Deciphering the bones

A couple of weeks ago I was in a mall and I noticed a man coming towards us in a 'hemi' wheelchair propelling with the left foot only while holding a phone in the left hand. The right hand was in his lap and the the right foot was on the foot rest.  (Typical of right hemiplegia and left CVA). As he came toward me I was interested in seeing if he acknowledged me with the left side of face and how I would react. His smile was definitely left sided but more interesting was my reaction. Even though I was trying to connect to his left side with my left side, mid stream I switched to my usual and tried to connect with his right side. I realized it and had to try and re-establish the left side contact which took a good deal of mental effort and a second or two.  It felt like the habit of seeing the 'persona' in the right side of someone's face took over and I had to verify what I was seeing on the left. However the right side of his face was very stroke impaired. So I was left hanging in no man's land for short period of time and I assume the man in the wheelchair got a mix message from me.

A side issue which seems to be happening as I am trying to work with my left tongue (which still is remarkably undefined in movement) is that it almost feels like I am moving the bones of my face mainly on the left but some on the right. Areas in which I seem to expect no movement are being pulled very forcibly. Again even though the movements are very small the amount of force seems to be quite large and the areas activated are often quite distant from the focus of the 'left tongue'

Coordinated mimimicking

It's becoming more apparent that elements of the left side (head, face, throat and tongue) are not used in isolation but rather in coordination with other elements on the left side in left sided initiation and control. I thought I would be able to isolate elements of the left side and gain control but it feels much bigger. It is interesting to find elements of the left side in coordinated action when I am trying to only gain some further control of one element.

A similar process is in my ability the persona in the left side of someone's head. In my normal viewing of someone I see the persona as right sided and I mimic that side without thought in my normal attempt to read the persona. Most often the left side of others has less to read and mimic but still has a great deal for me to see and reflect in myself. So when I react to the left side the whole of my left side has to react in a coordinated way to mimic what is seen.
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