Saturday, January 3, 2015

Right Lead or Left Lead

It is misleading to ask if someone is right brained or left brained. Obviously, except for a very small group, they have both brains in their head. Many of those unfortunate enough to have lost a hemisphere, have had the other half take over the necessary functions; so in effect they still have both brains in their head. Let's give three cheers for brain plasticity. Even those with the halves separated have both working; as often against each other as with each other, but they are still there. Just like a person's eyes or hands, which work together to accomplish their work, the brain relies on the skills of each side. Like any good relationship, they each have their own strengths and weaknesses, and together they are strong. No matter how 'Left Brained' or 'Right Brained' you happen to be (or are told you are), you are using both. Like your arms and legs, you can choose which one to exercise more, if you know how.

What people really mean is which one leads. Which is interesting, if academic and unimportant in the real scope of things. But it is hard to figure out.

I know my right hand leads. Everyone knows which hand of their leads. It is important to everyday life; the hands are chiral, they interact with everything slightly differently, and we are dependent on them for everything. Feed are also chiral, and we use them everyday almost as much as our hands, yet it is not so important to know which foot leads. For dancers and long-jumpers, it is important to know, but for the most part, it really doesn't matter. So it might influence which direction one tends to turn, or which foot one steps first with. So what?

Well, it's fun to know. To figure it out, have yourself be gently pushed. The foot that moves to catch you is the leader. Or just pay attention to when you start walking. It should be the same foot.

I also know my right eye leads, however imperative that is to know. To figure that out, point at a distant object, then wink each eye. Whichever eye is closest to the target is the leader. The eyes, like the brain, work so closely in tandem one might live all their life and never know which eye leads and never be the poorer for it. Yet it begs the question:

Which ear leads? And how would one figure that out? Is it which ear you put the phone to? Or is that which hand you use. If there's a lead ear, is there a lead nostril? Or lead side of your tongue? How about a leading lung? Or a leading hemisphere?

Well, perhaps there is a leading hemisphere. People mistakenly think that they might be left brained (logical left) because they like math or science. But it is just as possible to be led to math or science by the broadly scoping right hemisphere. Just as artists can be led to their subject through the logical left side. It is more in how you approach the subject and what you like about it.

And just as how a right handed person could go to bat lefty, different hemispheres could act up for different subjects. One could have a left-brained painter who is also a right-brained accountant.

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