shovels, handedness, and resolution number ten

the ground finally dried out enough for me to get back at the shovel.  i've got several new beds to dig for squashes and beans and who knows what else.  it was a lovely day for digging and while i was working i got to thinking about handedness (being left or right-handed).  i'm strongly right-handed for most everything.  i'm quite comfortably ambidextrous with a rake or broom.  but when it comes to the shovel it turns out i'm strongly left-handed, which i find interesting.  i didn't even know i was a left-handed shoveler until i came across instructions for how one should hold a shovel depending on one's handedness---i always thought i was shoveling right-handedly.  i've had a general fascination with handedness for some time.  i've had this idea that if i use my off hand to do things i usually do with my dominant hand it will nudge my brain into making new connections---new physical/neurological connections in my brain and body and new connections in how i think about things---how i see things (new year's resolution number ten, "see things differently" http://mwstaal.blogspot.com/2013/12/i-resolve.html).  i want to be able to keep my mind fresh and my thinking flexible---it's a challenge.  so after i did a fair amount of shoveling as i normally do i switched hands and finished up---if nothing else it will keep my arms evenly muscled.  tonight i'll try to remember to brush my teeth with my left hand.