A long ring finger

Did you know….

That a long ring finger (in comparison to the index finger) has been linked in several research papers to higher levels of testosterone.  The long ring fingered person has been generally found to be good at sports, flirty, prone to take risks and have heightened spatial awareness.  They have a drive to show off and exhibit whatever skills or abilities they may have.

And it seems that women are subconsciously attracted to these testosterone fuelled risk takers.  In a scientific one-off experiment, a group of women were asked to take turns holding a group of men’s hands through a curtain and rate the men for all-round sexiness.  Out of the group of ten men, four had long ring fingers.  In three different experiments, the long ring fingered men came out tops each time. 

Having a long ring finger may offer initial greater success in attracting a mate but it’s no guide to relationships.  Also bare in mind that although the public self of this person may seem confident, privately they will feel inadequate.  This is because the index finger is short by comparison (the index finger represents how a person sees themselves). 

Interestingly, many professional entertainers, sports people and celebrities have long ring fingers.  Make sure you check this out when you see them next on the tele!

                    

A left handed survivor

Today I’m going to talk about the book, “Taken on Trust”, an autobiography written by Terry Waite. 

Terry was working for the release of hostages when he was duped into becoming one himself.  He spent 1,763 days in captivity as a prisoner in Beirut.  Four years of that time was spent in solitary confinement, chained to a wall, deprived of all natural light and company. 

When he was first led into an empty cell and they closed the door behind him, he made a promise to himself:  no regrets.  No sentimentality.  No self-pity.

To occupy his mind through the countless solitary hours, he decided to write his own autobiography.  He had no pen or paper and wrote the entire autobiography in his own head, going through his life in minute detail. 

Terry is left-handed.  He married a left-hander and two of their four children also turned out to be left-handed. 

Ed Wright, in his book “A Left handed History of the World” talks about the theory that left-handers tend to be lateral, fantasist and experimental thinkers.  In other words, they have more variety in the way they think than right-handers do.  They have the ability to adapt, transform, be agents of change, make unorthodox connections, be experimental and see beyond the status quo and as a result, often make the seemingly impossible come true.

These are all traits that can obviously come in very handy when trying to figure out a way to survive in a difficult situation.   Terry’s highly resourceful and  unorthodox approach to keeping his mind and emotions balanced and his sanity intact is a great living example of these left-handed traits in action. 

Not only did he survive a traumatic experience, he survived remarkably well.  That’s not to say his journey wasn’t at times a desperate struggle.  He often still desperately struggled against crippling loneliness and boredom.

Although he recounts the details of his life before he was imprisoned, I found his inner journey in captivity the most interesting read by far.  Even in solitary confinement, he set himself goals (like getting fit), tried to stick to a daily routine and got on with the writing work he wanted to do, just as we would do in ordinary life.  

Anyway, it highlights the triumph of the human spirit and it’s not a bad read.  Check this book out on Amazon by clicking on this link.

 

What it means to be left handed

 

 

Pictured is the hand of Josh, my 25 year old nephew (who also happens to be very good at maths).  What does it mean to be left handed?  Read on...

 

Left-handed people make up around 10 percent of the population.  More men are left-handed than women – 12 percent of men are lefties while only 8 percent of women are.   A possible explanation for more left-handedness in men is the theory that left-handedness can be caused by the foetus being exposed to excess testosterone in the womb.

Left handers have been discriminated against throughout history and in virtually all cultures – they have been refused marriage, beaten, burnt as witches and had their hands tied behind their backs whenever they tried to write using their left hand.  

The unusual exception to this discrimination was with the ancient Incas, who thought being left-handed was lucky!

When different languages around the world figured out a word for ‘left’, the connotations were less than flattering.  The word for left in Latin is ‘sinistre’, from which the word ‘sinister’ is derived.  In Greek, the word for left-handed is ‘skaios’, which also means ill-omened or awkward.  In German, the word for left-handed is ‘links’ which also means weak. 

There is a formidable presence of famous left handed people in world achievement: -  Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Joan of Arc, Napoleon, Marie Curie, Michelangelo, Beethoven, Frederick Nietzsche, Alan Turing, Isaac Newtown, Henry Ford, Paul McCartney, Bill Gates and Mahatma Gandhi were all left-handed – can you imagine a world without them?   Also, six out of the last eight Presidents in America have been lefties!

Left handed people tend to be risk takers, whether applying it in physical battle (think Alexander the Great) or taking intellectual risks (think Friedrich Nietzsche and Alan Turing).

The left side is controlled by the right side of the brain, so left handers neurologically tend to be right hemisphere dominant.  Studies have proven that the right and left sides of the brain perform different functions.  The right hemisphere manages the visual and spatial aspects of sensory perception.  Architecture is a field renowned for having a large number of lefties.  Having superior visual and spatial abilities can also be an asset in several fields, bringing to mind many lefties who have excelled in these fields:  the visual arts, (Michelangelo), industrial design (Henry Ford), sports (John McEnroe) or on the battlefield (Napoleon).  Napoleon had an uncanny ability to visualize maps!

Recent research into synesthesia has shown that the gift for mathematics and music may be related to enhanced visual-spatial faculties.   

Chris McManus, author of ‘Right Hand Left Hand’ argues that left-handers on average have greater cerebral variability than right-handers do.  In other words, in neurological terms they are risk takers.  The different brains of left-handers is perhaps more reason why they can be expected to be unconventional and pioneers of change. 

Left handed people have to operate in a word dominated by right-handers and have to concentrate harder to work out what to do as the world doesn’t fit them.  This extra step may be one of the reasons why the great left handers of history were such good lateral thinkers. 

Although it hasn’t been conclusively proven, left-handed people seem to have certain traits that make them stand out.  

Intuitive:  they seem to have their own special intuition in solving problems and in the reading of situations.

Empathetic:  While some lefties tend to use their intuition for themselves, others tend to use it to gain knowledge about others.  Lefty Bill Clinton was well known for his empathy.

Visual-spatial ability:  with a usually dominant right hemisphere of the brain, left-handers often have superior visual-spatial faculties.  This ability is often related to gifts in music and mathematics.  Having superior visual-spatial abilities can also be applied practically to the artistic, scientific and military fields.

Lateral thinking:  this type of thinking is about the ability to make unorthodox connections.   Two kinds of lateral thinking are adaptation and transformation.  Lefties have to learn to adapt in a right-handed world, often giving them the ability to be chameleons and change with their circumstances.  The desire for transformation, to completely change something, is enhanced by the fact that the left-hander doesn’t quite fit in a right-handed world.

Hot tempered:  the hot tempers many left-handers seem to have may have something to do with the discrimination they face or the obstacles they have to overcome.  It may also have something to do with the theory that left-handedness can be caused by excess testosterone in the womb.

Solitary:  if you don’t fit into a group, one approach is to isolate yourself and pretend the group doesn’t exist!

Iconoclastic:  the theory is that left-handers are agents of change and march to the beat of their own drum.

Self taught:  many lefties prefer to learn by doing rather than through the reading of books.

Experimental:  many lefties love to pose the question, ‘What if…?’ then experiment.  This is linked to the lefty’s tendency to be instigators of change.

Fantasist:  lefties are often able to see beyond the status quo, making the impossible come true. 

The reference for this article is "A Left-Handed History of the World” by Ed Wright, click on this link to check this book out on Amazon!