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CHAPTER 1

Whole Child: A Winning Body and Mind Combination

True enjoyment comes from activity of the mind and exercise of the body; the two are united.

— Alexander von Humboldt

Energy, body, and mind

Science has shown many truths about life processes. One is that all life processes are energy phenomena. Energy creates matter and matter changes back into energy. The growth, maintenance, and activities of body and mind depend on energy to live and operate. In this chapter, you'll find out how to help children manage their energy and what some of their energy needs are. Then the following chapters focus on these needs of the child whose core talents are in the realm of intuitive intelligence.

Classical medical sciences describe the body as having different types of energy that work together. They ensure that mind and body live optimally or at their best. Specifically, the different types of energy are called etheric, mental, and emotional energies.

Etheric energy — Think of etheric energy as the electro-magnetic energy field radiated by the body. Etheric energy affects the physical functioning of the body. The health of the body's cells, tissues, and organs depend on it. Etheric energy helps hearts beat, stomachs digest food, and cells repair. Toxins in our environment can cause etheric energy to be less effective. Emotional traumas can also damage it.

Mental energy influences our spiritual viewpoint. This energy helps us gain perspective on our place in life and helps us balance the other activities of body and mind. Mental energy can help children cope with excessive stress through logic or creative imagination. Using mental energy, children can imagine that they are in the "big picture" of life. It serves as a foundation for faith and answers children's questions about their existence. Some of these questions are:

• What is my life's purpose?

• What is death?

• Who am I?

• What am I doing here on earth?

• What things do I need to live well and happily?

We use mental energy to think and feel security. We gain insight into the mysteries of life and how we should act toward others. Some children may not know about spiritual values. If they do not, they become insecure and uncertain about positive values. They may feel ambivalent about their life experiences and making decisions.

Emotional energy controls our thoughts and emotions. We experience it in a subjective way. Emotional energy forms the basis of personal character. It also directs our own definitions of pain and pleasure. Emotional energy is the foundation for:

• Thought processes.

• How we gain knowledge.

• Emotional relationships.

In our society, emotional energy has to work harder in many children than the other types of energy. Children sometimes live in bad homes or other abusive situations. Mom or dad may pressure their kids to succeed in school or in sports. The media constantly pressures kids to buy things. Peers may put pressure on a child to fit in. And schools expect maturity, too. Students must achieve academically and behave socially. Many children are not ready to meet all the demands placed on them.

Emotional and etheric types of energy are opposites. The more we feel emotional, the more we use our emotional energy, which means we have less etheric energy left over to cope with our physical needs. Because of emotional stress, we may suffer from physical problems.

Etheric energy is important. We may not have enough of it if we are over stimulated emotionally, because emotional energy scatters or disperses. This is especially true if we react emotionally over and over again throughout a long period of time.

If we do not have enough etheric energy, we can get tired and be erratic. Our appetite may go up or down, or we may not sleep well. Our bodies may feel tense and tired. We may also lack enough etheric energy if there are too many toxins in the body. We may feel unwell and lack the energy to live active and fulfilling lives.

A spiritual perspective can increase your stamina and vitality and improves etheric, emotional, and mental energies. We share it when talking about the "big" questions in life with our children. A spiritual foundation helps us and our children balance the different parts of our lives. It gives us a framework for understanding adversity or distress, illness, or death. A spiritual perspective will help our etheric, mental, and emotional types of energy work well and stay in proper proportion to one another.

The connection between the body and the mind

Within a human being, the body's organs connect directly to the mind. The body and mind work together, and each reflects the health of the other. But the connection is even closer than that. The organ system expresses what is going on in the mind. Your mental state is an emotional reflection of specific organ systems.

Throughout history, doctors have known that the body and mind are connected. They treated problems in the mind by healing the body's organs. Their treatment of physical sickness showed their belief in this link, too. One way they cured physical illness was to help a patient resolve his mental or emotional difficulties. We know that mental illness is sometimes caused by a malfunction of the body's organs. Organs can fail to work properly because of poor nutrition or toxins to which we are exposed. Sometimes even medicines and vaccines harm the body.

Classical medicine has found many connections between the body and the mind. Specific organs govern different mental and emotional processes. For example:

• The kidneys control emotions of fear and anxiety.

• The lungs relate to feelings of sorrow and loss.

• The spleen governs our feelings of worry and obsession.

• The liver relates to feelings of anger, jealousy, irritation, and depression.

• The heart is at our "center," the core of our individuality and relationships. It integrates the functioning of all our other organs.

We can relieve emotional problems by treating the organs. For example, acupuncture can cure anxiety if it is focused on the kidneys. We can also strengthen the kidneys using herbs or homeopathy. This, too, will lower a person's anxiety.

Our mental health depends on many things, such as the proper health of our organs. And our organs depend on our environment to work well. Surroundings that are peaceful aid our physical health. Also, a good spiritual foundation gives us a feeling of security and well being. We can all benefit from inspiration and hopefulness in our daily lives.

Intuition influences our lives strongly. Studies show that the heart perceives first. What the heart intuits today, the brain will understand tomorrow.

Stress factors and children

The most formative time in our lives is from birth through puberty. During this period, we form our basic responses to life. So it is important to identify factors that affect our children's growth. One area to watch is the mental and emotional influences that affect a child. Another area consists of spiritual influences. A third area to pay attention to is a child's physical environment. Throughout the book are examples of the influence in the lives of intuitive children, especially in times of stress. When the mind can't think, we rely on intuition. When the body is tired, we rely on our inner voice and wisdom to provide guidance about food, exercise, and treatment.

Environment

One way to safeguard our children's environment is to ensure that they have proper nutrition, which we cover in more depth later in this book. Another way is to become aware of unhealthful toxins in the home and eliminating them. When children are sick, we can try natural remedies. We can change our old habit of reaching for prescription medicines first.

Mind and emotions

In safeguarding emotional growth in children, we can respect the role of play. When children play, they use fantasy and creativity. They imagine and act out the roles they will grow into as adults. The word imagination means we create the "image" of what we are to become. So play helps children grow as healthy individuals, and you'll learn how it is a keen marker for the creative-intuitive child.

Children need unstructured time for imaginative play. Today, our children often spend their time in structured activities at school. They take part in classes the teacher has planned. After school, they may play on a team in organized sports. Unstructured playtime is taken up when they passively watch television.

Children need free time. They need time in which they are not guided in a planned activity. They need free time so they can mature and develop their own unique modes of expression. And they need to develop their own understanding of the world and of other people. Children learn a lot when educators and parents guide their activities. But they also need to learn from playing on their own without the values and ideas of adults to direct them. When they play on their own, children will discover who they are in an intimate, personal way. Play also empowers them to be curious and learn to negotiate their environments safely.

Spiritual development

The third area to consider is the spiritual aspect of life. People think of having three aspects: soul, body, and spirit. The activities of the soul are emotions, thought, and creativity. The body contains physical counterparts of the soul as tissues, organs, and metabolism. The spirit is considered sacred by most cultures and religions around the world as the life-sustaining energy field permeating all. It is as much a part of us as our blood, flesh, and feelings.

Our spirits contain the heart's simple needs. The spirit holds the desires and aspirations we feel for ourselves, family, friends, and even our careers. Our needs are uncomplicated, and when they are met, we feel fulfilled and satisfied. Where does the influence of intuition enter the picture?

Intuitive intelligence permeates all aspects of the energy. Chinese philosophy and medicine emphasize the heart's importance as an organ of perception. We intuitively know from the heart, which accumulates the largest energy charge and distributes the energy to every cell, passing along information.

We want unconditional love from someone. We also want to feel that our unique ways of looking at the world have value. If we make mistakes, we need to be affirmed and forgiven despite them. We need to feel worthy of acceptance without having to prove anything to anybody. These needs are especially strong when we feel overwhelmed and powerless. We want these things and so do our children.

Children need a healthful environment. They need to be able to express creatively. They need a parent or caregiver who understands their spirit. If these factors are present, a child can deal with the stresses of living. A child can develop the qualities to lead a successful and happy life.

Our own spirituality has a greater effect on our children than material goods we may give them. It will support the developing spirits of our children. A child's spirit forms the basis of his or her emotional responses and sense of health and well being.

When children feel safe, and their physical and emotional needs are met, their intutive and spiritual intelligences rise to the surface for development and enrichment.

Breathing space produces calm

How often have you heard, "I'm bored and there's nothing to do." You may have replied, "Go outside and play. Go watch television. Find something to do."

Next time you hear the boredom complaint, say, "Great, wonderful. Take some space." Enjoying "space" is one of the best ways for children to allow their minds and bodies to settle down and find peace. We encourage our children to relax, contemplate, or empty their minds. We may call it "take a breather," "peace and quiet," "doing nothing," "calm break," or simply being.

We use the term "space" to describe a state that is empty of expectations, conditions, and outcomes. Space connects to intuition. When we take space, or time out, we participate in unstructured time. Children and adults often experience difficulty doing this. Adults are used to the demands of performing a job. Children are accustomed to doing homework where the rules of how to use time are spelled out.

Learning to use unstructured time creatively is beneficial. If we learn to do this, we can discover our inner beauty and worthiness. Our children can, too. Do your children know how to do nothing? Can they uncover the revelation hidden in moments of stillness and silence?

We need to show our children how to use space if they are ever to gain a feeling of wholeness and inner peace. Space allows intuition to surface and be active, and children to be aware of this. They need a time to feel in control — a time when they are not being stimulated by anything outside themselves. When children listen quietly to what is inside them, they may think of music and poetry. Creating new things will teach them confidence.

We often forget that life is a process in which we are constantly creating things. We form our cells and tissues out of the energies found in the chemistry of the plant, animal, and mineral kingdoms. We create thoughts, words, and ideas from our experiences. We perceive life through the creative action of our senses and the ceaseless searching of our hearts. Children need time and space so they can explore their own abilities to be creative.

Children become aware of their power to create the way they see life by being quiet in unstructured time. Their creativity unfolds slowly and continues to show itself in the time when they are doing nothing. They miss out on this experience when they are trying to carry out predetermined goals. We do well to nurture creativity in our children. It comes to them naturally. Creativity is also the aspect that we can preserve and encourage for ourselves.

Putting the pieces together

The different types of energy have unique qualities, so they affect the body and mind differently. For example, emotional energy is irregular. When our goal is to manage this energy, we can change our activities and do things that build up the opposite physical qualities. Later chapters in the book provide strategies for managing irregular emotional energy. We can fit our actions into a regular schedule. When we behave in patterns, it lowers our emotional stress.

Children perform best when they have regular schedules or understand expectations. Specific times for meals, bedtime, playtime, homework, and family chores can ease stress they might feel. These activities create a secure framework for a child if they are done each day.

Activities that are performed at irregular times can be stressful. For example, how stressed do you feel when your activities pile up? How distressed are you when you are forced to concentrate on more than one thing at a time to get them all done? You create stress in your life when you simultaneously have to buy groceries, walk the dog, watch the children, and catch up on your work. Brain research shows that multi-tasking fatigues the brain. You create a chronic stress pattern if you repeat this kind of overload often enough. We can perform all the needed tasks by putting our activities on a regular schedule. We also gain the time to focus on the attention to detail that they need. We manage our time to regulate our emotional energy.

Stress disperses and fragments an individual's energy. Sometimes children read an assignment while they are watching TV. They may try to go over their math while listening to distracting music. These activities generate stress. Parents might try providing "space" around homework activities. Children then are free from interruptions that interfere with their focus of attention. They can do their homework in peace and quiet.

The things we have been discussing are so obvious that we often overlook them. We do not credit them with the impact they have on our lives. We look at the activity rather than energy that it is producing and how it affects the body and mind. The body and mind operate on energies. Every activity produces some form of energy ripple.

Our health is best when our activities radiate creative and non-stressful energies. These energies contribute to our growing sense of wholeness. They are the meaning of heilida, health — the oneness and sacredness of life.

Be practical: health mindfulness

• Understand that health is your natural state, and you participate creatively in it by your choices.

• Honor the signals from your mind and body about how to create balance in your life. If you do experience stress or disease, it is only part of the natural process of learning balance.

• Integrate and digest everything you take in. Don't overwhelm yourself or your children with food, addictions, thoughts, sensory stimuli, and the like. The key to healthy metabolism is in balance.

• Be thoughtful about the basics of health. Eat proper food. Maintain a nontoxic physical environment. Take care of your health processes that strengthen etheric energy and support your physical health.

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Excerpted from "Raising Intuitive Children"
by .
Copyright © 2009 Caron B. Goode, EdD and Tara Paterson.
Excerpted by permission of Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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