Play with your Right Brain

We live in a left brained adult world where use of the right brain and its creativity is: often expected, but not nurtured; usually criticized, but not praised; sometimes recognized, but not rewarded.

As children, we played with our right brain and a world filled with innocence, curiosity, imagination, and originality. As adults, we work with our left brain and a world filled with plans, deadlines, competition, and criticism. It is easy to lose whole brained balance and to forget how to "think outside the left brain."

With conscious effort and "thought breaker" exercises, questions, and "aha experiments," we can bring right brain play back into our thinking, our ideas, our solutions for a more creative life.

Read this whimsical short story about growing up in a left-brained world and discovering a life more happily creative ever after: Play With Your Right Brain.

Here is another brain dominance test. While a little longer, the results are more detailed and insightful. Again, no worries. You will only fail this exam if you do not take it. So grab a cup of joe, relax, and go on with your brilliant self.

Right Brain vs Left Brain Creativity Test

The difference between think and do, or knowledge and application, is often the right brain. With the left brain we learn something and accumulate knowledge and understanding. But, when it comes time to apply or to use that knowledge, the task is more difficult due to the varying environments and circumstances. And, this is where creativity and creative ideas are needed.

A photographer that has knowledge of photography, experience, possibly natural abilities, and the proper equipment, still needs creativity to apply and thus excel in their profession.

An accountant with the degree and proper certifications, and hopefully an affinity with numbers, still needs the right brain and creativity in order to solve the accounting problems or issues for their clients.

And, of course, a writer needs the tools for writing, the knowledge and experience with the mechanics of proper writing, grammar, etc., and possibly an interest and passion for writing. But, their ideas for what to write and for who are purely write brained.

In any of the above professions (the photographer, the accountant, or the writer), the right brain, creativity, and ideas are needed to do their job well.

And, if you think about it, we can all benefit greatly with a more passionate use of our right brain.

My students, even though marketing students, often say and think that they are not that creative. The left brained world taught them to think like this. After all, if truly creative, and if others thought so and told them so, then they would likely have majored in the arts....creating, painting, drawing, singing, designing, acting, writing, etc. and made a career of this. And since none of these artistic things are of their natural talent, then by logical and overloaded left brained reasoning...they are just not creative.

In the beginning, I often try to teach my marketing students two important points:
(1) everyone needs creativity on a daily basis...with career, home, and play; and
(2) everyone is creative.

But, in order for everyone to realize their creativity, we all need an outlet for our creativity...and thus the difference between the creative process and the creative product. Producing new ideas represents the creative process. Applying those ideas represents the creative product. Therefore, anytime a creative product or output is needed (a menu for the family dinner; a tactful way to deal with a problem co-worker; wedding vows; a teenage themed birthday party; a presentation at church; ideas for a new blog post; the next great novel), the creative process needs an active right brain to produce ideas.

So, if you agree that we all have creative needs (even if not so artistic in the career sense), then you should also agree that we all need our right brain and a creative process for producing ideas.

This "Play with your Right Brain" lens and the other related lenses are for the purpose of assisting, inspiring, and motivating your creative process. If you begin to "think" more creatively (even if only in play), then you will more likely begin to "do" more creatively (in career, home, and play).

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