Tip of the week: How to tap your right brain

Write backward. The brain’s right side controls the left hand and specializes in “assessing your physical and mental feelings.” Try writing right to left, rather than left to right. “Just moving your hand backward fires the right-brain hemisphere.”

Converse bilaterally. Take a pencil in your right hand (even if you’re left-handed) and write “How’s it going?” Then switch to the left and “write whatever pops up.” Tidiness isn’t important; “it’s noticing that your twin hemispheres have different personalities.”

Learn new moves. Moving in an unfamiliar way can “build your overall right-brain facility.” Normally, your arms swing opposite your legs. Try walking with your right arm and leg going forward simultaneously, then with your left arm and leg doing the same. Soon enough, the brain catches on, making an “initially hard” activity easy.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Source: O magazine