My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey

by Jill Bolte Taylor

That means that the majority of the neurons in your brain today are as old as you are.

The cells in our brain are the same but over time their connections change based upon their/our experience.

Looking around at the diversity within our human race, it is obvious that 0.01% accounts for a significant difference in how we look, think, and behave.

It is interesting to note that although our limbic system functions throughout our lifetime, it does not mature. As a result, when our emotional “buttons” are pushed, we retain the ability to react to incoming stimulation as though we were a two year old, even when we are adults.

Although many of us may think of ourselves as thinking creatures that feel, biologically we are feeling creatures that think.

Just opposite to how our right hemisphere thinks in pictures and perceives the big picture of the present moment, our left mind thrives on details, details, and more details about those details.

I underwent major surgery to remove a golf ball-sized blood clot that was obstructing my brain’s ability to transmit information. Following surgery, it took eight years for me to completely recover all physical and mental functions.

Different entities are composed of different densities of molecules but ultimately every pixel is made up of electrons, protons, and neutrons performing a delicate dance.

I have heard of many stroke survivors who, although they could not speak (left hemisphere), they were capable of singing their messages (both hemispheres).

My stroke of insight would be: peace is only a thought away, and all we have to do to access it is silence the voice of our dominating left mind.

I needed people to love me-not for the person I had been, but for who I might now become.

I may not be in total control of what happens to my life, but I certainly am in charge of how I choose to perceive my experience.

My stroke of insight is that at the core of my right hemisphere consciousness is a character that is directly connected to my feeling of deep inner peace. It is completely committed to the expression of peace, love, joy, and compassion in the world.

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.

“I appreciate your ability to think thoughts and feel emotions, but I am really not interested in thinking these thoughts or feeling these emotions anymore. Please stop bringing this stuff up.”

I’m a devout believer that paying attention to our self-talk is vitally important for our mental health. In my opinion, making the decision that internal verbal abuse is not acceptable behavior, is the first step toward finding deep inner peace.

I keep a handy list of three things available for me to turn my consciousness toward when I am in a state of need: 1) I remember something I find fascinating that I would like to ponder more deeply, 2) I think about something that brings me terrific joy, or 3) I think about something I would like to do. When I am desperate to change my mind, I use such tools.

“Enlightenment is not a process of learning, it is a process of unlearning.”

To experience pain may not be a choice, but to suffer is a cognitive decision.

“I must be willing to give up what I am in order to become what I will be.”