The Writing

Story and Samples of Left-Handed and Backward Writing
When I was a child I made sporadic attempts at writing left-handed. Because I am right-hand dominant writing left-handed was slow and difficult. The letters were poorly formed. Over time I stopped trying.

In 2004 during a time of spiritual initiation I was at work in the Wyoming Legal Services office in Lander, Wyoming and the thought came into my mind to try again. Or perhaps it is more accurate to say that it was a feeling in my body - a feeling of warmth and excitement which when I focused on it prompted me to try. I picked up a pen in my left hand and began writing on a yellow, lined legal pad resting on the top of my desk.  I was surprised to see that the writing was legible and that it was also backward. I tore the paper from the pad, held it up in the restroom mirror and saw that it could be read this way.

In several places in the writing I had reversed the letters "b" and "d," letters that often trouble dyslexics. As I wrote, a memory from a fourth grade cursive writing assignment surfaced: a teacher came to my desk with corrected homework. Using a pencil she pointed out that though I had used my right hand I had written backward across the page. She told me that I must write from left to right and not the other way around. I dutifully complied. Occasionally, I catch myself writing right-handed and backward now, especially after I have been writing left-handed and backward for a period.

Now, when I write longhand, I write mostly left-handed and backward. My mind continues to adjust to reading this left-handed and backward script though initially I could not decipher what I had written without using a mirror. For this reason I was not sure what purpose the writing served as I could not see the wisdom in continuing the awkward process of reading in front of a mirror.

From within a feeling similar to the one that prompted me to try the writing in 2004, I discovered that if I write left-handed and backward with a felt tip pen the ink will bleed through the paper. By flipping the paper over the script can be read in the normal fashion.

Below are two photos showing the same sample of writing. The first photo (brown background) shows a sample from a journal entry with left-handed and backward writing. The second photo (green background) shows the same sample flipped over. This second photo demonstrates the ink as it has bled through the page and made the writing easier to read. With scissors I cut the word "LOVE" into the bottom of the paper on which the sample is written to show that the same sample is used in both photos. The brightness and clarity of the writing in the first photo shows that this is the side of the page to which the ink was directly applied. The faintness of the script in the second photo demonstrates ink that has bled through.

I continue to use this writing because it evokes a feeling of fluidity, happiness, unity (oneness) and relaxation. It allows to me access a different consciousness and with this different thought patterns and depths of information. This writing is helpful for capturing emotion. Finally, it is good for balancing the right and left hemispheres of the brain.