Last time I had sent a
mail on “Taking responsibility for the Energy you bring into any space” by
Elizabeth Gilbert.
It contained a link to a TED
Talk by Dr Jill Bolte Taylor. This talk has received more than 16 million
views. I found it very insightful so I bought her book: My
Stroke of Insight – A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey
Dr Jill is a neuroanalyst.
She had a stroke in the left hemisphere of her brain & lost all ability
to walk, speak, understand, read etc. It took her 8 years to fully recover.
The TED talk and her book are her experiences during those 8 years.
When Jill had her stroke,
she lost all function in the part of her brain that distinguishes
"self" from "other". She lost the ability to tell where
she began and the rest of the world ended. There were no boundaries, no
borders. All she could see was pure molecular energy. While she was
recovering in the hospital, doctors and nurses would walk in and out of her
room all day, and the only thing she could distinguish about them was their
energy — the anger, or grace, or kindness, or resentment that each person
brought into her presence. Some of that energy was healing and helpful,
obviously...some of it was decidedly not.
Her book talks about how
since birth, right brain is fully mature, makes us feel connected with the
whole, keeps us in the moment and processes in the moment. Probably that
explains why young kids, upto 2 or 3 years of age, are blissful. They are
still experiencing oneness with the flow. The left brain however, is blank at
birth. Kids learn from their surroundings and start installing various
applications in the brain: my name, my identity & existence, how I am
separate from the others. The left brain allows a person to relate to this
world through a shared reality.
It is the right brain that
makes us experience love, joy & happiness. Left brain will let us
experience winning, ego, analysis, competition, material success.
My father had a stroke in
June 2012 on his left hemisphere. This book has helped me in understanding
what he might have gone through. I looked at him so far as someone who has
lost his speech, walk etc. (judging only by my left brain perspective). Now I
know that his right brain is intact and he can still be in the moment.
Another interesting part
in the book is on “experience of anger”. Dr Jill says:
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“It takes less than 90
seconds for one of these emotional programs to be triggered, surged through
our body, and then be completely flushed out of our blood stream. My anger
response, for example, is a programmed response that can be set off
automatically. Once triggered, the chemicals released by my brain surges
through my body and I have a physiological experience. Within 90 seconds
from the initial trigger, the chemical component of my anger has completely
dissipated from my blood and my automatic response is over. If, however, I
remain angry after those 90 seconds have passed, then it is because I have chosen
to let that circuit continue to run. Moment my moment, I make the choice to
either hook into my neurocircuitry or move back into the present moment,
allowing that reaction to melt away as fleeting physiology.”
…” If you approach me
with anger and frustration, then I make the choice to either reflect your
anger and engage in argument (left brain), or be empathic and approach you
with a compassionate heart (right brain). What most of us don’t realize is
that we are unconsciously making choices about how we respond all the time.
It is so easy to get caught up in the wiring of our pre-programmed
reactivity… By paying attention to the choices my automatic circuitry is
making, I own my power and make more choices consciously. In the long run,
I take responsibility for what I attract into my life... It is liberating
to know that I have the ability to choose a peaceful and loving mind (my
right mind) whatever my physical or mental circumstances, by deciding to step
to the right and bring my thoughts back to the present moment.”
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May this video and the book bring a new
level of peace & centering within you.
With lots of smiles,
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