126 the rice diet renewal
Prize for his research on the functions of the human brain ’ s hemi-
spheres. Our culture has grown to believe that the “ three Rs ” (read-
ing, [w]riting, and [a]rithmetic), essential for training specifi c, verbal,
numerical, and analytical ways of thinking, are somehow more impor-
tant than the artistic realm of education, which is considered enrich-
ing or valuable but not essential. Yet because the right brain ’ s way of
responding is to see the whole picture, it is obviously to our benefi t to
consciously befriend and nurture both sides of the brain. Our encour-
agement of a right - brain, big - picture perspective is especially benefi -
cial when we explore issues that have emotional and spiritual roots,
such as this introspective examination and inner healing journey. In
fact, it could be easily argued that most of our personal and societal
stress and suffering could be alleviated or healed by more frequent
use of our right brain ’ s wide - angle lens, rather than our left brain ’ s
analytical and critical perspective, which often limits our options to
linear, scarcity - based solutions. Exercising the right brain is empow-
ering and greatly facilitates our inner healing process. Although we
cannot neatly divide up the functions of the brain into right and left
halves, because individuals and genders differ, the bottom line is that
we need to engage both sides of the brain if we are to fl ourish.
Not only has our society pushed a predominantly left - brain edu-
cation on us, most of us also have a natural tendency to feel that
left - mode thinking is easier. In contrast, the right brain, or R - mode
strategy, may at fi rst seem diffi cult, unfamiliar, and even a little scary.
As Dr. Betty Edwards, in The New Drawing on the Right Side of the
Brain , describes R - mode thinking, it “ must be learned in opposition
to the ‘ natural ’ tendency of the brain to favor L - mode because, in
general, language dominates. By learning to control this tendency
for specifi c tasks, one gains access to powerful brain functions often
obscured by language. ” Dr. Edwards has spent years teaching oth-
ers how to draw from the right side of the brain. The same magical
access or shift into right - brain wisdom also occurs in nondominant
hand journalizing. While Dr. Edwards ’ s goals are to teach others to
draw and to make cognitive shifts to R - mode, the thinking - seeing
mode that is specialized for drawing, ours are to express through
writing our deep thoughts and feelings about who we are, why we