The Whole-Brain Child

In order to live balanced, meaningful, and creative lives full of
connected relationships, it’s crucial that our two hemispheres work
together. The very architecture of the brain is designed this way.
For example, the corpus callosum is a bundle of ɹbers that runs
along the center of the brain, connecting the right hemisphere with
the left. The communication that takes place between the two sides
of our brain is conducted across these ɹbers, allowing the two
hemispheres to work as a team—which is exactly what we want for
our kids. We want them to become horizontally integrated, so that
the two sides of their brain can act in harmony. That way, our
children will value both their logic and their emotions; they will be
well balanced and able to understand themselves and the world at
large.
The brain has two sides for a reason: with each side having
specialized functions, we can achieve more complex goals and
carry out more intricate, sophisticated tasks. Signiɹcant problems
arise when the two sides of our brain are not integrated and we end
up coming at our experiences primarily from one side or the other.
Using only the right or left brain would be like trying to swim
using only one arm. We might be able to do it, but wouldn’t we be
a lot more successful—and avoid going in circles—if we used both
arms together?
It’s the same with the brain. Think about our emotions, for
example. They’re absolutely crucial if we are to live meaningfully,
but we don’t want them to completely rule our lives. If our right
brain took over and we ignored the logic of our left brain, we
would feel like we were drowning in images, bodily sensations,
and what could feel like an emotional ɻood. But at the same time,
we don’t want to use only our left brain, divorcing our logic and
language from our feelings and personal experiences. That would
feel like living in an emotional desert.
The goal is to avoid living in an emotional ɻood or an emotional