Psychology: Balancing Brain Dominance

It was a fine evening in June, 2008.

I was drawing with my niece and nephews. We were making bookmarks out of our own sketches on small pieces of colourful notes.

I was concentrating on my own sketching when I suddenly thought, why not try using my left hand to draw?

I've been training my left body parts to do as much as possible since I was 17. I was in my last year at the boarding school when I first started doing so.

Things began to take place a year before that. I could sensed my overall performance was declining. My academic performance, my sport achievement, my basic health condition. Everything was gradually worsening.

As I've always so much concern about my studies, I didn't really realized everything else except for my academic accomplishment. Something was wrong. My grades were significantly dropping. They were going the other way round. A complete opposite. Taking a 180 degree turning point.

Am I lacking discipline? I'm ready to change if this comes from me. I'm willing to be tough on myself if it was me. I was thinking alone.

As my last year at the school required the greatest focus and concentration, I knew I had to do something. I can't just wait and see anymore. SPM was going to determine the colour of my future.

I knew, it had something to do with the brain. I was having a hard time understanding what the teacher was saying in class, even though the subject was my favourite. The elements under observation were largely relating to attention and memory.

When it came to sports and health, I would just briefly threw a closing line: I'm lacking in stamina because I don't work out much, I don't eat well.

I was a silent admirer of psychology since my early teenage years yet I knew not they were called 'Psychology'. The moment I was involved in the learning issues, my problem solving mechanism was immediately triggered. Every possible solutions came running to my mind.

I recalled reading about the brain structures which is divided into two main hemispheres; the left and the right brains. I was somehow convinced, training the less dominant side will help increase the overall performance of the great gift Allah has granted to the humans; our brain.

So I did it.

I began to pay close attention to whatever I was doing using my right side (it started with the hands) and taught my left side to do the same.

During primary school, there was this one male student who can write using both hands. Whenever he felt tired using one side, he would switch to the other one.

This is going to be interesting and fun, I was telling myself, feeling joyful over the thought of the possible success I would be enjoying if the attempt was going to be a fruitful one.

Wherever I went to, I brought a pen and a notebook with me so that I could train my left hand during those unoccupied time. Later on, scope of tasks were broaden to other physical activities as well, such as handwashing, stirring food or drink, kicking soccer ball, and sweeping floor.

* * * *

I could feel confidence coming my way when I first thought of trying to draw using my left hand.

There was a joke in a magazine, where the critic commented an artist's collections saying that they were seemed to be produced by two different artists. The artist defended himself claiming that half of it was produced by his right hand and the other half collection was by his left hand.

Could that joke be true?

I can't stop asking myself and feeling a bit nervous as I started tracing on paper. Ironically, my left hand gripped the pencil with comfort.

I sketched different shapes of shells on that small piece of paper.

To my own disbelief, the shell sketching was far more subtle than my right hand sketching I already finished. The fine lines my left hand was creating kept on making me smiled with joy. I couldn't believe what I was doing. The angle proportion and shades were a lot better compared to my right hand's work.

Thereupon, I was completely convinced, my long years of persistent effort had paid off. Somewhere inside me, my brain has changed for the better.

An unexpected skill came without any practice.

I thank Allah. Praise be to Allah, the Almighty.

p/s: I'm not sister of Leonardo da Vinci or Van Gogh. I would only rate myself 3.5 out of 10, if you ask. The comparison was merely between my left hand and my right hand. As I haven't gone far into psychology, my shallow knowledge tells me that a balanced brain dominance is more desirable than right brain dominance or left brain dominance. Anyway, I would appreciate it very much if anyone who knows better correct me. I'm still learning.