empowering your mind 127
are here, and what most fuels our passion to create and love our-
selves, others, and our earth. In accessing this wisdom and inherent
knowledge, we will co - create our personal healing and that of our
community and environment.
Drawing and journalizing with the nondominant hand are two
of the most powerful ways to connect and realize in a deep way
that this science of the brain is real and is worthy of our further
exploration. I have led nondominant - hand journalizing sessions at
the Rice Diet Program, in which I asked participants to write about
whatever fi rst popped into their minds once they were in a medita-
tive, alpha - wave state. I always remind them that they can trust that
whatever comes up is indeed what they need to journal on; this is
not an exercise on how to squelch undesired thoughts but how to
attend to those that come up.
One example comes to mind of a woman in her forties, who
had no previous memory of sexual abuse. During the introductory
meditation time, a memory of an uncle whom she disliked popped
into her head; the recollection of him troubled her. When she ques-
tioned what she should do with that, I asked her whether she would
mind simply writing with her dominant hand: Why are you here
today? Why should I remember you today? Then to place the pen
in her nondominant hand and allow him to answer the questions.
When you take such a stretch, because you aren ’ t your uncle, you
simply relax and imagine him and listen to whether you can sense
what he might say if he were available to answer.
She began to journalize with her nondominant hand, and tears
poured from her eyes. This simple exercise had unlocked the long -
hidden memory (by her left brain, or ego) of sexual abuse by her
uncle. It had remained secured deep within her brain until she was
able to handle the full truth of her past. The exercise with the non-
dominant hand had freed the right brain to release the buried pain to
her consciousness when she was mature and emotionally ready
to deal with it. I had previously heard that you can be in your forties
before you even remember a childhood trauma as dramatic as sexual
abuse, but I had never seen such a pain release into the light of con-
sciousness through a journalizing exercise. I truly do not think this