Knowing How to Switch Brains for Tasks or Happiness
ByWe have a left brain that is dedicated to our rational and language thinking and a right brain that is dedicated to physical and creative thinking. The left brain by itself would be cold and rational and the right brain by itself would be an emotional train wreck.
Most of us have a dominant side and feel most comfortable operating in that sphere. I have double dominance and am very lateral which means one sphere dominates for some activities and another sphere dominates for others. Highly lateral thinking is very male.
In early adolescences girls have greater language aptitude and males have greater physical aptitude. That means early on, girls are more left brain and boys more right brain. That is why when children are very young, girls seem so much smarter. Einstein didn’t really talk until he was five and he was thought to be retarded.
One of my pervasive characteristics is that my right brain sphere of physical and creative likes continuous change; nothing wrong with that unless I wanted to stay at one job for a long time because it was a great job.
Nothing wrong with that unless I had a long term project that required daily input and the routine was pretty much always the same. I would just as soon drink arsenic. I need change which means I have to be doing something dynamic.
That is why in my career I was always a good builder but a poor maintainer. That also makes me a bit of an adrenaline junkie; good for some things, not good for others. People who get bored can have self destructive habits.
Luckily, I went the other way and my change is continued improved healthy eating and fitness. The continuous new goals keep my right brain interested. I could have gone either way.
Knowing which brain sphere is dominant and what it demands to be happy could be crucial for healthy constructive living.
I took a test in the “Whole Brain Thinking” book by Jacquelyn Wonder. After an opening explanation of the three topics her book will cover she gives you a test to see how you currently operate. The results could be eye opening. It was clearly an explanation for why I do things. I could also see that one of my daughters is very left brained and the other very right brained.
The next objective is to learn how to move into the appropriate brain sphere for the activity you want to pursue. As a simple example I realize that in the morning when I go to the kitchen to make coffee, sometimes my process is confused because I am obviously right brain thinking as I try to get the coffee filter, coffee, water and coffee pot all together in the same process.
If you want to do calculating, organizing, or analysis you want to be in your left brain; If you want to be creative; your right brain. If you want to get out of one or the other, you can do some simple mind exercises to help make the change.
But the bigger over riding issue I see is how many people might be stuck doing activities that are counter their dominant brain comfort and be frustrated, unhappy, and maybe incompetent.
The other side would be if employers gave simple aptitude tests that would place people in the jobs in which they would be happiest and most proficient, productivity could be increased. An additional insight might be that if someone was not performing properly, it may not be because they were not paying attention, it maybe because there brain functioning was not optimum for the particular tasks.
When we say someone is out of their mind, we may be right.
If you want to excel and find your passion and inspiration, it might be best to know which side of your brain you enjoy most and what type of activities would inspire you. The second benefit is that with a better understanding you might actually adapt your brain to the task at hand.
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You can buy Jacquelyn Wonder’s book used starting at a $.01. I paid five cents so I could get a local shipper and get it quicker; Plus shipping of $3.99.
You might also want to venture into positive habits for left or right brainers:
Healthy, Lean and Happy Forever
