I've been wanting to have an Aha! -moment for quite sometime now and I think I got it today.
An Aha!-moment is one where something suddenly makes sense. Unfortunately, I cant remember the last time I had one of these, but I'm sure I've had em, but never really gave it enough thought to objectify it.
So, Dad sent me this link. It's about this Neuroanatomist who watched her own brain deteriorate and was able to narate this after she recovered. Very touching and inspiring !
What I gathered from it, is a startling realization of my own way of thinking. Just the realization of how the 2 halves of my brain can think in different ways and also realizing 'when' it happens, suddenly seems to explain 'why' it happens. Now, I've yet to see, if my theory is right, but I think I've got something interesting going on here. Hopefully, I will be able to convince myself through some experiments.
The way I understand it is, the Left brain = Logical thinking and Right brain = Day dreaming. Honestly, I dont find much use of my Right brain .. yet... (maybe I can sell it off for a couple of million bucks and get that Bugati Veyron) :p
Even now, as I'm writing this, there's something interesting happening. As I'm thinking of what to write, my left brain is controlling the flow of thought into words and the right brain is simultaneously thinking of how to phrase it, so that YOU find it interesting. This is easier if you can visualize someone you know well when he/she is reading this. If I were to write this in a personal journal which noone but me, is going to read, it would be very different. Probably more detailed with more examples/instances. Think of it like preparing for a presentation. You study the topic so you understand it well, now the next task is to prepare slides and a Talk so that your audience follows it. Especially, when your audience is predominantly Chinese. :) You have to re-phrase it, use simple english, multiple ways of getting the point across and so on. If it were your friends/colleagues (people you know well), you'd be thinking very differently. This probably is an example of both halves coming together in harmony.
While reading something highly technical, for the kind of 'effective' reading required, I think the Left brain is most dominant. It tries to relate concepts learned from the past to what you're reading now. And when the topic is really boring, and you loose your discipline, the right brain leads to digression/distraction. At other times, the out-of-the-box thinking comes from the Right half. Its when your left brain has done its job and you have understood a concept very well, your right half could perhaps try to apply it in a completely different angle. (Lateral thinking ?)
There's a lot more to this, but for further discussion, a couple of Beers/Wine, would get me talking...
Come to think of it, I should try some experiments the next time I'm High. I've always been intriguied by the fact that whenever I'm inebriated I loose all inhibitions and am able to make better conversations with the 'other' species. (read: females) ... or maybe not. :D
