As you know, I’m fascinated with how our brains work, and especially what happens when our brains are injured or experience aging.
I had a recent brain injury myself in May of this year, when I had a serious concussion with internal bleeding.
Recovery is slower than you think, but it can also open up whole new avenues of freedom and discovery!
Recently, I saw this short video about the brain researcher Jill Bolte Taylor, who experienced a rare form of stroke in 1996 at age 49. This video documents her moment to moment experience of a stroke. Fascinating!
Her stroke shut down the left hemisphere of her brain (where language, logic, and linear thought are based). For months she was unable to walk, talk, write, or recall the events of her life.
Remarkably, this temporary shutdown, silenced the mental chatter within her brain, leaving her in a state of bliss, she describes as a state of complete peace and well-being.
Even though she had to experience a serious stroke to realize the power of her right hemisphere to calm her thoughts, she now believes that any one of us can learn how to choose moment to moment which side of our brains to access.
In an interview in the Nov./Dec. 2008 issue of AARP Magazine, Dr. Taylor describes in detail the function of each side of our brain, and the power this give us if we understand the unique jobs they do for us.
She actually describes the two hemispheres as two different brains. “I use the tools of the left hemisphere to push into the world, but as soon as it becomes stressful, I feel that in my body, and I switch to the right hemisphere to pause.”
She says that when she is in her right hemisphere, she feels more joyful and cooperative and people like her better. She realized that stress truly is just a state of mind. So that now, when she’s stuck in traffic, for example, she relaxes and enjoys the free time she has to retreat into her right brain.
When asked how the rest of us might learn to retreat in this manner, Dr. Taylor recommends paying closer attention to your environment. Smell the air around you. What are the sounds and colors? Take a walk outside and focus on what is right in front of you instead of the constant mental chatter inside. Or try dancing.
I have also found a new kind of peace after my brain injury. I find that I can’t push myself as hard as I used to, and that’s a good thing! I know when I need to slow down and give my brain a short vacation from all the internal demands from within, especially the self-critical chatter.
