The Power of the Whole Brain

Do you think you are using your brain to its full capacity? Studies have shown we are only using 2% of our brain power. So what's happening to the other 98%?!

As far-fetched as it sounds, most of us live and work in half of our brain. Our brain has two hemispheres, the left hemisphere and the right hemisphere. Studies have shown that rather than working independently, these two spheres actually complement each other. So using 'both sides' of our brain is necessary if we are to live to our full potential.

In order to be healthy, we need balance. However, once we discover the functions of these two sides of the brain, we find that we're using one over the other- meaning they are very much 'out of balance' with each other. Recognising this means we can now begin to use both the left and the right 'brains' in everything we do.

But firstly, lets find out what each of these hemispheres do, and how we can maximise our brain power by combining their functions.

The 'Left' Brain The Left brain deals with:

· words · logic · reason · detail · sequence · parts · function

So the left brain is used for sorting, ordering, working out problems, and generally thinking in a logical, rational way.

If you are carrying out an activity using the left side of your brain, you would be interested in the details of the task, breaking it down into parts, and going through it in an orderly, rational sequence. Sound familiar? The majority of our thoughts occur in the left brain, particularly if we are carrying out instructions or following orders.

The left brain is particularly good for getting to the details of a situation. It chops up information in order for us to process it more quickly.

Unfortunately, living in this side of the brain on a regular basis means we can miss the forest for the trees. We're so busy sorting information that we lose sight of the overall 'big picture', why we are doing something, or what it all means together. In this way, many people can become 'trapped' in their left brain.

The 'Right' Brain:

· pictures · creativity · intuition · big picture · non-linear · wholes · meaning

Our right brains deal with creativity, intuition, and meaning. If you are using your right brain, you may work without any sense of time, or you may get the intuition that your plan just 'feels right'. Creativity is the main function of the right brain, and if you look at things creatively you will see the overall picture, where everything fits together.

Science once neglected the right brain and its qualities, preferring instead to work with the left brain to make new discoveries and understandings. However, that is now beginning to change. One such example is the way we are looking at the environment, in an non-linear, meaningful way. We are now beginning to see the 'bigger picture', whereby every action has a consequence for our world.

We can now see that rather than the left and the right hemispheres being opposing parts of our brain, they actually work best in conjunction with each other.

Even so called 'rational' tasks can benefit enormously from right brain activity. For example, if you had to construct a difficult piece of furniture, with all the parts in bits and the instruction leaflet around you, if your right brain visualised what the finished product would look like, your left brain would then go about sorting which parts are glued together first. Your right brain receives the image or concept in its entirety, and then the left brain breaks it down into manageable chunks.

This knowledge of complementarity within the brain means we can begin to see the brain in a new way. Creativity, emotion and intuition can advance our understanding of the world, rather than hinder it. Combining our creativity and our logic appears to be incredibly effective in everything we do.

So what do you think would happen if we did begin to use our whole brain?

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