Balancing Act

For most of my life I have known that I am different from those around me. Oh, I don’t mean that I have horns, or that my skin is purple, but I have noticed subtle differences – things such as my warped view of the world, my creative messiness, my inability to follow most rules or conform to what is perceived to be normal. Imagine my surprise when after all of the years of cultivating my differences I find out that I am in fact, (I dread the word), b-a-l-a-n-c-e-d.

Ok, I admit it. I am a sucker when it comes to anything that might clue me and everyone else I know, into the workings of my mind or the number of my IQ. Just the other day when I was minding my own business, being content in who I am and the jobs I do on a daily basis, I received an e-mail that contained the enticing words –

The Brain Test – Hey, Einstein, (at least they know who I am.) Discover how your brain is wired and train it to be a leaner, meaner thinking machine.

Who in their right mind (pun intended) could pass up such a chance?

I clicked on the link and was taken to a test that would tell me which part(s) of my brain I use and how to make better use of those ‘brain areas’ that are under used. The test started and I began to ponder my answers. Question 1 went well, so on to question 2, and then question 3. By the time I had reached question 5, I realized that none of the questions and certainly none of the answers made any sense to my brain. But once on a quest I can not be deterred.

I completed the test and clicked my way to the results. Now mind you, I have always known that I use the creative right side of my brain much more than the logical left-side. It is the right side that allows me to be creative, to be spontaneous, as well as giving me the excuse for my messiness.

There in BIG, unmistakable words were the unexpected results – Wanda, you are Balanced-brained. The makers of the test went on to explain:

That means you are able to draw on the strengths of both the right and left hemispheres of your brain, depending upon a given situation.

I am taking this to be a good thing, though my first reaction was more along the lines of, ‘how dare they’.

The results continued:

When you need to explain a complicated process to someone, or plan a detailed vacation, the left hemisphere of your brain, which is responsible for you ability to solve problems, logically (now that is a word I never associated with me), might kick in. But if you were critiquing an art opening or coming up with an original way to file papers (now that I can relate to), the right side of your brain, which is responsible for noticing subtle details in things might take over.

While many people have clearly dominant left-or right-brained tendencies, you are able to draw on skills from both hemispheres of your brain. This rare combination makes you a very creative and flexible thinker. (Ok, I can accept that.)

The down side to being balanced-brained is that you may sometimes feel paralyzed by indecision when the two hemispheres of your brain are competing to solve a problem in their own unique ways.

So, now after all these years of being different, I find that I am balanced. But as I read more about left-brained, right-brained people, I found that I am, very different, after all. Very few people are Balanced-brained, which takes me full circle and back to my original conclusion that I am, after all, different from most people. The test makers even use the word UNIQUE in describing my way of thinking. And thanks to the test makers, I now have a definitive excuse for not getting things done. I even have it in writing, which is sort of like a doctor’s excuse for the messes my thinking can cause. Now I can say that the two sides of my brain are in a battle and I am waiting to see which side wins.