Funny, Delicious, Beautiful

She is a student named Laura from Yuma and she only practices yoga on her left side. In other words, instead of doing warrior 1 on the right side and then the left side, she’ll do it twice on the left. I actually went up to her when she took my yoga class and said quietly, “I think you forgot to do the right side.” She replied, “That’s why they call me Lefty Laura.”

In another class, I went up to her and in a very loving way tried to guide her into the twisting triangle pose on the right side. She looked at me, smiled, and again said “I’m Lefty Laura.” I replied respectfully, “You already told me that, but what does it mean? Something is wrong with your right side, right?” She answered, “Right? No Left. I’m Lefty Laura.”

Hmmmm, maybe she was mental? Or possibly she had a stroke and didn’t have access to her right side. Or maybe she’s just flat our weird? So I started researching lefties. The science suggests left-handed people as a group have historically produced an above-average quota of high achievers. In fact, of the 7 most recent US Presidents, 4 have been left-handed, including Barack Obama, and one was ambidextrous. Australian research shows that left-handed people think more quickly when playing computer games or sports. Left-handed people also tend to earn more money. And most interestingly, research from Canada reveals this interesting quality of left-handed people: they’re more likely to be homosexual.*

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I know what you must be thinking and I agree, if in fact it’s not just Lefty Laura but Lesbo Lefty Laura, who the heck cares?! All the power to her! We’re always trying to break down statistics on righties and lefties, gay people and straight people, red-heads and blonds, short people and tall people. Our society is increasingly based on information and proof and less on dreaming and the imagination. And that is not good for our happiness.

According to Eric Weiner, author of Geography of Bliss, the people of Iceland are some of the happiest people in the world because of their ability to relinquish the need to know. Icelanders tend to believe in strange things like dwarfs and fairies, regardless of whether or not there are any statistics to prove their existence. As Weiner goes on to describe, “a pinch of self-delusion and naivete” are important ingredients in the happiness recipe.

So I’ve decided to let Lefty Laura do her thing. I don’t need to know why she only practices on the left. Some of the energy I spend thinking, is better spent dreaming. As a wise one said, “Live in the glory of your imagination, not your memories.”