Left brain vs. right brain :: which side are you on? Truth is we all use both sides all the time—everyday.
But we each favor one side over the other. Or, better said, we have a tendency or predilection toward one side. For the more logical, linear thinkers among us (Left brained) you have a strong sense of direction and can navigator more easily when visiting a new city or area for the first time. But the Right brained person is not lost. North/South/East/West does not excite them. They can give you excellent and accurate directions by telling you the color and design of the building on the corner where you must turn right. Actually they are more likely to say "turn toward the mountains" ...or...look for the big old bridge over the river.
Art poetry, music all hangout and emanate from the right brain. But poetry is language and words are key tools of the left brain. Students who are involved in school music programs (choir, band, and orchestra) are known to do better in math—a province of the left brain.
In high school I did not enjoy (and got average marks in) algebra. I just could not relate numbers whether they were above and below a long line. I cared not about Poly and her nomials. And there were all those RULES. No thank you very much.
Then I discovered geometry = math with pictures. Loved it. As the oldest of the mathematical sciences (dating back to the 3rd century B.C.) it was concerned with shapes, sizes, and spacial relationships. Me too!
In high school (and before) I was using "picture math" to layout the school paper and yearbook, and design and build sets for school plays. When I discovered geometry I suddenly had a name for what I had been doing since fifth grade. (Diagram, left, is a standard theatrical "flat", rear-view.)
Building a flat was a geometry exercise, but what we painted on the front side (muslin fabric stretched over the frame) THAT was very right brained.
The large "Left / Right" illustration at the top of this blog post is one of three in a series of ads created by Mercedes. The text of the ads tells it all (words in italics are my editorial comments):
Left ::
I am the left brain.
I am a scientist. A mathematician. I love the familiar.
I categorize. I am accurate. Linear. Analytical. Strategic.
I am practical. Always in control. (Good luck with that.)
A master of words and language. Realistic.
I calculate equations and play with numbers.
I am order. I am logic.
I know exactly who I am.
Right ::
I am the right brain.
I am creativity. A free spirit.
I am passion. Yearning. Sensuality.
I am the sound or roaring laughter. I am taste.
The feeling of sand beneath bare feet. I am movement.
Vivid Colors.
I am the urge to paint on an empty canvas (or theatrical flat.)
I am boundless imagination. Art. Poetry. I sense.
I feel. I am everything I want to be.
Most people know whether they are predominantly Left or Right brained. If you are really not sure, use the two lists above (the copy from all three Mercedes' ads) as a check list. Which ever list you resonate with most, that's you.
Notice, too, that you will likely have checks on both lists. That's to be expected. It's healthy. It is, in fact, very human. No one can be ONLY left or right brained.
Whether you are a person who makes "New Year's Resolutions" consider trying this as a personal challenge for the New Year. Print out both lists and check the items in each list that you can confidently say describes your current skill set and behavior.
Use the unchecked items as opportunities for growth for 2012. And look to grow in both Left and Right brain characteristics and skills. They are all acievable to some degree.
"I am NOT a person of boundless energy?!" You say. Few folks are. But could you develop a methodology to be a big energy person for a day, now and then. Some days, some projects, require an extra measure of our full attention and energy, boundlessly executed.
"I am NOT linear!" Says the ardently Right brain person. Really. You never make To Do lists? You occasionally do "creative laundry" by running clothes through the dryer, before putting them through their cycles of the washing machine? I doubt you have EVER done that.As simple as it is the washer-then-dryer process is linear.) It is a short line.)
And don't get me started on those who say. "I am not creative." BULL-loney!
Everyone has a creative spirit. I can prove it. (Make a cup of tea ... or any other favorite beverage and a snack, and watch my full-length keynote presentation "Recapturing Your Creative Spirit." on YouTube, HERE. There is a permanent link in the "Prologue" at the top/center of this blog. Feel free, too, to post the YouTube link on your blog, Facebook, etc. Let me know when you do.)
"NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS DON'T WORK!" I hear you, and I respectfully disagree. If you selected just one item from each list (Left and Right) to focus on improving each week or month, you would show improvement. If you only worked on it for five weeks, that would be TEN areas of personal development and improvement. Compare that to the amount of personal growth you had in 2011.
Write to me in a month of so and tell me the story of new areas of growth. Just trying will encourage all around you who see your efforts.
I will be printing my Left & Right check lists and gluing them into my current sketchbook that is with me everywhere, all the time.
Here are the other two Mercedes Left/Right Brain images. The one above is called "paint" the other two are "music" and "passion." (click images to enlarge.) The add copy (text, above) is identical in all three.
Can't wait to get your progress reports!
Big thanks to my long-time, boundlessly creative friend Jayn Ghormley for sending one of these images. Jayn is an on-going catalyst to my own creativity. We really do inspire each other.
Get to it!
