Pages

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Stroke of Insight



Kids, here is a totally interesting woman, brain scientist Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor. You have likely heard of her book, My Stroke of Insight, written about the massive stroke she suffered in 1996 when she was only 37 .  As it was happening, she realized that she had a rare opportunity, as a scientist, to observe and study the brain as it was suffering the trauma, and recovering, a journey that took her eight years. Her book has taken awards and is a very interesting read.


But what I found most moving and interesting was this film clip, sent to my inbox this morning by a friend. In this clip, Dr. Taylor very movingly describes what happened to the two hemispheres of her brain as the stroke was occuring.

She describes how our left brain says we are separate, while our right brain says we are all one. During her stroke, her left brain was wiped out completely, and she found herself in a euphoric place where she was one with everything. She experienced nirvana.  She says, "If I was still alive, and if I could reach nirvana, then everybody could. I pictured a world of beautiful beings who could purposefully choose to reach this state of nirvana and peace at any time. We can choose our right brains over our left brains.

"Who are we? We are the life force of the universe, with manual dexterity. We can choose how we want to be in the world. The more we choose peace, the more peace we spread into the world, and that is an idea I thought was worth spreading."

You can hear her speak in this short film clip:


2 comments:

  1. It is a beautiful message worth spreading! Amazing she found the insight to remain in scientific mode. I think most would be woe is me! I will have to check this vid and book out~ Thank you for sharing!
    The mind, body n' spirit are miraculous to behold!

    ReplyDelete
  2. That is really cool...I've experienced nirvana also...don't know where my brain was, because I was out of my head!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for visiting. I appreciate it and will return your visit soon.