Left Brain Versus Right Brain Education

The main thrust of my four novels is my protagonist Marjorie Veil's year long search for spiritual and emotional freedom, using the Native American Medicine Wheel as her guide.


However, in my fourth novel, Between Now and Forever, where Marjorie takes on a class of troubled middle school students with psychic abilities, a question that naturally arises and becomes a major conflict in the story is the validity of emphasizing left brain over right brain education in our schools.


The following video helps spark the fire

 

As does Daniel Pink's book, A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule The Future.


My protagonist and antagonist in Between Now and Forever present valid arguments for both - arguments that almost take them too far.



As always, thanks for stopping by.

Meaning is the New Money

Get prepared for the Conceptual Age where meaning is the new money, says Daniel H. Pink in his book, A Whole New Mind, Why Right-Brainers Will Rule The Future.

The future, according to Pink, belongs to a very different kind of mind than we value today.  We are moving from the Information Age, which values logical, linear, computerlike capabilities, to the Conceptual Age, which values inventive, empathetic, big-picture capabilities.

That means artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, caregivers, and consolers--Right-Brained thinkers, the "emotionally astute and creatively adroit whose distinctive abilities the Information Age has often overlooked and undervalued."

Pink gives three social and economic reasons why R-Directed aptitudes are grabbing the wheel.

1. Abundance:  Freed from the struggle for survival, we are now searching for meaning. 
2. Asia:  Workers abroad can do L-Directed work equally well for less money 
3. Automation:  Computers are better, faster, and stronger than humans when it comes to jobs that can be reduced to a set of rules, or broken down into a set of repeatable steps."

We've gone from the Agricultural Age (farm workers) to the Industrial Age (factory workers) to the Information Age (knowledge workers) to the Conceptual Age (creators and empathizers).

From backs to left brains to right brains. 

From IQ (Intelligence Quotient) to EQ (Emotional Intelligence).

Pink shares six R-Directed aptitudes we will need to master for future success. 

1. Design: Ability to create something that is both functional AND meaningful.
2. Story: Ability to put facts in context enriched by emotion.
3. Symphony:  Ability to see the big-picture.
4. Empathy: Ability to stand in others' shoes.
5. Play: Ability for laughter, lighheartedness, games, and humor.
6. Meaning: Ability to achieve gratification in the main areas of one's life.

The following video from Oprah's Soul Series gives an overview of Pink's original and profound work. 



For Oprah, who lives in her right brain, The Conceptual Age--the "age of art and heart," is her time to shine.

Is it your time to shine, too?

As always, thanks for stopping by.