Right Brain Left Brain

There's this idea out there that artists are Right Brained people, and accountants (that classic stereotype of dullness) are Left Brain people. In an either/or world it's another way to simplify and categorize. The extensive study, research, and conceptualization of left and right brain thinking DID help us understand more about the way the brain works, but we still all have whole brains in there that hopefully function in both hemispheres. (Yes there is a revolving door between both halves. Keep using it.) Well, I'm still not sure about Sarah Palin but....oh, let's not go there.....I'll save sarcasm for another blog.
 When I was a public school teacher (a time that is becoming more and more remote), during one of our many in-service meetings, we were all, as a faculty, given a test to determine how right or left brain dominant we were. When we got our results we were asked to line up around the cafeteria from the most right brained (strangely on the left side of the room) all the way to the most left brained. Predictably enough the art and music teachers were on the right brain end, while all of the administrators, but one, were on the left brained end along with the science and math teachers. I had assumed, having been called arty all my life and having been accused of being 'flaky', 'dreamy' and not grounded in reality, that I would be waaaay over there with the flower power granola eaters, but no, I was almost smack dab in the center, along with a clump of English teachers and a few P.E. coaches. A part of me was disappointed, thinking I wasn't as creative as I thought I was but then I realized I had always had the best of both worlds. I could whip out a painting or a piece of choreography and also do math in my head and memorize vocabulary words without breaking a sweat. I was, dare I say it, a balanced human being. It also explains my centrist political views and my take-the-middle-way Buddhist bent. I've also realized that true right brain people can be a bit, as my friend Lora says, 'woo-woo', and don't always make the best successful artists, who really do need a foot in the practical world to manage their career. As for those people way over in left brain territory, I'm glad they keep the records and do the research and quantify and diagnose everything for us, but the best doctors and scientists also have that hefty dose of creativity from the right side that allows them to make those visionary leaps. Just ask Mr. Whole Brain Einstein, the poster child for both sides.