Devoted brain scientist Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor woke up having a stroke one morning. A neuroanatomist being able to study her own brain from the inside out during her stroke was a great gift to humanity. When fully recovered, she wrote A Stroke of Insight and enlightened many a lucky Ted Talk attendee with her experiential discovery. It took her eight years of hard work to recover her previous faculties and that is inspiration enough for those of us who take our blessings of health for granted. We all know the brain has two separate hemispheres but did you know that they process in completely different ways? Dr. Taylor explained that, for the computer literate person, it is as if the right brain is our parallel processor and our left is the serial processor. I’m not a computer genius so I was more enthralled with how anatomically separate the right and left hemispheres are from each other. If you ever see an actual human brain you will notice that the two halves are barely woven together at the bottom. They really look like two brains.
Yes, it’s true, I had never heard the word neuroanatomist before. I’m totally right brained and unqualified to write this article. Heck, I barely made it through algebra in high school but concepts are my thing! I love to ponder possibilities.
The left brain, quite literally, provides our physical boundaries, separateness and analytical abilities. According to Dr. Taylor it is as if our left brain analyzes what it is analyzing. I’m sure we have all had one of those nights plagued with a wrenching case of insomnia! The left brain directs everything from our pincher grasp to our hold on memories and emotional baggage. It gives us the ability to walk, talk and think organized thoughts. Gee, seems like everything is covered with just one side of the brain, huh? Not the GOoD stuff!
The right brain is in charge of the ever expanding now. While the left brain creates separateness, the right brain is aware of only oneness; a connection to everything. When Dr. Taylor experienced her right brain only, for moments during her stroke, she felt expansive to the point of being unaware of the boundaries of her body. She looked upon her own form with a kind of detached awe at it's primitive shape. She stated, for example, that her perception of her own hands made them appear claw like. She was a part of everything. She was euphoric. She was overcome by this awareness and forever changed.
Quoting her is the most respectful and inspiring way to share her thoughts on her right brained moments.
“I pictured a world filled with beautiful, loving, peaceful, compassionate people and they choose to step to the right of their left hemispheres. We are the life force power of the universe with manual dexterity and two cognitive minds. We have the power to choose moment by moment who and how we want to be in the world. Right here, right now I can step in the consciousness of my right hemisphere where we are, I am, the life force power of the universe. I am the life force power of the 50 trillion molecular geniuses that make up my form at one with all that is... or.... I can choose to step into the consciousness of my left hemisphere where I am a single individual, a solid separate from the flow. Separate from you, I am Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, intellectual, neuro-analasyst. These are the we inside of me. Which would you choose? Which do you choose? And when? I believe that the more time we spend choosing to run the deep inner peace circuitry of our right hemispheres... the more peace we will project into the world and the more peaceful are planet will be..”
So basically if we, as a society, grow to value our right brained ‘geniuses’ the way we value our left brained geniuses... we might have a chance at world peace. What would happen in our lives if we spent a little more time in our right hemisphere and a little less time in our left hemisphere? I double dog dare you to find out!
Feel the magic...
Left Brain - Right Brain Dominance test! Click here!
No comments:
Post a Comment