MENTAL QUALITIES – AWARENESS, INTEGRITY, INTELLIGENCE AND OTHERS

by Dr. Lawrence Wilson

All information in this article is for educational purposes only. It is not for the diagnosis, treatment, prescription or cure of any disease or health condition.

Your brain and your thinking give you certain abilities. These are often confused with intelligence, but they are different qualities, all of which are important. This short article is adapted from Chapter 36 of the textbook, Nutritional Balancing And Hair Mineral Analysis by this author. It briefly explores the meaning of words such as awareness, intent, integrity, intelligence, mental balance, good judgment, well-adjusted and wisdom.

Awareness. This concept has to do with how well a person is tuned into his immediate environment. It answers the question: What is going on around me? Reduced awareness is associated with low vitality, brain fog, distractibility, a lack of grounding or centeredness, ADD, delirium and spaciness. A reasonable level of awareness is a prerequisite for intelligence, certain abilities, good judgment and wisdom. Awareness can actually be at many levels. Animals, for example, are often far more aware of scents and sounds than humans. However, they are less aware on other levels such as the intellectual and spiritual levels. Any biochemical imbalance may affect awareness. However, the most important hair analysis patterns associated with reduced awareness include:

Low zinc and selenium. Few people today have enough of these minerals. Since they are needed for important centers in the brain, this causes lowered awareness in millions of people today. Few tests, including hair mineral analysis, can reveal this clearly all the time.

Low energy patterns. The main ones include a low sodium/potassium ratio, very slow oxidation, a calcium shell and a four lows pattern.

Resistance-to-change patterns, also called stalled transition patterns. These include fast oxidation with a low sodium/potassium ratio, sympathetic dominance, four highs and four lows. A person may intentionally lower his awareness with these patterns to slow some kind of change. Alternatively, a reduced awareness level can lead to these patterns.

Elevated toxic metals. All toxic metals are neurotoxic and tend to lower awareness, though in different ways depending on the metal:

Copper causes spaciness or slight detachment from reality. When extreme, copper toxicity causes hallucinations, delusions and some schizophrenias.

Mercury causes odd behavior and twisted reasoning that reduces awareness.

Lead dulls perception and understanding. It is associated with a reduced IQ, for example, and this definitely reduces one’s awareness.

Arsenic and nickel have effects somewhat like lead.

Cadmium irritates and stimulates the brain, which may alter awareness. Cadmium is also associated with a male trait of risk-taking. At times this is good. However, it can be due to a lowered level of awareness.

Aluminum dulls awareness in ways that affect memory more than other areas of the mind.

Manganese toxicity is associated with a type of schizophrenic behavior that is quite different from the schizophrenic tendencies associated with copper imbalance. Manganese imbalance is much less emotional and seems totally emotionally detached, another form of lowered awareness.

Iron toxicity causes anger and rage. This always tends to reduce awareness.

Intent. This has to do with motives, deep desires and the general direction of a person’s life. It answers the question: Who am I and why am I here? If a person is motivated by something hopeful and spiritually-oriented, his mental health will often be at least decent. However, if the intent or motive for action is something selfish, superficial or purely material, mental health is likely to be worse.

If one’s intent is to be and do your best, to be as honest and direct as possible, and to be of great service, mental health if often superb. In nutritional balancing science, intent is important because many stress patterns, lifestyle problems and mental illnesses arise from faulty intent. For example, a person who wants to please everyone often runs around too much and does not rest enough. This causes adrenal exhaustion, often at a young age. Such a person will also become depressed or angry when others do not respond the way the person desires. One who wants to dominate others often becomes exhausted from the mental effort of holding on to those around himself. In this way, intent has much to do with both physical and mental health.

Hair analysis patterns associated with faulty intent. A hair analysis offers subtle clues about intent. Patterns include:

Fast oxidation. The intent is to fight hard against perceived enemies or stress.

Slow oxidation. The intent is to maintain oneself in a type of lower stress holding pattern.

Sympathetic dominance. The intent is often to make something happen by the force of will. The person is trying hard and pushing himself in some way, physically or emotionally. It is a common cause of fatigue, anxiety and sometimes depression when it doesn’t work out.

A calcium shell. The intent may be to withdraw or protect oneself from the world by becoming somewhat numbed. This is often used by sensitive individuals to allow them to function in a world they do not understand well or do not relate well within. It can work well, but eventually causes physical ailments.

Moving quickly through the oxidation types. This may indicate a self-destructive intent for some reason, because it usually signals a person who is burning himself out at a young age.

Spiritual defensiveness pattern. The intent may be to please another or continue with a job, relationship or attitude, even though it is not working well.

Low sodium/potassium ratio. This can just be a burnout pattern. However, it can also signal a stubborn intent to continue on a set path, even when it is not working well.

Integrity. This word literally means whole and complete. It may answer the question: How do I live? Integrity has to do with honesty, courage, moral character and a genuine, integrated and consistently reasoned approach to life. A high level of integrity helps greatly with mental health, as well as with the healing of physical ailments. A strongly moral intent and integrity are also perhaps the most important traits for spiritual advancement.

Intelligence. This has to do with how well a person uses the mind. It may answer the question: What am I capable of? It is very important, but not that easy to measure. IQ tests are somewhat biased and can only narrowly define intelligence as knowledge of a certain type. For example, these tests cannot determine who will make the best mother. Nor do they measure qualities such as compassion, judgment, memory for details, ability to size up people intuitively and many others. Intelligence definitely involves memory, cognition, processing speed and the tuning function of the brain.

Biochemical factors that are known to lower intelligence include lead and mercury toxicity, B-complex vitamin deficiencies, myxedema, hypothyroidism, cretinism, Down’s syndrome, a high level of fluoride in the body, low iodine and perhaps others.

Good judgment. Judgment has to do with action and decisions in particular situations. It may answer the question: How do I act at a particular time? It often involves knowledge, intelligence, intent and awareness all at the same time. For excellent judgment, one must be fully aware of the facts of the situation. Then one can use one’s intelligence, driven by right intent, to discern the best course of action. If any of these traits are lacking, judgment will suffer.

Mental balance. This refers to mental flexibility, good emotional control, and good judgment. It may also refer to a strong connection between ‘the head and the heart’, meaning that one is able to balance reason with intuition and feeling.

Mental wellness. This might refer to a person’s ability to maintain mental balance and calmness in the face of mental and emotional stressors and challenges. One can often tell a person who is well mentally because they welcome mental challenges such as learning new skills, dealing with emotional issues, or other types of challenges that frighten others who are less stable or who are not functioning as well mentally and emotionally.

Nutrition is just one factor in mental wellness, but it is a critical one today in many cases. Another factor is how well one has processed his subconscious mental and emotional material so that it does not burden or restrict one too much.

Well-adjusted. This term usually refers to a person who can get along well with others in social situations. It is a desirable social trait that may have to do with tolerance, poise, a somewhat outgoing personality and perhaps self-confidence or a pleasing smile. Well-adjusted, however, can mean a person who has simply learned to go along with the crowd. This is not necessarily a helpful way to live. I would also not regard it as truly well-adjusted, but simply able to blend with others in social situations.

Wisdom. This word is somewhat out of fashion. It is always a combination trait that begins with excellent intent and integrity. It also requires high intelligence, some knowledge, excellent awareness, and good judgment in action. In ancient Oriental texts and in the bible, wisdom was always the overriding goal of all people. Nutritional balancing, by correcting imbalances at many levels, hopefully will help our society and its inhabitants to learn more about this elusive and important human trait.

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