirleen: Yeah, when I see somebody who is all alone who is going through a cancer journey — they are very scared, they are alone — to give them a little love inspires me and fills me up, and if I let you give them some love it would fill you up, too, and so, like I said before, it is contagious.  It really does all come down to love.  The love that you do in your life or what keeps you going inspires you; that’s what it does for me.  I think it does it for most people.

Toni: Shirleen, I have to tell you, that this interview has been wonderful, and I can’t thank you enough for the wisdom and the snapshot of your needs and your approaches that you are willing to share with others that can learn and benefit from.  Thank you so very much for taking part in this project and I hope we speak again soon.

Shirleen: You’re welcome.  Thank you, I appreciate it.

Toni: Thank you very much.

An additional note from Shirleen: I wrote my book “The Journey Home: A true story of life, love, illness, passage and healing.”  I wrote this book after taking care of my Mother as she was diagnosed and ultimately passed with a terminal illness.  The proceeds from that book feeds the foundation I created in her honor which helps cancer patients in need.

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For more information about Shirleen Von Hoffmann:  www.callingallangels.us

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