Let’s Talk About Layers

Hello, and welcome to the Fertile Grounds blog. I am Heather Haller, a woman, a mother, and many other things, but I am also the creator of The Whole Woman Approach, a way of helping women help themselves to feel happier, more empowered, and more confident in themselves. I write this blog for all of us – a place about life, experiences, and hope, as well as fears, frustrations, and sadness.  I write it for all women – inclusively – if you identify as a woman, you have a place here.  While the stories I share may often be my own experience or that of someone I know, I want you all to know that every one of you has value.  If you would like to share, please feel free to reach out at heather@nshypnosis.com.  All I ask is that no one judges one another, no bullying or shaming, and no negative judgments about culture, religion, or beliefs.  We are all women of the world, and we must strive to love ourselves and love others, even if we don’t agree on everything.  We all have unique streambeds, but in the end, we all gather in a giant ocean, a world community of women affecting the Earth all around.

Why Fertile Ground? All women are fertile ground – at all ages! We are sources of creativity, of energy, of change – and we flow like a river.  Water touches everything around it – shaping it as it flows or floods by – just as we shape the world around us just by being in it. Even as a small stream, there are things going on inside the water – currents, whirlpools, and bubbles that travel within us.  We are interacting with ourselves, as well as the things that hold us from below and that we flow over or around.  We have many layers, each touching the others, yet each valid in itself.  As we grow, we change – and sometimes, life is flying by, and we feel out of control; other times, things are slow and peaceful. Sometimes there is a strong current under a more placid surface.  The interaction of those layers in themselves as well as with the things around them, make every step of the water’s journey unique – just as each of us lives a unique life of our own with different flows and blocks and times of destruction.  Those floods ultimately create a more fertile soil – a place for new life, for renewal, or a place to recover and renourish ourselves.

Another way to view ourselves is to picture one of the Russian nesting dolls, often called Matryoshka dolls.  These nesting dolls are usually made of wood; each one in the set is a bit smaller but the same shape as the first, until you have one small solid doll in the middle. Each layer must be put together correctly and completely for the next layer to fit properly around it. When one of our layers is disturbed, the other layers get out of balance as well!

The way I break it down is this:

• The First Layer (smallest core doll): Our Internal Life, or Our Subconscious
• The Second Layer: Our Conscious Mind and Body
• The Third Layer: Family and Friends
• The Fourth Layer: Our Environment, Our Community
• The Fifth Layer: Our Planet, The World

Think for a bit on these five layers of you.  You are important at every level!  And each level affects each other level, all things in motion both going inward and outward.  “I am only one person! I’m too small to matter!” you say.  The universe is made up of immeasurable small pieces – planets, dust, molecules, atoms, and the many particles that are within them!  Yet all those tiny pieces add up to create the universe and natural laws we know today.  

You may be one person, but something you do in this world may be the drop that fills the cup to overflow or the power needed to make a change.  Each drop builds on the others.  The compliment or smile or “hello” you offer to another at the bus stop may give them that extra spark to shine at their interview or the extra sparkle that opens them to receive a new love to treasure or an old love in a new way.  That moment you opened your heart to yourself and gave yourself a pat on the back or some downtime may be the difference between having a good day or a bad one, or perhaps give you the time to think and create something new in your life, or to break free of old pain, habits, or situations that have stood in your way.

At the center, the core of it all, is your internal life.  This is where change starts, this is where old patterns that no longer serve you may reside.  Working on this core, opening your heart to loving yourself, to forgiving yourself, to actively celebrating yourself, can bring positive change to your life and, ultimately, the world.  The more generous you can be with yourself, truly knowing that you are worthy of love and care just as you are this moment, the better your life will be from the inside out.  I don’t mean this in any fluffy superficial way.  We can use the right words in our hearts, but it takes work to truly accept them into our hearts.  Change from the center out takes work and dedication, but it can start with small things – even just moments a day.  There are so many different things we can do to increase our happiness in life, and our satisfaction with ourselves, but the most powerful of all of these starts within.  If that layer isn’t settled, the other layers can’t settle either.