If you are fascinated by the brain, read My Stroke of Insight, one of the many wonderful books that I’ve reviewed for Townsend Letter over the years.1 The author, Jill Bolte Taylor, is a neuroscientist who experienced a massive stroke that affected the left hemisphere of her brain. That side of the brain deals with language, movement, spatial context, details, categorizing, and organization. Without the left brain, Taylor thought with pictures and relied on voice tone, nonverbal cues, and relationship patterns to interpret her environment—all strengths of the right hemisphere. In addition, her “brain chatter” with its perpetual commentary stopped. She experienced a timeless sense of peace and oneness in the present moment.
As she recovered the ability to walk, speak, read, drive, teach, and other skills lost because of the stroke’s damage, Taylor realized that she had a choice; she did not have to recover the left brain’s chatter: “…the part of my left hemisphere character that had the potential to be mean, worry incessantly, or be verbally abusive to either myself or others.”2 “Frankly, I just didn’t like the way these attitudes felt physiologically inside my body,” she explains. “My chest felt tight, I could feel my blood pressure rise, and the tension in my brow would give me a headache.” She says the emotional programs of the limbic system, which release biochemicals when triggered, cause a short-lived emotional response (less than 90 seconds). It is the left brain that keeps the anger or worry going.
As if speaking to a wayward child, Taylor tells her left brain to stop its negative chatter. And if it doesn’t, she consciously shifts her thoughts to 1) something that fascinates and intrigues her, 2) something that brings her “terrific joy,” or 3) something she would like to do.
With brain chatter and media overload, it’s comforting (at least to me) to know there is a part of my brain that holds deep internal peace and stays in the present. And that I can choose to access it.
Jule Klotter
REFERENCES
- Klotter J. Review – My Stroke of Insight. Townsend Letter. July 2009.
- Taylor JB. My Stroke of Insight. New York; Viking Penguin: 2008.
