The Layers of Life: Steps to Balance
Healing through the layers
This week chatting with friends (@justbreathelou and others) one key theme was healing the layers of our lives and by doing so creating harmony and many other benefits. Think of the layers as nature and our environment, our physical body, our energy and breath, our thoughts and emotions, our intellect, our connection with something beyond ourselves.
When you are aware of something that causes you discomfort in any of those layers and take steps to create more comfort in that area it has a positive impact on the other layers because they are all connected. Just know that you can make a large improvement with just the smallest choice to choose comfort. Be compassionate with yourself.
Let’s talk about the layers.
You might think that the environment is separate from you but the air you breathe, the food you eat, the water you drink, the images you see all come from your environment and go into your body to create the you that exists right now. Turn your attention inward. How is your body feeling at this exact moment? Those are feelings. Maybe you are just realizing that what you take into your body has a direct impact on how you feel. (Only 5% of genetic diseases are fully penetrant the other 95% of diseases with a genetic factor can be influenced by your environment).
Take a deep nasal breath right about now, slowly and so deep that your belly pushes out (that’s your diaphragm muscle doing that) and slowly out (belly comes in). Breathing in this way gives you positive relaxing feelings. Breathing quick shallow short in and short out breaths, only moving the shoulders up and down or rib cage out can create panic type feelings in your body. There are also energizing breaths like when you deeply in hale and then exhale in short dynamic loud bursts.
Knowing what your body needs in terms of what you see, hear, taste, feel, inhale, exhale can help you create more energy and positive experiences moment by moment, day by day. Your body is one of the layers of life.
Use your intellect to learn and understand what is attractive to you, what makes you feel comfort and joy. Use it to create. Let it reflect and align with your personal values, your principles. Your intellect is another layer.
When your thoughts are not helpful to you, check in with your body. What experiences are happening in your body? What you feel is called feelings and are not meant to be ignored. Feelings are emotions. They are meant to flow through your body, they are your body’s signal that something is happening to you to pay attention to - when you give these feelings attention you can now process what, why, when and then how you want to respond as the feeling dissipates. Take the time to pay attention. Your emotions are also related to your physical well being, think of how you feel after going for a walk, after having a shower, making love. You can learn how to tap into those emotions (even old ones), process them, and heal your body in this way too. There are many therapists, coaches who have techniques and support to share with you. Choose one who empowers you because YOU are the master of you.
When you tap into something that is beyond your material awareness you move into creation itself. Where do ideas come from? Why do subatomic particles behave the way they do? How do birds know how not to bump into each other as they change direction while migrating? There might be things that we do not know, cannot yet explain through science…and even if we did, we have learned now that we have influence over our very nature with our thoughts and behaviours…that we can inherit past behaviours through epigenetics (molecules associated with our DNA). So we have some reasons to believe in something else beyond what our human form senses tell us exists. When you spend time nurturing this area of your life, connecting to silence - you benefit with unbound creativity and healing. How amazing is that? So spending time in this layer of life will bring harmony to all the other layers as well.
Small steps to increasing your awareness of the body you have, the experiences you create, the interconnectedness of all of these layers will create more balance in your life. Some of these steps can be learned and taught, and all are unique to you! To quote Brother Lou (@justbreathelou) “Just Breathe” it is one of those very important essential steps.
I currently practice meditation, yoga, and mindful eating every day but it wasn’t always that way and I just took baby steps to start. The benefit of establishing your own practice is that you can just turn off that part of your brain that tries to negotiate with you about whether you want to do this or that. How many times do you negotiate brushing your teeth? When you learn how and what certain healthy practices are good for your unique mind body and then make a commitment to doing it every day, then you bypass that choice that can sometimes come from that old self defeating place in your brain.
Happy Freestyle Friday
Christine ♥️
