Left handedness and creativity?

I'm a creative leftie so long as you can plant it or eat it.

yggdrasil that's interesting about being cross lateral. Like you, my right eye is dominant and I'm definitely left brained/analytical but I'm left handed. I never thought of myself as cross lateral! It must be quite different from being ambidextrous. I'm going to Google it! I suspect I'd be pretty bad at archery whichever way round I held the bow. I played hockey at school right handed because there was no such thing as a left handed stick. I think I'd be right handed if I ever gave golf a try too. Tennis was either hand. In karate my left side is strongest for both kicks and punches.

BBbevan I just can't manage left handed scissors and would probably find it hard to use other specially made left handed implements like tin opener, corkscrew etc. It never occurred to me that things with a screw were generally right handed until I got my current toilet brush. I'm ambidextrous for many activities and right handed for a few, probably through necessity. I'm not sure which hand to use for fishing the toilet brush head out of the loo but rubber gloves are a must!

Right handed ( sigh)

My father was left handed and made to write with his right. It left him with a bad stammer.
He was very practical and could make most anything. When I was growing up there were no such things as left handed scissors. I learnt to use fighthanded implements and still use them today

I am left handed right brained, not organised,

My older sister is left handed she's not very creative, but always did very well school.

yggdrasil same here. I never did a backhand in tennis, just swopped hands. But I am mostly left handed and quite creative. I went to art school and still draw a lot. Also knitt and did embroidery when my eyesight was better. My sister is also left handed and is very creative.

lizziePB: That triangle test is ok unless you are a cross-lateral, like me. My right eye is dominant, but I am left handed. I have to use a bow right-handedly because of aimimg :-)
I am never sure, when taking up a new 'occupation', which hand I will end up using.

I just tried the looking through the triangle test. How strange! Thank you, Lizzypop! I shall try to remember how to do that so I can impress people!

Stansgran*I'm another one who is left handed by nature but was forced to be right handed. Very confusing. Apparently it's what made the queen's father stutter. Can confuse the left and right side of your brain. One side dominate etc.

I'm right handed as is my son and we are both creative, he more than me. However he is totally disorganised whereas I am organised with military precision. So there goes all theories out of the window.

I was lucky as a left handed child. My parents never forced me to conform and were adamant that all the many schools I went to should allow me to choose. I've never had a problem with right handed implements except for the current toilet brush which unwinds itself and falls off the handle if I use it leftie.

I think the idea that lefties are more creative comes from the right brain controlling the left side of the body and vice versa. Brain scans carried out while people complete various tasks show more areas of the right brain firing during creative activities e.g. music, art and (weirdly) maths. The left brain controls more analytical activities. However, we all use both sides of the brain to a greater or lesser extent. I'm left handed (right brain) but my dominant learning style is analytical (left brain) and I'm also quite creative.

To find out which side of your brain is dominant try this:

Hold your hands out at eye level, arms fully extended and make a triangle by joining tips of your index fingers and your thumbs. Find something smallish to look at through this triangle (e.g. clock, photo, lamp) with both eyes open and the object in the centre. Now close your right eye. If the object is still in sight, your left eye is dominant and this usually means you are predominantly right brained. If the object jumps across, often disappearing, your right eye is dominant and you are predominantly left brained. Open your right eye and close the left to check. This won't work if you're cross-eyed! It works perfectly well if you wear lenses or glasses.

I'm left handed, can't knit, sew or crochet, but I do regard my self as quite creative.

Margs I don't think that with regard autism that it's a case of "most" having an exceptional gift, but there are some savants that come to mind.

This "creative" lefty-handies myth surely falls into the exactly same category about the much-vaunted theory that most autistic children have a very exceptional "gift" for music, drawing, painting, writing, etc.

Apparently various experts are now having to sympathetically de-bunk this notion as having very little foundation.

Ditto being left-handed.

I am married to a LH and our son is a LH and they are both very creative, have had and are having careers in film and photography. So I have always believed this saying. But it drives me mad living in a LH house and their brains definitely don't work the same way as mine!!

I damaged my right elbow some years back and had to learn to use my left arm. DH ia mainly sinister, but plays cards right-handed and my very artistic aunt was totally ambi-dextrous could draw/paint equally well with either hand or both - indeed, quite often would use both hands at the same time with amazing matching accuracy. I have absolutely no artistic ability, but as a professional musician, I guess I have some creativity!

Gosh, I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous!

DGS seems not to mind which hand he uses, and doesn't even consistently choose a particular hand for a particular task. We leave him to it.

Do start to notice how many actors are left handed, when watching films or TV. It is almost universal. So it seems as if there may be something in it?

He was
I'm surprised how many lawyers are left handed. There appears one a higher proportion of them than among the general population

I believe Leonardo da Vinci was left handed!

I'm a lefty, and people often tell me I'm a bit 'arty farty' and yet they're unable to say exactly why.. one friend said "well, you wear silver jewellery". My sister has said that my flat is like a magic museum.. but I don't do anything arty and never have.

I am not very creative but trying to make clothes for Barbie dolls for my DGD.

There are a lot of left handers in history, who were very intelligent.
My Daughter is left handed and very creative.I am right handed and quite creative, not sure about the intelligence though!

I'm not the least bit creative either Charleygirl and it really gets me down because I would love to make things to sell for our local cat rescue charity. Everything I try just comes out a total mess. Really gets me down. There must be something I can make or do. I've been trying to learn crochet for a couple of years now but after so long I am still only at the very basic stage and can't seem to get past it. If only I could get past it, I could make some lovely things for the cat rescue charity. Really getting me down. Almost given up on it. I can knit easily enough but have done so much that I thought I would try crochet. Knitting is the only thing I had any success with. Can't see why crochet is proving so difficult. :-(