How To Get My Right On?
September 15, 2017 9:17 AM Subscribe
I feel trapped in my left brain and have been since birth, basically. But I’m tired of it. Are there effective ways to achieve better lateralization of my brain hemispheres so that I can unlock some (hopefully latent) creativity?
I recently read Iain McGilchrist’s The Master and his Emissary, and it has been a mind-altering experience for me. Even with the usual caveats about oversimplifications and generalizations, the book, at least to me, presents a very compelling argument about the functions of the left and right brain hemispheres. I found myself reading it as a kind of self-help book, both as a description of the way I think/am (left brain) and a revelation of a different kind of world to experience (right brain). I could list loads of examples here about my attachment to routine, abstraction, and categorization; I lead such a language- and logic-driven existence that I have sometimes wondered if there’s anything at all going on in my right hemisphere. As a child, I wanted more than anything to be a robot. As an adult, I kind of became one: daily routines, task-oriented mindset, minimalist wardrobe.
In many ways, my left brain has served me well—a measure of professional success, advanced academic degrees, a published nonfiction book—but I left my career last year to devote more time to writing (both fiction and nonfiction), and I’m struggling with ideas and inspiration. The same mechanisms and perspectives that worked for me sitting down in an office every day now seem very limiting, and I feel there is a great deal I’m missing out on (such as experiencing a broader range of emotions; delighting in the natural world; creating in an organic, rather than disciplined, way). What can I do to open up more right-brain thinking and being?
There are a few things I have done consistently for years—daily yoga and meditation, learning to play the violin—that should be helping me access different ways of being. And I’ve been trying a few things more recently, from programs like The Artist’s Way, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, and writing prompts (all sources of frustration) to deliberately taking different driving routes, loosening my grip on my daily routine, and taking aimless walks for the first time in my life. I did my fair share of drugs when I was younger and am not interested in doing that again. Are there other avenues to this “other side”? Or do I need to learn to just revel in my robotness?
I recently read Iain McGilchrist’s The Master and his Emissary, and it has been a mind-altering experience for me. Even with the usual caveats about oversimplifications and generalizations, the book, at least to me, presents a very compelling argument about the functions of the left and right brain hemispheres. I found myself reading it as a kind of self-help book, both as a description of the way I think/am (left brain) and a revelation of a different kind of world to experience (right brain). I could list loads of examples here about my attachment to routine, abstraction, and categorization; I lead such a language- and logic-driven existence that I have sometimes wondered if there’s anything at all going on in my right hemisphere. As a child, I wanted more than anything to be a robot. As an adult, I kind of became one: daily routines, task-oriented mindset, minimalist wardrobe.
In many ways, my left brain has served me well—a measure of professional success, advanced academic degrees, a published nonfiction book—but I left my career last year to devote more time to writing (both fiction and nonfiction), and I’m struggling with ideas and inspiration. The same mechanisms and perspectives that worked for me sitting down in an office every day now seem very limiting, and I feel there is a great deal I’m missing out on (such as experiencing a broader range of emotions; delighting in the natural world; creating in an organic, rather than disciplined, way). What can I do to open up more right-brain thinking and being?
There are a few things I have done consistently for years—daily yoga and meditation, learning to play the violin—that should be helping me access different ways of being. And I’ve been trying a few things more recently, from programs like The Artist’s Way, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, and writing prompts (all sources of frustration) to deliberately taking different driving routes, loosening my grip on my daily routine, and taking aimless walks for the first time in my life. I did my fair share of drugs when I was younger and am not interested in doing that again. Are there other avenues to this “other side”? Or do I need to learn to just revel in my robotness?
I can't speak to the book you mention or specifically about accessing a side of the brain but these three things have consistently made me more creative
1. Spending time with young children
2. When things break/I don't have them I come up with my own solution an example would be not having a funnel in the kitchen and cutting the top off a soda bottle (this is usually because of cost, but all the same)
3. Getting away from the internet
posted by raccoon409 at 9:55 AM on September 15, 2017 [2 favorites]
1. Spending time with young children
2. When things break/I don't have them I come up with my own solution an example would be not having a funnel in the kitchen and cutting the top off a soda bottle (this is usually because of cost, but all the same)
3. Getting away from the internet
posted by raccoon409 at 9:55 AM on September 15, 2017 [2 favorites]
The first thing that might be helpful is to embrace the emerging theory that right brain/left brain isn't exactly what Roger Sperry claimed it to be. There is, in fact, a lot more lateralization going on than Sperry ever considered.
That said, we just don't understand the brain as much as we'd like to. Why are some people creative while others couldn't imagine their way out of a box? Some of that likely has to do with temperament (and I don't mean the "5 Temperaments" thing that seems so popular), the way we are raised, the things that interest us, the enriching experiences we've had in our lives, etc.
There are some ways to boost creativity but it really sounds like you're a pretty creative person already! You've published a book! You're learning to play violin! Those things are COOL and super creative.
So I think you should embrace the way you are now. Clearly it's working for you. The grass is greener, of course, but maybe you're just not a person who "delights in the natural world." That's okay! Creating in a "disciplined way" is no less authentic than creating in an "organic" way.
If you're specifically looking for ways to improve your writing or improve the way ideas come to you, start reading 'how to write' books by your favorite authors. Maybe attend some writing workshops or retreats. But most importantly, be YOU.
posted by cooker girl at 9:59 AM on September 15, 2017 [9 favorites]
That said, we just don't understand the brain as much as we'd like to. Why are some people creative while others couldn't imagine their way out of a box? Some of that likely has to do with temperament (and I don't mean the "5 Temperaments" thing that seems so popular), the way we are raised, the things that interest us, the enriching experiences we've had in our lives, etc.
There are some ways to boost creativity but it really sounds like you're a pretty creative person already! You've published a book! You're learning to play violin! Those things are COOL and super creative.
So I think you should embrace the way you are now. Clearly it's working for you. The grass is greener, of course, but maybe you're just not a person who "delights in the natural world." That's okay! Creating in a "disciplined way" is no less authentic than creating in an "organic" way.
If you're specifically looking for ways to improve your writing or improve the way ideas come to you, start reading 'how to write' books by your favorite authors. Maybe attend some writing workshops or retreats. But most importantly, be YOU.
posted by cooker girl at 9:59 AM on September 15, 2017 [9 favorites]
The neuroscience community has never accepted the idea of 'left-dominant' or 'right-dominant' personality types. Lesion studies don't support it, and the truth is that it would be highly inefficient for one half of the brain to consistently be more active than the other
posted by JonB at 10:00 AM on September 15, 2017 [19 favorites]
posted by JonB at 10:00 AM on September 15, 2017 [19 favorites]
I second getting away from the internet.
The internet in great for creativity if your mind has already thought deeply about a subject. It can fill in the gaps in your knowledge and help connect up ideas. But you still need to think in the first place. And from my experience at least, great ideas don't happen at behind computer screen.
posted by jacobean at 10:03 AM on September 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
The internet in great for creativity if your mind has already thought deeply about a subject. It can fill in the gaps in your knowledge and help connect up ideas. But you still need to think in the first place. And from my experience at least, great ideas don't happen at behind computer screen.
posted by jacobean at 10:03 AM on September 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Cartoonist/author Lynda Barry keeps a Tumblr blog of her class assignments, and this week they are talking about split brain stuff. If you scroll back to the beginning of the semester, her daily journal assignment is a great one that takes only a few minutes each day and helps to tune your attention into noticing things -- and noticing things is a big part of creativity.
posted by xo at 10:34 AM on September 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by xo at 10:34 AM on September 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
Get out into the world and do things. Take long hikes, take a drawing class, take a ceramics class, volunteer for literacy, or dog walking, or park cleanups, or whatever part of the world you want to see improved. Join an amateur choir or take a guitar lesson or find a continuing ed program that offers woodworking. Check out the local stargazing groups next events.
I also recommend The Artists's Way, which many people have strong feelings about. It's 12 weeks long and has lots of exercises to get your brain moving.
Also, break your routines. Use a different dry cleaner, deep clean your home, eat different foods, order a different coffee, bake a pie for a neighbor. Be weird. Get crazy socks. Sing in the shower. Sing in the yard. Choose a crazy color of nail polis, or go with clear. Write paper letters.
posted by bilabial at 10:35 AM on September 15, 2017 [2 favorites]
I also recommend The Artists's Way, which many people have strong feelings about. It's 12 weeks long and has lots of exercises to get your brain moving.
Also, break your routines. Use a different dry cleaner, deep clean your home, eat different foods, order a different coffee, bake a pie for a neighbor. Be weird. Get crazy socks. Sing in the shower. Sing in the yard. Choose a crazy color of nail polis, or go with clear. Write paper letters.
posted by bilabial at 10:35 AM on September 15, 2017 [2 favorites]
Yes, left/right brain types is mostly bunk, JonB and cooker girl have covered that.
As for ways to get creative and break out of a rut:
Buy a shirt you'd never wear and wear it.
Watch a movie that's highly regarded in a genre you don't like. Do that with a book too, and an album.
Buy some wigs and masks and play with them.
Spend a day without speaking.
Spend a day in solitude in the wilderness.
Smoke some weed.
Get really really muddy.
Hang around people speaking a language that you don't understand.
posted by SaltySalticid at 10:37 AM on September 15, 2017 [2 favorites]
As for ways to get creative and break out of a rut:
Buy a shirt you'd never wear and wear it.
Watch a movie that's highly regarded in a genre you don't like. Do that with a book too, and an album.
Buy some wigs and masks and play with them.
Spend a day without speaking.
Spend a day in solitude in the wilderness.
Smoke some weed.
Get really really muddy.
Hang around people speaking a language that you don't understand.
posted by SaltySalticid at 10:37 AM on September 15, 2017 [2 favorites]
Best answer: For writing, the standard advice is: write. If you're blocked, type up instruction for your favorite recipe or how to do some task, but write. There's a massive supply of creativity and ideas in the world. There's a shortage of people who can execute creativity and ideas. Read about successful writers - Danielle Steele and Nora Roberts both incredibly prolific. Read Stephen King's On Writing. Read about PG Wodehouse, who has a very detailed approach to planning and writing. Once you get words out and on to a page, then you can make them more creative. To generate ideas and loosen creativity, travel, do new stuff, read new stuff, listen to music, meet new people and listen to them. Anything that helps you see the world a little differently and reach the memories and ideas stored in the cold storage area your brain.
posted by theora55 at 12:09 PM on September 15, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by theora55 at 12:09 PM on September 15, 2017 [3 favorites]
Debunking of the right/left has been covered.
Finger painting and using your nondominant hand for mundane tasks are both ways to tap into different regions of your brain.
Play creative games involving storytelling like Balderdash. Yes, language, but language through a novel frame.
posted by crunchy potato at 12:28 PM on September 15, 2017 [2 favorites]
Finger painting and using your nondominant hand for mundane tasks are both ways to tap into different regions of your brain.
Play creative games involving storytelling like Balderdash. Yes, language, but language through a novel frame.
posted by crunchy potato at 12:28 PM on September 15, 2017 [2 favorites]
Dude. You are plenty creative. More than I am, and I am a graphic designer (of a sort) for a living.
I don't say this to diminish your very real feelings. I have a lifelong perfectionism habit I endlessly do battle with. I beat myself up all the time about not being "creative" enough. But seriously - routine is good! It's not your enemy. Do you know how many creative books tell you to just show up? To write whether you're in the mood or not?
As far as The Artist's Way goes, the two main things are the best things: artist dates and morning pages. I won't hash out what they are here, but they are good things.
If you want to challenge yourself or get out of your comfort zone, do something creative but further afield like an improv class, or figure drawing.
posted by O9scar at 2:35 PM on September 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
I don't say this to diminish your very real feelings. I have a lifelong perfectionism habit I endlessly do battle with. I beat myself up all the time about not being "creative" enough. But seriously - routine is good! It's not your enemy. Do you know how many creative books tell you to just show up? To write whether you're in the mood or not?
As far as The Artist's Way goes, the two main things are the best things: artist dates and morning pages. I won't hash out what they are here, but they are good things.
If you want to challenge yourself or get out of your comfort zone, do something creative but further afield like an improv class, or figure drawing.
posted by O9scar at 2:35 PM on September 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I think finding something to do with your hands--can be craftsy, can be kneading bread dough, can be gardening. You don't have to be an expert first time out. It's okay to be clumsy/unskilled. Winston Churchill painted and also laid bricks.
Personally, I rearrange my furniture, and bake when I need to get out of my head.
posted by Ideefixe at 5:22 PM on September 15, 2017 [2 favorites]
Personally, I rearrange my furniture, and bake when I need to get out of my head.
posted by Ideefixe at 5:22 PM on September 15, 2017 [2 favorites]
Several people suggested drawing classes, but I wanted to be a little more specific and say that you might want to try a beginning still life class that uses charcoal or another "smudgy" medium. Although drawing from life might seem too logical and uncreative , the focus of these classes is usually on how to get past the concept of what you think you see ("an apple") and into the reality of what you see -- the shapes, the light and dark contrasts, and so forth, that come together to make a PARTICULAR apple -- often explicitly avoiding using an 'outline' to block out shapes conceptually. I felt like this approach really gets you out of the 'logic' side of your brain that boxes and categorizes things and thinks it already knows everything about them there is to know, and into a more fluid, open state of mind that asks you to look at objects as if you were seeing them for the first time.
Having an explicit, goal-oriented task ("draw this apple") might also help you avoid the frustration that can come from some of the goofy creative prompts that can sometimes feel a bit too open-ended and meaningless (I seem to recall stuff in Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain like "draw a line with your eyes closed!!!" and I'd often be like "what was the point of that, now I have a paper with a messy line on it.")
posted by space snail at 6:39 PM on September 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
Having an explicit, goal-oriented task ("draw this apple") might also help you avoid the frustration that can come from some of the goofy creative prompts that can sometimes feel a bit too open-ended and meaningless (I seem to recall stuff in Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain like "draw a line with your eyes closed!!!" and I'd often be like "what was the point of that, now I have a paper with a messy line on it.")
posted by space snail at 6:39 PM on September 15, 2017 [1 favorite]
+1 to the above: take an improv class! Or a painting, sculpture, watercolor, or figure drawing class. I find these mediums can be more visceral and spontaneous than the typical pencil etc. used in life drawing classes.
Also: find examples of scientists or programmers or whomever you consider "left-brained" who might also be an artist, dancer, or performer or someone you consider "right-brained." Lots of these kinds of people are out there, e.g. most science fiction writers qualify.
posted by icosahedron at 8:02 PM on September 15, 2017
Also: find examples of scientists or programmers or whomever you consider "left-brained" who might also be an artist, dancer, or performer or someone you consider "right-brained." Lots of these kinds of people are out there, e.g. most science fiction writers qualify.
posted by icosahedron at 8:02 PM on September 15, 2017
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posted by pinochiette at 9:30 AM on September 15, 2017 [1 favorite]