A.D.D - The Four Levels
By Kevin Ross Emery, D.D.

We often only see what we see with our eyes and forget that there are many things out there beyond what we see. There are things we need to perceive and understand in order to be happy and fulfilled in this life - things that cannot be seen by the naked eye and must be perceived with our Divine eye. Nevertheless, there will always be people who, because of their discomfort will quickly dismiss what is not visible to the physical eye because they do not wish to perceive it.

In my earlier books and classes, I would often talk about how we have four bodies, not one. When I first started "seeing" things about A.D.D. with my Divine eyes, I would talk about the impact this "condition" had on the different bodies. We have a physical body, an emotional body, an intellectual body and a spiritual body. During a lifetime these four bodies need to be balanced. Imbalances might show up physically or in the form of abusive or self-abusive emotional or intellectual patterns or as a disconnection from our Spiritual selves. My messages took that form, uncovering what was going on in each of the four bodies for that person who was A.D.D.- impacted. As a group, the A.D.D.-impacted individuals seem to show different patterns in the four bodies than those who are not impacted by A.D.D.

Right up to the first draft of Managing The Gift: Alternative Approaches to Attention Deficit Disorder, I still used the concept of four bodies. Enter editor. "Too confusing," she said. "The book is being created to go out and touch the mainstream. To touch the mainstream, use as many mainstream words or concepts as possible." So, exit the four bodies and enter the four levels. To keep this simple and coordinated with the book I will now proceed to explain to you, albeit briefly, the connection between the four levels and the characteristics that we call A.D.D. However, writing for the audience of this publication, I felt that you would enjoy and appreciate the story of the change. I also felt that many of you out there would really resonate, be familiar with, and even use the four-body concept in your life.

The Physical Level

The way that the physical body can be impacted by A.D.D. falls into two categories: intake and output. The A.D.D. impacted person needs less caloric intake to create more energy. The A.D.D. impacted person tends to be more sensitive to the kind of calories the body receives. That sensitivity shows up in both the form of the body wanting more nutrient-dense foods and the body being more likely to react negatively to foods that have little or no nutritional value, many of which we overeat in our culture. Also, they can be more efficient in their processing of food energy when they receive the quality they require. The wrong foods can result in uncontrollable hyperactivity whereas the right foods allow the individual to experience a more balanced level of energy.

The Emotional Level

We have struggled with emotions as a species since the dawn of culture. In the western world, the expression of certain emotions has been more acceptable for one gender than the other. However, both genders have all emotions and the only thing we can control, temporarily at best, is when and how we are going to express them, not whether or not we have them. The emotions we do not allow ourselves to express will often become twisted, perverted and will increase in energy until they are allowed to surface. This has led to an increasingly handicapped emotional body.

Keeping this in mind, let us now look at the A.D.D. gifted person's emotional level. The A.D.D.-impacted person has the ability to conveniently put emotions into a temporary holding pattern so that they can deal with them fully, efficiently and in a way in which the emotions do not throw them completely out of whack. The advantage of this kind of emotional body is that the temporary holding of emotions (without them being increased, twisted or perverted), allows the individual to deal with them later in a healthy way. However, if the individual tries to avoid them and hold onto them for too long, they all will come tumbling down at once. So the A.D.D.-impacted person has the opportunity to use this holding pattern to better deal with emotions. But if the opportunity is not taken, the emotional build-up can result in an emotional explosion that may be devastating.

The Intellectual Level

Intellectually, the impacted person is trying to access more information - trying to use parts of the brain that up until recently were dormant in most people. They constantly dump thoughts out of short-term memory if the brain does not find sufficient evidence for keeping them there. However, if thoughts are determined to be worth putting into their long-term memory, then they are and will always be there. Often thoughts seen as temporary and useless information do not make it past their short-term memory at all. If the information appears important, then it might be upgraded; if not, then out it goes with the next memory dump. Yet anything that fascinates this mind can be remembered in the minutest of details, with information attached that, from anyone else's perspective, might be seen as useless. If fascinating, all attached information is considered important. They often show patterns of receiving and processing information, which when understood and worked with, are quite amazing and efficient.

Intellectually, A.D.D. impacted people often come across as stubborn. Because of the vast amount of information coming to these individuals, they rarely question what they already feel they know and will not do what doesn't make sense to them, whether or not someone else tells them it is important.

The Spiritual Level

People impacted with A.D.D. are very often more aware of their connection to a source of "higher" power and to the earth herself. When supported in their spirituality and their spiritual quest, they can be amazing. When suppressed, however, their reactions can be disastrous and they will strike out. They come to bring us wisdom and justice; not always do either indicate compassion. And these gifted people do not always tolerate intentional acts of cruelty or abuse, whether to them, to each other, to animals or to the world. They arrive with a knowing that they are here to make the world a better place, but a better place from the whole earth perspective, which includes all living things upon the earth. They will often have clear past life memories. They may cry when they see the wanton destruction of woodlands so that another mall can be put just a few yards down the street from the old mall, which is only half full. It is not in their nature to respond well to "because that's the way it's always been" or "because I said so" or "that's just the way it is." They will ask questions that could likely embarrass us, because our judgmental or selfish side is showing. They come in droves, feeling the pain of the world and the earth, because someone has to before it is too late! They come to help, to save us from ourselves and to succeed when given the chance - when we can stop punishing/drugging them long enough to hear their message to us.

Kevin Ross Emery, D.D. is the author of the book Managing The Gift: Alternative Approaches for Attention Deficit Disorder. His book is available through Amazon.com as well as his own website. He travels around the country offering lectures, workshops and setting up non-medical based protocols for children and adults with A.D.D. His primary practice is in Portsmouth, NH and you can send him e-mail.