See the “L”
There seems to be a connection between the person that doesn’t always remember right from left and their sense of directions. Perhaps it’s because they are direction-ally challenged? Yup, you guessed it, “a smart person’s problem.”
FOR A QUICK READ: SKIP TO PRACTICAL APPLICATION
You can improve your sense of direction and improve your direction memory with some cognitive effort. For today let’s just do a super easy one and next week we’ll tackle the more in-depth directions (driving, walking) exercise. If you are the type of person who really wants to improve your memory directions, then you will need to plan some time like you do with exercise or other things such as Sudoku, crossword puzzles, Words with Friends, etc. to truly improve your memory.
Sometimes my Yoga or Pilates teachers mix up which side we are working on, some more than others. When they do that I am always thinking of a mnenomic. The one this week was when we are doing “hydrant” (as in fire hydrant) the teacher kept saying to turn to the left except the whole class knew it was to the right. I thought, think of what you are trying to touch, you are bending backward to the opposite side and trying to touch your right hip. The memory device or mnemonic was to touch the opposite side you are lifting; thus, if you are lifting your left leg, you are trying to touch your right side so the directive is ‘turn to your right.’
PRACTICAL APPLICATION
Difficulty remembering right hand from left? Easy Peasey: one is remember what your dominant hand is. Another mnemonic for remembering left from right is to lift your hands (palms facing out) and make an “L”on your left hand with your index finger and thumb (see picture above.)
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