My Stroke of Insight
by Jill Bolte Taylor, PhD
Surviving a stroke, right by left brain.
By Chris Dunmire
I just finished reading a very inspiring, informative, and hopeful book by Jill Bolte Taylor about her personal journey as a brain scientist surviving a stroke at age 37 and rebuilding her life over the next eight years. Wow — what an amazing story! (Here's a great video she presents about her story on TED.)
From the My Stroke of Insight book jacket:
"... she observed her own mind completely deteriorate to the point that she could not walk, talk, read, write, or recall and of her life all within the space of four brief hours. As the damaged left side of her brain — the rational, grounded, detail- and time-oriented side — swung in and out of function, Taylor alternated between two distinct and opposite realities: the euphoric nirvana of the intuitive and kinesthetic right brain, in which she felt a sense of complete well-being and peace, and the logical, sequential left brain, which recognized Jill was having a stroke and enabled her to seek help before she was lost completely."
Not only have I gleaned an immense wealth of information about the nature of stroke and how it affects brain (and thus body) function, but I have new-found empathy and insight into what goes on inside of a stroke survivor going through the process of re-learning how to do things from a blank-slate.
One of the interesting techniques Jill shared about her recovery and in re-learning was how important it was to "break all actions down into smaller steps of action" which reminds me of "small steps" encouraged in Kaizen-Muse creativity coaching. As synchronicity would have it, this fits perfectly with creativity coach Jill Allison Bryan's new piece, Get Creative in No Time! (Okay, in Two Minutes).
Not only that, but listening to Jill describe her right-brain reality of peace and well-being in the absence of her left-brain chatter validated my own experiences of spirituality, creativity and connectedness. If you don't plan on reading the book, I encourage you to watch the 20-minute video online. It's really worth it. •
© 2009 Chris Dunmire www.chrisdunmire.com. All rights reserved. |
