Book 268 - A Year of Magical Learning (1/3)

Reflection Title: Connecting the Dots!

Book – My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor (Part 1of 3)

Book Description:

On the morning of December 10, 1996 Jill Bolte Taylor, a 37-year-old Harvard-trained brain scientist experienced a massive stroke when a blood vessel exploded in the left side of her brain. A neuroanatomist by profession, she observed her own mind completely deteriorate to the point that she could not walk, talk, read, write, or recall any of her life, all within the space of four brief hours.

In My Stroke of Insight, Taylor shares her unique perspective on the brain and its capacity for recovery, and the sense of omniscient understanding she gained from this unusual and inspiring voyage out of the abyss of a wounded brain. It would take eight years for Taylor to heal completely. Because of her knowledge of how the brain works, her respect for the cells composing her human form, and most of all an amazing mother, Taylor completely repaired her mind and recalibrated her understanding of the world according to the insights gained from her right brain that morning of December 10th.

Today Taylor is convinced that the stroke was the best thing that could have happened to her. It has taught her that the feeling of nirvana is never more than a mere thought away. By stepping to the right of our left brains, we can all uncover the feelings of well-being and peace that are so often sidelined by our own brain chatter.

Reflection:

What an incredible book!

Our brain’s our incredible! There is so much going on up there that we often just don’t even realize just how amazing it truly is. Our abilities to do what we do is nothing short of a miracle, at least to me.

My Stroke of Insight has my brain spinning as it is hard at work making all the cognitive connections to information I’ve previously learned on this journey and drawing connections to how the author described her life and her thought patterns resulting from her stroke. While I have many reflections to come on this book, I wanted to take this first opportunity to walk through the connections my mind is making today from what I learned in this book to what we’ve learned before.

I think of books like Why We Sleep when I hear Jill describe her intense sleeping patterns and the healing power of sleep during her recover. She would learn something new again and her brain would tell her it is time to sleep to rewire her brain slowly overtime. It was almost like she was an infant again as she was sleeping for 20 hours a day. She would wake up, learn something new, and then go back to sleep to process it. It makes me all that much more curious when I watch my own children learn new things each day. I watch them learn new ways of doing things, say new words, perform new body movements, express new emotions, and then they crash. I’m sure their brains are exhausted and need that time to rewire and rest. If they could describe what they are going through, I have a feeling it would sound a lot like what Jill described which is beyond fascinating. If you’ve ever wondered what it feels like in words for a child to learn, read this book.

I think of all the books like the Inner Lives of Animals and Other Minds when I hear Jill talking about how she felt around certain people immediately after her stroke based on the energy they brought into the room. She couldn’t speak and share her feelings in words, but she knew that certain people that walked into her hospital room’s presence wasn’t the kind and an energy she wanted to be around. Jill was an animal that couldn’t speak, but still had consciousness, emotions, and feelings. If Jill felt like that, it makes me wonder how if this is what all the other animals in this world experience when they interact with us? It makes me wonder how they think of me when they first meet encounter my presence? Does my energy draw other life forms in or push them away? This goes for human interactions as well, but of course, we can tell you if you suck!

While I feel horrible for the author that she had to go through the experience of a stroke and the lengthy recover process that followed, I’m so thankful that she took the time to document her journey and share her experiences and learnings with the world. I don’t know why I said I feel horrible for her as I don’t even think that she would share the same sentiment for herself after reading her words. Remember the platinum rule Chris we learned in Option B, treat others as they would want to be treated. Let’s strike that comment from the reflection as Jill Bolte Taylor doesn’t need my pity, she most likely wants my curiosity. She definitely piqued my curiosity with this story of her life and then some.

Thank you, Jill, for sharing your story with the world. I admire your ability to endure and to find purpose through her suffering. In that regard, I feel like we share one of those uncommon commonalities that we learned about from Adam Grant in Originals in which immediately helps me to feel more connected with you and your life.

Much more to come on this book as I help my brain slowly process all that we learned here and commit it to our memory palace we learned about in Moonwalking with Einstein.

Question: When was the last time you spent some time in appreciation of how incredible our minds truly are?

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Links:

What is The Year of Magical Learning? An Introduction

YOML Podcast Discussion - Coming Soon

YOML Bookstore - My Stroke of Insight