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I am right-brained. I don't mean I have the right brain, although I don't mean I have the wrong brain, either. I guess if I don't have the wrong brain, then I'm sort of saying that I do have the right brain in the sense that it's the right brain for me, but that's not right, either! Did you follow that? What I'm trying to say is that I'm right-brained, by which I mean that I am not left-brained.
But, wait! I'm not some sort of Frankenstein with only half a brain! I possess full and functional gray matter with two functioning sides, which are also known as hemispheres. You possess a nice complete brain, too but you're only using half! See, scientists believe that each of us favors one side of our brain, and that affects our natural intelligence. It doesn't mean that the right side is any more or less intelligent than the left side, but both have different kinds of strengths.
While you could take a test to determine what side of your brain you favor, I know what my strengths are, and that's how I know that I'm right brained. Right brained people tend to be more subjective or random, if you will. Actually, one big clue for me is that I love to read and write: when my friends write assignments, they always send them to me because I know how express ideas effectively and I work well when I can figure out my own destination and the path I'll take to get to it. I'm also a fairly intuitive person: when someone gives me a problem, I like to jump head-first into a solution because it "feels right", rather than trying to tackle the individual steps necessary to solving the problem.
I also know that I'm right-brained because of my weaknesses. Let's talk about calculus for a minute, because it is the perfect example. Let's put it like this: if you look at a Picasso painting, then you'll have a pretty good idea of what math looks like in my mind. When people start scribbling down numbers and letters and symbols, my brain turns inside out and backwards and upside down and topsy turvy, until I have no idea what's up and what's down. I'm just not logical and analytical like left-brained folks are - and I'm actually incredibly envious of people who can look at complex equations and jump straight to the answer.
You see, being right-brained is a big part of my identity even if it's not always obvious, but it's not who I am. When I meet someone new, I tell them my name and not which part of my brain I use. It's not like people find out that I enjoy blogging and say, "Ew, she uses her right hemisphere." Most importantly though, being a bit creative doesn't prevent me from being interested in things like math and science. It doesn't mean that I'm more or less intelligent - they're just different types of smarts, and when confronted with Captain Calculus, it just means that I have to work a bit harder to figure out what's going on - and that makes it even more satisfying when I solve a particularly tricky problem or ace a quiz. It doesn't make me any less of a scientist and it doesn't make me any less curious. It just means that when confronted with a problem, I'm usually the person to suggest an answer that no one else has thought of - and that's something I should be proud of. It's the type of skill that will lead me to win to a noble prize - and when I do, I'll be sure to thank both sides of my noggin.
Arrivederci!
-GG01
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