Which Hand?
After reading some of this article about Leonardo Di Vinci and the evidence of his left handedness, I got to thinking about hand preference. I am hopelessly right handed. I am lucky to do anything but hold things with my left hand. When it comes to writing or drawing or making any kind of a mark, I could create nothing you’d recognise with my left hand.
But, the idea of using your other hand, the one you don’t prefer, is used by psychologists with journal writing as a technique to gain access to inner wisdom.
Lucia Capacchione discusses this technique in depth in her book The Power of Your Other Hand : A Course in Channeling the Inner Wisdom of the Right Brain.
Have you ever tried using your other hand for journal dialogues or for any other journal writing technique? Do you change hands often while writing a journal entry? Do you use alternate hands depending on your mood or for visual entries only? Or are you just like me; hopelessly one hand or the other? Please share in the comments section below.
Heather
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2 opinions for Which Hand?
Leah
May 15, 2008 at 12:26 pm
I used to use alternate hands when dialoging with my inner self. I would ask a question or make a comment with my right (dominant) hand, and then switch to my left and wait for a response. Those responses were much easier to access and much freer when the pen was in my left hand, and were very clearly expressed. Emotion was expressed in a healthy way which was easy not to judge. I highly recommend experimenting with your non-dominant hand, even if, as with me, your handwriting ends up being… um… a total disaster! I’ve done some sketching with my non-dominant hand as well, and while the results were not smooth and fancy, the raw energy of them makes me greatly prefer
them to anything my right hand will do. When using my right hand, my mind thinks it knows what things look like. With my left, my mind seems to be bypassed, and my observation gets it’s big chance. Nice results!
Heather Goldsmith
May 16, 2008 at 1:36 am
Hi Leah,
Thanks for your reply. I’m keen to learn how people feel about this topic. I know I found it powerful when creating a personal contract. I love that you do prefer the images you’ve created with your non-dominant hand. There really is an energy we tap into when the whole logic thing is out of the way. Excellent response. Thanks so much. ;-)
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