Red Room Where the Writers Are

I said 'homolateral' not 'homosexual' silly.

Begin a homolateral thinker means to rely primarily on your dominant brain; left or right, instead of being an integrated thinker. Optimal communication in the brain occurs when we think cross-laterally. Strongly developed neural pathways send signals on a traffic-free super highway between both hemispheres. In this ideal brain state, the neurons are firing on all cylinders.

Industry and education were built on left-brain thinking. Left- brain dominant workers make great button pushers, doctors, lawyers, accountants and scientists.

Think of a factory. The very core of the Industrial Revolution. An employee is assigned to one component. While the end result is the 'whole' his focus is only the 'part'. This is as homolateral as it gets.

Educational curriculum has always favored left brain thinking. If you were a left-brain dominant student you likely sailed through school while the right-brain schleps were getting a beating with their report cards.

School systems are still designed with this antiquated learning model, however, the world is busily heading in a completely different direction. Left-brain dominant thinkers will see their $75,000 a year analytical jobs jacked by $28,000 Indian cubicle workers or worse, a $50 piece of software.

The new currency is in content development and content development requires integrated thinking. A balance between the analytical left and the creative right.

Take writing, as an example. No longer is it good enough to write a book and leave the success of selling it to the publisher.

A writer must be proficient with the computer, be a marketer, a business person, an accountant, a script writer, a speaker, a manager, a blogger, a travel agent, and a networker. Write fiction, non-fiction, promotional materials, be a mini film-maker, and synthesize the most brilliant ideas into a one sentence log line.

Why do most people rely on their dominant brain to begin with? Stress. Stress and trauma create a homolateral state. When we limp along at half speed, we are not tapped in to all of our talents. We get stuck.

Being stuck in one dominant brain state is like having a hippo on your head.

You can build integrated brain power with a few easy exercises:

1. Stand straight and lift up your left arm and left knee simultaneously as high as you comfortably can. Alternate between right and left sides for 10 reps. This is a homolateral state. It takes one-sided thinking to accomplish this. Think Frankenstein. He was the ultimate homolateral.

2. Stand straight and lift your left knee while crossing your right arm to touch the top of your knee with your right hand. Alternate between left and right sides for 10 reps. This requires cross-lateral thinking. Think of the shape of a X.

3. Now go back and forth between the two exercises for 10 reps. Always finish cross laterally. People who are stuck in one dominant state will find this exercise very difficult. Children with learning disabilities find it nearly impossible.

4. Draw a line down the center of a page. Make a figure eight shape with a loop on equal sides of the paper. Trace the shape 10 or 20 times.

5. Hold out a pen with your dominant hand straight in front of your mid-line. Moving from one side to the other, create a figure-eight shape and allow your eyes to track the movement.

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