Book 269 - A Year of Magical Learning (2/3)

Reflection Title: Own Your Power – Peace is Only a Thought Away!

Book – My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor (Part 2 of 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:

Our emotions are an incredibly powerful driving force, but 99.9% of the time don’t operate without consent of a driver.

I like to think of emotions as a car coming to life after we turn the key to ignite the engine. Once that key is turned, we can’t stop the engine of the car from getting fired up and ready for action. It’s happening whether we like it or not. A whole lot of complex engineering is coming to life instantaneously under the hood of the car as it prepares us to move, but nothing will happen unless we decide to put the car in gear and hit the gas pedal.

According to the author, Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, ninety seconds is all it takes to identify an emotion and allow it to dissipate while you simply notice it.

For most of us, 99.9% of the emotions you’ll experience in your lifetime won’t require immediate action after the stimulus occurs. On those rare occasions you do require immediate action, like a car accident, someone choking in a restaurant, or a shark trying to bite you out in the ocean…let your Elephant do its thing and thank it later when you are safe and sound back in your house.

For everything else, peace is only one thought and a mere 90 seconds away!

I recently was down in Tampa, FL visiting one of my best friends that lives there. For some reason, we decided to go to Busch Gardens to partake in the Howl o Scream festivities on this particular trip. It was an odd choice for us as we are normally at the beach or golfing, but here we were. Howl o Scream is when they open the park at night beginning in September through October and let people ride night rides and tour all of the spooky Haunted Houses they’ve constructed all over the property. It actually was a ton of fun as I hadn’t been to a theme park in like a decade.

I had literally just finished this book the morning before we went to Busch Gardens. I personally decided to take this experience up to another level and see if I could use some of my new found knowledge of how our minds and bodies work that I’ve learned on this Year of Magical Learning adventure to see if I could hold my stuff together emotionally while going through a rollercoaster ride or one of the haunted houses.

Well, I failed miserably…over and over and over again.

I tried to relax, I tried to focus on my breathing, I tried to block out the external stimuli, I tried to not react, and I FAILED! It was almost comical. As soon as the roller coaster started, Zen Chris went out the window and all you heard was a ton of F-Bombs flying out of my mouth. Each Haunted house we went through was a little better, but I still could feel my heart pumping uncontrollably and the occasional F-Bomb from flying as one of those little jerks would jump out at me as we would turn a corner.

The rapid stimuli was coming at me so fast that I couldn’t keep up to try and process my emotions. My elephant was on an emotional overload and was having a blast. For Chris, not so much. Chris is good with not visiting another theme park for another 10 years.

I wonder how a Buddhist Monk would do on one of those rollercoasters? Wouldn’t that be a site to witness?

This is why we love Theme Parks and Roller Coasters, in my opinion, because we finally get to let our Elephant’s out and do their thing, but in a safe and controlled environment. Theme Park rides and attractions are literally designed to not give us over 90 seconds to process an emotion or stimulus. That is why they work! Our elephants spend a lifetime waiting for the right time to act on that rarest of occasion that may never come. But for one 60 second roller coaster ride at a theme park, our Elephants get to let their freak flags fly and have a blast. Our emotions are on heightened alert to everything around us. We don’t know what is going on. Our hearts are pumping, hands are sweating, head is spinning, and before you know it the whole ride is over and we are safe back at the start wondering what just happened?

It is wham, bam, pow, and you’re off the ride. Talk about Human Centered Design that we learned about in the Design of Everyday Things.

For all those other millions of emotions you will experience over a lifetime; maybe it is time to try this 90 second rule and get your rider involved to see if this is worth your time or not? Let the emotion have it’s time, and then have a talk with yourself to determine the best course of action.

That is what I’ve been working on with this Spot, Stop, and Swap challenge this month we learned about from Think Like a Monk! While I haven’t been perfect, it really has helped a ton and I feel a difference.

Own your power! Peace is only a thought away if that is what you desire.

Question: What might you find if you waited 90 seconds for an emotion to pass before engaging?

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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