"I felt like a genie liberated from its bottle," that's all I could think of after I'd finished reading Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor's recounting of her experience having a stroke in "Stroke of Insight."
I don't think she'd disagree with me either for having those recurring thoughts. She'd placed a vivid image to explain this line,"it was obvious to me that I would never be able to squeeze the enormousness of my spirit back inside this tiny cellular matrix" [that was her body].
She awoke one day in December 1996, on what should have been an ordinary day in her life as a neuroanatomist, realizing that she was having a stroke at age 37!
What is a Harvard-trained neuroanatomist, who focuses on the functioning of the brain, to do?
She paid attention and recorded in her mind each step of her experience!
"I had become a pile of waste, leftovers, but I still retained a consciousness. A consciousness that was different from the one I had known before, however, because my left hemisphere had been packed with details about how to make sense of the world."
At the time the stroke was unfolding, she obviously did not think of "recording" it! But to read her full details of the day it happened, and the how, what and why of the experience, you know that somewhere...somehow...she'd managed to keep a detailed "record" of the event.
"My Stroke of Insight" is a fascinating recounting of Jill Taylor's life before and after the stroke.
What winds up happening at the end is that Jill Taylor has been able to provide us all with keen and clear insights into the functions performed by the right and left hemispheres of our brains. This time, even scientists cannot question her wisdom, as she IS one of them!
Despite the negatives of the tremendous suffering she must have endured and the slow crawl back to mental wholeness and wellness, this book should be considered as one of God's gift to us all!
It offers a straightforward look at why some people who are more right-brained than left tend to be more emotional, more into "feeling," than those who are left-brained oriented.
Jill Bolte Taylor writes:
"Our right brain perceives the big picture and recognizes that everything around us, about us, among us and within us is made up of energy particles tha are woven together into a universal tapestry.
Since everything is connected, there is an intimate relationship between the atomic space around and within me, and the atomic space around and within you---regardless of where you are. On an energetic level, if I think about you, send good vibrations your way, hold you in the light, or pray for you, then I am consciously sending my energy to you with a healing intention."
Enjoy these other soulful insights:
"Everything around us, about us, among us, within us and between us is made up of atoms and molecules vibrating in space.
Although the ego center of our language center prefers defining our self as individual and solid, most of us are aware that we are made up of trillions of cells, gallons of water, and ultimately everything about us exists in a constant and dynamic state of activity."
"My right hemisphere is all about right here, right now...
"My right mind is all about the richness of this present moment. It is filled with gratitude for my life and everyone and everything in it. It is content, compassionate, nurturing and eternally optimistic.."
About the left hemisphere, she writes:
"Our left brain truly is one of the finest tools in the universe when it comes to organizing information. My left hemisphere personality takes pride in its ability to categorize, organize, describe, judge, and critically analyze absolutely everything. It thrives in its constant contemplation and calculation. Regardless of whether or not my mouth is running, my left mind stays busy theorizing, rationalizing and memorizing.
"It is a perfectionist and an amazing housekeeper of corporation or home. It constantly says, 'everything has a place and everything belongs in its place.'"
You will enjoy the richness of her spiritual experience:
"My soul was as big as the universe and frolicked with glee in a boundless sea."
Or
"Clearly, we are each trillions upon trillions of particles in soft vibration. We exist as fulid-filled sacs in a fluid world where everything exists in motion."
You will be filled with compassion for this single woman, living alone, who managed to inch her way through remembering her colleague's number at work and find a way to call him for help:
"To my great fortune, my colleague and good friend, Dr. Stephen Vincent, was sitting at his desk...
"This is Jill. I need help!"
Even as I write this, I feel touched by the knowingness of TRUTH:
Each day we interact with people at work and do not KNOW the day we may need them to come to our aid, perhaps, in one of our most desperate...or final moments! Had Stephen Vincent NOT been there...had he NOT recognized her voice, which she describes sounded like "grunts and groans," who knows what the outcome may have been.
So many lessons we learn...so many truths...so many insights...
from "My Stroke of Insight!"
Pick up a copy and like me, you'll read and absorb it all in ONE swift stroke to the right brain!
Namaste',
Che'
NOTE: Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor also can be seen on a YouTube Video that has been widely viewed throughout the world. She also was a guest on the Oprah Winfrey show in 2009, which is when I first heard her presentation.
