Have you ever notice that yawning is contagious? It especially seems to be true when you are engaged one-on-one with someone. If they yawn you yawn. It’s often difficult to stifle your self from yawning no matter how hard you try.

We don’t exactly understand yawning. We certainly don’t know why it appears to be contagious. But what we do know is that there seems to be a direct correlation between the susceptibly to contagious yawning and our empathy with others. Yup, the more empathic you are the more likely you cannot resist yawning when your see another person yawn.

I know of a physician friend whose medical school classmates would simply write the word “yawn” on a sheet of paper and hold in up during rounds. He would involuntarily yawn. They got a kick out of it. He is a highly empathic doctor. And his empathy makes him particularly effective with patients.

The right brain is the neural site of empathy. The more we exercise the right brain the more the characteristics seeded there manifest in our lives. So as you consider living more from your right brain observe your susceptibility to yawning. In The RightBrain Revolution you should experience and we should witness a lot more contagious yawning.

Okay, so I’ve been writing about ways for everyday folks to access their right brains more frequently. I’ve encouraged meditation, listening to music, envisioning the “big picture,” and being more relational. And indeed all of these strategies will help. I’ve also encouraged creative and artistic efforts. Paint or write or draw or sculpt or do whatever is to your interest and passion but be creative. Creativity lies in the right brain and so to allow yourself creativity is to encourage right brain living. But you have to do it! You can’t think about it and wonder about it and do nothing.

I have an acquaintance, a very successful business woman, who has been bogged down with the left-brain demands of her organization and her career. She complained to me of mild depression, fatigue and “staleness.” She wasn’t having any fun in life and was frustrated. Then it happened. She bought some art supplies and began to “do” art. Her efforts at first, while fun, were challenging and the product of her efforts often unsatisfying but she persisted.

As she stuck with it she got better. Her art got better and so did she. Her mild dysphoria lifted and her energy level improved and she reported that she felt a new zest in everything she did. What she had done was to move to the right brain for some creativity, playfulness and fun. And in doing that she had rested and revitalized her left-brain.

Thinking about this right brain stuff is interesting, and considering how some day you’ll try to work it in to your life is hopeful, but nothing changes if you don’t do it. So take the leap, make the effort and, as the Nike slogan goes, “Just Do It!”

Live in the moment! Right now, in this moment, where you sit, whatever you are doing, all is fine. Not that there aren’t concerns and issues in your life but in this very moment you are fine. You may have wants and possibly even an unfulfilled need or two but, unless your survival is at stake and it’s likely not, you are okay.

Right brain living is about increasing the amount of time you live in the now. We all have regrets of the past and worries about the future but in the moment, nearly each and every moment of our lives, we are fine. (more…)

My graduate school training was over thirty years ago now. I was in a scientifically oriented program. Therefore much of the training was geared toward my left brain. Facts, figures, scientific method, research data and analysis carried the day. In the end my master’s thesis and doctoral dissertation had to make a unique contribution to the scientific literature in psychology. All of this is left-brain stuff.

However, three decades later I remember only the experiences and the stories. I vividly recall my own perceptual experiences of my graduate school experiences. But I also remember the stories that contributed to my training as a clinical psychologist. (more…)

When was the last time you dedicated an hour to dreaming about your future? Better yet have you ever committed an entire weekend to seeing what you’d like for your life? Some people take extended periods of time, weeks, and envision their future. Have you done that?

A quarter of the general population is naturally inclined to visions of what they want and believe their life can be. But that doesn’t mean the other seventy-five percent of the world can’t benefit from this right brain experience. They can but they must be intentional about it.

Obviously we all have a right brain with proclivity for big picture cognition. It is the right brain that has the capacity to set us off on a course of incredible promise filled with what seems like unfathomable experiences. But it must be given time and freedom to dream. The right brain determines where we go and the left-brain gets us there. (more…)

At least two thirds of your life is subject to an organized, scheduled left-brained focus with the possibility of a to-do list. It’s called work and most of our workplaces have a daily work routine to which we must adhere. The workplace futurists tell us that this will change and it has in fact morphed some already.

As the RightBrain Revolution really takes hold of our culture the workplace will become increasingly self-directed. Therefore structure will be less external and more internal. But until then we have to intentionally exercise our right brain so that we can benefit from the many advantages it offers in the coming right brain age.

The left-brain is uptight. It is meant to be. It serves us by being this way. But as is always the case too much of anything is problematic. And in our modern society we have become too routine, too scheduled and therefore too uptight. It has been at the expense of the right brain. So to correct this imbalance it is important, when we can, to let our right brain “carry the day.” (more…)

Did you see it? Right there in the January 27th, 2010 edition of The Wall Street Journal no less. The article: Thinking Happy Thoughts at Work.

The theme of the article was that there is a new trend in American business.  It’s bringing “happiness coaches” in to the workplace to improve the environment and morale. It’s all about positive psychology and the effects that this emerging emphasis can have on business. Of course it’s also all about the right brain and the effects that it can have in the workplace because positive psychology is actually right brain based.

It is the right brain that is the optimist. The left-brain is the analyst and the critic. The left brain is the “kill joy.” And for too long the left-brain has dominated not only the accounting department but has permeated entire organizations. (more…)

So here it is January 2010 and if you are like many of us you have already broken your New Year’s resolution. Actually less than 20% of those who make resolutions keep them. And a majority of folks don’t even make them to begin with.

My advice to you, if you have already broken your resolution, is to persist. All of the data shows that those who persist are more likely to succeed. It makes sense but it is amazing how many people just quit when at first they fail. Success is not an event it’s a process. (more…)

In the midst of this Christmas season, I had lunch with a dear friend of mine, Jay.  Jay is a theologian and as we shared our Christmas lunch we pondered whether it was possible to maintain the Christmas Spirit all year long.

Jay explained to me that he saw the Christmas Spirit is an expression of grace.  We both agreed that grace is the expression of unconditional love. Grace and unconditional love are, of course by definition, only possible in the absence of judgment. Grace must come in living from our soul.

As the psychologist in this dynamic lunching duo I offered to Jay that in my experience unconditional love is the consequence of rising out of, above, our usual circumstantial preoccupations. Circumstantial focus makes us dependent on conditions. Day in and day out we are captivated by the circumstances of our life, seeing our life as a series of problems that we must solve. (more…)

The story is told of a Winston Churchill commencement address in which he stood up, walked to the podium, addressed the graduates and their families and said only four words, “Never, never give up.” He then turned around, walked back to his chair and sat down. On that day, to that audience he was speaking to the right brain.

Persistence is a right-brained trait. Why? Because persistence is illogical. Remember, the left-brain is analytical. It breaks things down, analyzes them, and subjects everything to logic. Persistence is most often illogical. When all of the data says give up the right brain screams, in spite of logic, Never! (more…)