Ambidextrous

For the next month I’M going to take a break from my usual blog, ‘Unfolding Plans’ and have a stab at something else. Last year I took part in the ‘Blogging from A-Z Challenge’ and it has come around again.  You can find the details here http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/ .  I am number 1101.
As always I have been inspired by many of the things that I have been reading. One of my colleagues from Newcastle University recommended I try a book called ‘A more beautiful question – The power of inquiry to spark breakthrough ideas’ by Warren Berger.  It is a good book and worth the effort but inside its pages it referred several times to a book by AJ Jacobs called ‘The year of living biblically’ in which the author tries to live his life taking every word of the bible literally.

My belief is that much if what we do every day is done without thought, that habits are formed which are hard to break yet may not deliver the outcomes that we seek. Our most creative moments come when we are plunged into new experiences either willingly or not and when different sets of understanding come together.  I guess that was the point of Jacob’s book, it took him to new experiences, new perceptions and new (or ancient) ways of thinking.

So for the next thirty days I’M going to try and challenge some of my perceptions and force myself to experience new things, not by being as extreme as living like Moses but by becoming left handed.  It may not seem very challenging but we’ll see.

The theme of today’s blog is ambidextrous meaning being able to use both hands as well as the other. This is something I am not. I’m a consummate right hander.  Why I don’t know, presumably I was born that way and that is something I will come back to.

During April I’m going to challenge myself to be the opposite of a small part of what or who I am and member of a minority that leads with the left.  There are some ground rules however. I’m not going to do things with my left hand that I should do with my right such as changing my knife and fork around or try and change gear when I’m driving with my left hand.  That’s not want I want to achieve and fear it could get me into a right (or left) mess.  I’m not going to let this experiment result in anything that may be dangerous.  If I’m subject to a Godzilla attack it will be with my right hand that I reach for my weapon.

So here is the plan.  Every time I go to do something and reach out with my right hand I’m going to try and check myself, draw back my natural paw and offer up my left instead.  Hopefully it is going to make me think about all of those things that I take for granted and all of those situations where I do without thinking.  No doubt there will be a few of those.