Jill Bolte Taylor
On the way home from work I stopped at BJ’s to pick up dog food, cat litter, and Band-Aids. As is my wont, I perused the big book table. Books are a big deal to me — they are the tangible experiences of our collective unconscious; they are our communication with the great minds of our past and present; and they can be read on the toilet (or on the beach, or at our kids’ soccer games, or in our cars at lunch).
Even though my book shelves have books that I haven’t read (and may never read), I wanted a new book. I picked up and was fascinated by Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor’s My Stroke of Insight. Almost bought it.
But then I came across Vincent Bugliosi’s The Prosecution of George W. Bush For Murder. I don’t know what popular opinion of Bugliosi is, but I’ve always thought of him as well thought out, straight-forward, and true to himself. The title alone was enough for me to go, “Wow. I wonder what Bugliosi has to say.”
I bought “The Prosecution of George W. Bush For Murder.” I’m about a quarter of the way through it. Wow. But more on that at another time.
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I’ve studied brain function academically, professionally, and privately. I’m fascinated.
I believe that the two hemispheres of our brain essentially divides into two people — the Artist and the Scientist, the Poet and the Engineer, the Only Now and the Past-Future Linear. I have an inkling that God and the Universe and Nirvana is in our right brain (or is at least experienced there), but we live in our left brain. Our left brain holds us together and tries to make sense of All of This.
Speech-Language Pathologists are very tied into how the brain works and how experience, thought, and speech are formed. Many of them work with people who have brain problems. The Speech-Language Pathologists I work with is no exception. I shared with one of them my story about almost buying Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor’s book and told her some of the excerpts I read.
Essentially the book is about the experiences of a woman, a brain scientist, who had a stroke from a massive left brain hemmorage. Her left brain shut down and she was left living in her right brain. From her bio:
Jill Bolte Taylor was a 37-year-old Harvard-trained and published brain scientist when a blood vessel exploded in her brain. Through the eyes of a curious neuroanatomist, she watched her mind completely deteriorate whereby she could not walk, talk, read, write, or recall any of her life.
Because of her understanding of how the brain works, her respect for the cells composing her human form, and an amazing mother, Jill completely recovered her mind, brain and body. In My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey, Jill shares with us her recommendations for recovery and the insight she gained into the unique functions of the right and left halves of her brain.
Having lost the categorizing, organizing, describing, judging and critically analyzing skills of her left brain, along with its language centers and thus ego center, Jill’s consciousness shifted away from normal reality. In the absence of her left brain’s neural circuitry, her consciousness shifted into present moment thinking whereby she experienced herself “at one with the universe.”
Professionally, this book may give us tremendous insight into treating our patients with brain disorders. The Speech-Language Pathologist will buy the book on the way home this afternoon.
Personally, I’m fascinated. At least my Left Brain is.
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This is a short talk by Dr. Bolte Taylor. It is required viewing for all readers of ofKINGSandcarnies.com:
If you liked that, maybe you will like this:
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