There is a myth that "creative" people are different from the rest of us. Practical people who work in business or government often dismiss artists, poets, and musicians as “flaky” or unreliable, or think they have a special talent that’s somehow magical.

Actually there's no magic to it. The brain has 100 billion specialized cells. These neurons are connected to each other by tiny synapses that have the ability to grow, die, or change. The brain recalls a memory through visual images, organizing and locating the particular image and then associating or linking it with a name, word or idea.

Early experiments on the brain showed that each side of the brain specializes in certain things.

The LEFT brain is responsible for most of our verbal ability as well as order, sequence, logic, and memory for words. Because 80% of the population is left-brain dominant (fewer than 20% of all people, throughout history, have been right-brain dominant) our educational system is based on developing left-brain skills: reading, writing and arithmetic. We are urged, from childhood, to use our right hands to perform most routine tasks, including writing, and western civilizations read from left to right because our writing is based on letters which form words (rather than symbols which form sounds or concepts, as in many Eastern languages).

The RIGHT brain houses visual images, emotions, music, physical manipulation and our perception of space and the world around us, our connection to nature, and higher mathematical concepts (such as geometry).

Schools reinforce left-brain dominance by arranging desks in rows, and setting a specific order of classes and subject matter, with outlines, time-tables, alphabetical listings, and charts.

In many schools, right-brain tendencies among children are discouraged, and the minority who are right-brain dominant have a difficult time learning in this heavily left-brain environment. No wonder so many exceptionally creative people, including Einstein, Edison, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Bill Gates had trouble in school!

Writers are usually very verbal, it's no surprise that most of us are left-brain dominant. The left side of our brains gives us order, control, and precision. Creative writers have learned how to access the right side as well, which keeps their writing from being dull and boring.

This doesn't mean giving full rein to creative chaos, (which many misguided educators promoted in encouraging “creative writing” with little organization, poor sentence structure and lapses in grammar). Instead, we need to utilize both sides of the brain.

Researchers have uncovered the importance of play in the developing child. If you watch a group of small children in an environment without expensive toys, you’ll see how their imagination creates a fantasy world, full of color, texture, and mundane objects transformed into everything from a space ship to a castle.

Schools used to balance both sides of the brain better than they do today. When I was a child, we had classes devoted to art and music, and outdoor play was not structured into teams and competition.

So it’s necessary for all of us, adults and children, to recapture that right-brain freedom, and release our inner creativity.

***
Barbara’s online course, “Tapping Your Innate Creativity,” begins in January.
Check www.SimonTeakettle.com for details.

ISSN 1710-6788
Published by: be smith designs
Copyright © 2004 remains with contributors