Fruit Loops

 

 

Since my last post, I’ve been observing Right Brain’s effort to reclaim supremacy over Left Brain, and it’s been interesting. At home on Thursday night, my mind was wired and tired and racing madly on the hamster wheel until I decided to go to bed uber-early and reboot in the morning. As I tend to wake up in right brain, it seemed the practical thing to do. But, like a vengeful toddler banished too early to her room, Lefty lay in wait yesterday morning while I watched the sun rise and had tea with Ter. I was still buzzy from year end, but starting to loosen up. A walk through the ’hood was next – watch the water, ponder blog entries etc. … then it happened. Whitney Houston began crooning in the back of my mind:

 

“and i-I-i will al-ways love yoooOOOuu … ”

Oh, no.

Three blocks later, the croon had swollen to a full-blown bellow:

“AND I-I-I-I-I WILL AL-WAYS LOVE YOOOOOOOOOOWAAAAAHHHH-I-I-I WILL ALWAYS LOOOVE YOU …”

No more idle meandering, no more contemplation of beauty or potential storytelling, just a frantic need to escape the torment of a 1000 decibel loop inexorably stuck in my head. I wanted to yank my brain out through my ears. I was only halfway home when Whitney dissolved into the hypnotic yet furiously annoying beat of the iPhone commercial that got more airtime in 30 minutes than the TV show I was watching the night before. Augh! Kill me now! Please!

Then I realized something. Music is a creativity enhancer. Music opens up your mind to an outside source, to art and emotion and love and joy and the all-encompassing sense of fulfillment that Left Brain simply cannot abide. Music is Right Brain domain. Lefty, however, is a survivor, and survival often means playing dirty. Lefty has figured out that music can be twisted to block the road to creativity. Oh, Lefty is clever. Lefty is slick enough and conniving enough to be in politics.

Lefty is no match for Ru.

Soon as I got home, I put on the stereo. Sarah Brightman, to be precise. Sarah is an artiste in every sense of the word. She’s dramatic, she’s theatrical, she’s artistic, she sings like an angel and best of all, Left Brain can’t keep up with her, let alone override her. The loop snapped within seconds of music being played in the here and now. So bear it in mind. Right Brain will never torture you with neverending French nursery songs or fast food jingles. As soon as the theme for My Three Sons takes root in your mind, break the cycle. Throw on a disc or plug in the iPod. Play music in the moment and your sanity is saved.

Assuming, of course, that you’re not already loopy.