The Power of Your Other Hand: Unlock Creativity and Inner Wisdom Through the Right Side of Your Brain

ISBN-13: 9781573247474

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: Red Wheel/Weiser

Publication Date: 05-01-2019

Pages: 184

Product Dimensions: 6.90(w) x 9.80(h) x 0.70(d)

Lucia Capacchione, Ph.D., A.T.R., R.E.A.T is a Registered Art Therapist, Expressive Arts Therapist, workshop leader and best-selling author of 15 books including The Creative Journal Method, blending writing with drawing (The Creative Journal series of books for kids, teens, adults). After successful careers in both art and education, she stumbled onto the healing power of art and of journaling with her non-dominant hand while struggling with a mysterious life-threatening illness. Many of her books are used as texts in courses on therapy, psychology, writing, art, career development and applied creativity. And her work is being used in mental health and recovery programs, medical centers, school systems (kindergarten through college), prisons, health and healing programs, spiritual retreat centers, business, and industry. She has trained professionals word-wide in the Creative Journal Expressive Arts Certification Training, and consulted for corporations, community groups and schools throughout the U.S., Canada, Italy, the UK, Australia and Mexico.

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CHAPTER 1

IN MY OWN HANDS

How should we be able to forget those ancient myths that are at the beginning of all peoples, the myths about dragons that at the last moment turn into princesses; perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us once beautiful and brave. Perhaps everything terrible is in its deepest being something helpless that wants help from us.

— Rainer Maria Rilke Letters to a Young Poet

My days in seclusion were as somber and gray as the skies that summer of 1973. The famous sunshine of southern California could only be found in the large quantities of orange juice I was consuming then. The fog near the Santa Monica shore had become the perfect metaphor for my own bleak condition. I was bedridden for three months with a mysterious malaise. It first appeared as complete physical exhaustion very much like the symptoms of mononucleosis. Initial lab tests ruled that out. The ensuing months of tests and prescribed medications turned into a horrible black comedy of medical errors.

At the time I belonged to a health plan that provided its own doctors, clinics, and hospital care. I went to one of the outpatient clinics and saw a physician who talked of viruses and prescribed antibiotics to prevent further complications. My next lab test results were mixed up with those of another patient, and I was given a prescription for the wrong medication. After that I was plagued with infections (vaginal, bladder, and sinus) accompanied by bouts with insomnia, headaches, depression, and anxiety attacks.

While spending hours in waiting rooms being directed from one specialist to another, I began to feel that the medical treatment I was receiving was life-threatening in itself. During this time, my new "friend" and constant companion was the personal journal I began keeping at the onset of the illness. One journal entry gave voice to my true thoughts and feelings:

Doctors' offices:

Cold — colorless impersonal — wordy — intellectual — intimidating.

'I'm broken, doctor, fix me.'" Probe, harshness, some pain. "Here's what's wrong." (I don't understand fully, ask for causes, he doesn't know but acts as if he does — in a know-it-all manner.)

"Here, take these three times a day ..." I have put so many poisons in my body. Pills, capsules, ointments, suppositories, injections, etc., etc. They relieve the pain but cause more illness. Killing sterilizing healthy organisms....

I have been medicated to death.

Seven years later I saw Dr. Wheelright, a healthcare professional who founded a method of diagnosis called sclerology. In this system, the doctor reads markings and colorings in the whites of the eyes in order to determine past and current physical conditions. At a glance, he accurately recited my entire health history, from my earliest years on. He looked me right in the eye and asked, "When you were 35, did you come unglued?" I answered with a big, "Yes. How did you know?" He told me I had had a collagen disease, similar to what Norman Cousins experienced and described in his book, Anatomy of an Illness. In simple terms, this disease involves the breakdown of the connective tissue or collagen in the body. I flashed back to the pictures I had drawn in my journal while I was sick.

The journal drawing on the next page, entitled "Coping with Crisis," was done shortly after I entered therapy in the fall of 1973. It was a purely intuitive yet accurate portrayal of my physical condition at that time. My body was coming apart, just as the Earth was cracking apart in the drawing. This symbolic representation of my state also showed "the cure" in the form of the fallen figure on the right. My healing really started when I accepted and expressed my feelings of childlike helplessness and fear in the journal. This enabled me to seek out some nurturing and wise individuals who helped me heal and give birth to my new self: Bond Wright, my therapist; Louise Hunt, a nurse trained in accupressure massage; and Dr. Louis Light, a physician practicing preventive medicine.

This journal drawing marked a turning point in my illness. It ushered in a period of intense self-discovery and healing. It turned on the lightbulb of awareness by illuminating the meaning of the disease. The drawing was a map to the path of recovery. It showed me that it was time to stop what I had been doing and begin again. I had been under great stress for five years prior to the illness: divorce, relocation, illness of family members, survival as a single parent, and frequent job changes in freelance work. It is no accident that the fallen figure is in a fetal or childlike position. Surrendering to the needs of my sick body and emotions led to healing and rebirth.

In the introduction I told about how my therapist first put me in touch with my little Inner Child by placing a kindergarten crayon in my left hand and saying, "Write." Several weeks after that experience, another important breakthrough happened. This time I was alone, writing and drawing in the journal with my right hand. Obsessed with finding new meaning for my life after so many critical changes, I had a vague recognition that I needed to change careers, but didn't know in which direction to go.

In the journal, I was describing my recent birthday celebration. A few friends had taken me out for dinner. We returned home and opened the door of my darkened house. All the lights suddenly went on and a huge crowd of people jumped out yelling, "Happy Birthday!" The event mirrored the inner rebirth I'd been experiencing. Here is what I wrote and drew in the journal:

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

As I wrote the words, A new life from the old, a critical voice whispered in my head: "Yes, but you'd better hurry up. You've been searching too long."

Then something clicked inside, like shifting gears. Suddenly my left hand grabbed the pen out of my right hand. My Little Child Within wrote and drew a picture of herself for the first time. She "answered back" to the judgmental Critical Parent that was chattering in my mind. She asserted herself against that insidious voice that was gnawing away at my self-confidence. The Inner Child started it all: my first left hand/right hand dialogue.

How liberating! In that dialogue I realized I had found the key to unlock a power within myself. This power could help me deal with the demons of self- criticism and doubt. That dialogue took me back to childhood, when I was brainwashed with a litany of put-downs recited by the grown-ups: "You're not working hard enough.... You're lazy.... You're messy.... You're awkward.... Your grades aren't good enough. ..."

That dialogue showed me exactly how I was still replaying the external Critical Parent messages recorded in my brain during childhood. Those messages were still putting me down. It all added up to one thing: No matter how much you accomplish, it's never good enough. Through the right/left hand dialogue I got to know the child I was before learning those negative attitudes. Now I could talk with her at any time in my journal. I didn't have to wait until my next therapy session. That Inner Child who "spoke" through my other hand turned out to be a source of strength I'd had all along, but had lost somewhere in the business of growing up.

Later I had other dialogues: with body parts needing to be healed, emotions wanting to be released, dreams yearning to see the light of day, creative ideas wanting to be born, and inner wisdom giving me answers to life's questions. A whole cast of "characters" spoke through my other hand, as well: a frightened Vulnerable Child; a silly Playful Kid; an outrageous Woman in Red; an Inner Healer; a serene Wise Woman. I encountered the archetypes of which the renowned Swiss psychologist C.G. Jung wrote: The Great Mother, the Old Wise Man, the Trickster, the Goddess. I even wrote out conversations with other people in my life. But most important of all, my other hand led me to my Inner Self or God Within — that source of love, peace, and wisdom that we all possess as our human birthright and that we can contact directly.

And now let me introduce you to your other hand. Because writing with the non-dominant hand is usually difficult for beginners, you will start out by writing something you know very well: your name. You will then have a chance to express any frustrations and judgments you have about writing with your other hand. Breaking old patterns is often uncomfortable and ego-deflating. This first exercise will probably jostle your ego. It will also help you observe your typical reactions to awkward moments and unfamiliar situations. Just notice what happens.

WRITING WITH THE OTHER HAND

Materials: Unlined paper and a pen or pencil.

1. Pick up the pen/pencil with your other hand (the hand you don't normally write with).

2. Print or write your name. Don't worry about neatness, legibility, or penmanship.

3. Continue writing with your non-dominant hand. This time print or write how it feels to be writing with this hand. Don't worry about spelling, grammar, syntax, or vocabulary.

4. Read what you wrote. Then switch to your dominant hand and write down your reaction to what you wrote with your other hand. How did it feel to do it? What does the handwriting look like to you? What other thoughts or feelings come up? How did you react to doing things differently, to experiencing the unknown, the unfamiliar?

As you continue writing with your other hand, the initial awkwardness will eventually lessen. Notice any new feelings and insights that emerge.

THE UPPER HAND AND THE OTHER HAND

Human beings have two hands.
One hand is called dominant, the other has no name.
One hand is defined by what it can do, the other by what it cannot do.
One hand is trained and educated, the other is ignored and unschooled.
One hand writes, the other is illiterate.
One hand is skilled, the other is awkward.
One hand is powerful, the other is weak.
No matter which hand is dominant, right or left, the same internal politics exist.
One has the "upper hand," the other is "left out."

I'm going to share with you some biological and cultural explanations of the phenomenon of handedness in humans. Personally, I find the research and theories fascinating. However, if you are yawning at the very thought of reading left-brain historical and theoretical material, just wait. There are pictures and hands-on experiences to keep both sides of your brain entertained.

HANDEDNESS: THE PREFERENCE OF ONE HAND OVER THE OTHER

As far as we know, individual humans have always had a dominant hand. We accept handedness unquestioningly as being "in the nature of things." We expect it to be so and we teach it to our children. As soon as the infant feeds itself or grabs a toy, we encourage or coerce it to prefer one hand. Later, the child scribbles, draws pictures, and eventually learns to write its own name with the dominant hand.

Some people are ambidextrous — up to a point. The line is drawn at writing. Right-handed, left-handed, or ambidextrous, most of us write with only one hand. Early in life a choice is made and sometimes forced by parents or teachers: one hand or the other.

Why is this so? Our hands look alike. Why don't they act alike, particularly when it comes to writing? Is it simply that specialization is more efficient? Was specialization necessary for the evolutionary leap to the use of tools, language, and symbols? Was functional asymmetry inevitable in the development of Homo sapiens? Is imbalance the price we pay for literacy?

RIGHT IS RIGHT: MAJORITY RULE

As if our questions about individual handedness were not enough, we have another curious fact at the social level: We live in a right-handed world. Around the turn of the 20th century, Robert Hertz, an eminent anthropologist, observed:

... in every quarter of the world it is the right hand, and not the left, which is predominant, and this is so whether in the great civilizations of Europe and India or among the most primitive and isolated peoples known. The issue can be studied in such varied fields as the Homeric poems, alchemy, and thirteenth-century French religious art, in Hindu iconography, classical Chinese state ceremonies, emblem books and bestiaries, as well as in Maori ritual, Bornean divination, and the myths of the most disparate cultures.

Although a majority are right-handed, historically this may not have always been so. Stone-Age tools and cave paintings give evidence of a more even distribution of right-handers and left-handers among our ancient ancestors. However, by the Bronze Age the right hand seems to have gotten the upper hand.

In more recent history, there are isolated cases of left-handed cultures. In the Old Testament, King David is said to have been aided by an army of left- handers. Alexander the Great was reported to have found a tribe of left- handed people. In some contemporary primitive cultures there is a relatively higher proportion of left-handers than there is in the rest of the world. Among these are the Hottentots, Bushmen, Pygmies and Bantu of Africa, Aborigines of Australia, and natives of New Guinea.

Yet the vast majority of humans are considered to be right-handed. Estimates run 90 percent and higher, according to some cross-cultural studies. But statistics are unreliable, depending on the definition of handedness. Is the dominant hand the one that writes? That uses tools? That throws a ball? That is stronger? That is used more often? Some people are right-handed for some tasks and left-handed for others. Ambidextrous people use both hands interchangeably.

I have worked with another group who have been ignored. I call them switch-overs, that is, left-handers who were forced by parents or teachers to write with the right hand. We don't know how many switch-overs there are. Many switch-overs don't even know that they were once naturally left-handed. I encounter such people all the time in my workshops and private practice. When they begin writing with the left hand, they are flooded with childhood memories of early power struggles in which they were forcibly (often cruelly) made to conform to the majority rule. It was indelibly imprinted on their young minds that the left hand was the wrong hand for writing. They repressed these experiences long ago and forgot their true handedness. My clinical experience confirms that much psychological damage was done. Often these individuals would have trouble finding my office for their first art therapy session. In private work it would frequently be revealed that they had great difficulty finding their way in life. They chose the "wrong" careers and seemed to be living in unsatisfying relationships and locations. Something very basic had been betrayed at an early age, and it appeared to have long-term effects. However, the techniques presented in this book helped them to revive their natural handedness.

Benjamin Franklin, statesman, philosopher, author, and inventor, was a proponent of eduction for both hands. The following was his serious attempt to recommend ambidextrality to the teaching profession:

A PETITION TO THOSE WHO HAVE THE SUPERINTENDENCY OF EDUCATION

I address myself to all the friends of youth, and conjure them to direct their compassionate regard to my unhappy fate, in order to remove the prejudices of which I am the victim. There are twins sisters of us; and the eyes of man do not more resemble, nor are capable of being on better terms with each other than my sister and myself, were it not for the partiality of our parents, who made the most injurious distinction between us.

From my infancy I have been led to consider my sister as a being of more educated rank. I was suffered to grow up without the least instruction, while nothing was spared in her education. She had masters to teach her writing, drawing, music, and other accomplishments, but if by chance I touched a pencil, a pen, or a needle I was bitterly rebuked; and more than once I have been beaten for being awkward and wanting a graceful manner.

Must not the regret of our parents be excessive, at having placed so great a difference between sisters who are so perfectly equal? Alas! We must perish from distress; for it would not be in my power even to scrawl a suppliant petition for relief....

Condescend, sir, to make my parents sensible of the injustice of an exclusive tenderness, and of the necessity of distributing their care and affection among all their children equally. I am, with profound respect, Sirs,

Your obedient servant, THE LEFT HAND

Why would society prefer one hand over another? And why, throughout the world and throughout history, was the right hand chosen as the superior hand?

THEORIES OF HANDEDNESS

In western history, explanations of hand dominance in humans fall into two opposing schools of thought: biological and cultural. As in so many areas of science, the debate between nature vs. nurture applies here, too. For instance, Plato believed we were meant to be balanced (ambidextrous) individuals and that any hand dominance was the result of bad child-rearing habits. Aristotle had a biological point of view and believed right-handedness was due to an inherently greater strength in the right side of the body.

Theories of handedness proliferated through the ages. The following are a few of the more popular explanations for why humans prefer one hand and why it was the right hand that achieved preeminence.

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Excerpted from "The Power of Your Other Hand"
by .
Copyright © 2019 Lucia Capacchione.
Excerpted by permission of Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Preface 9

Author's Introduction 13

Chapter 1 In My Own Hands 21

Chapter 2 The Upper Hand and the Other Hand 33

Chapter 3 Letting the Right Hand Know 48

Chapter 4 Hand in Hand 66

Chapter 5 Finding the Artist Within 84

Chapter 6 Finding the Healer Within 97

Chapter 7 Recovery of the Inner Child 113

Chapter 8 Reaching Out 134

Chapter 9 The Hand of God Within 144

Questions and Answers 161

Bibliography 177

List of Permissions 181