Who Are We?
I was thumbing through my Google Reader this morning, trying to sort through the stuff I’m terribly behind on reading. I’m behind on everything at the moment, it seems. So I was looking through the entries for TED (”TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader.”)
So I see this entry for “Stroke of Insight: Jill Bolte Taylor “, a neuroanatomist — she studies and maps the brain and its functions. Here’s an excerpt from the TED page:
One morning, a blood vessel in Jill Bolte Taylor’s brain exploded. As a brain scientist, she realized she had a ringside seat to her own stroke. She watched as her brain functions shut down one by one: motion, speech, memory, self-awareness …
Amazed to find herself alive, Taylor spent eight years recovering her ability to think, walk and talk. She has become a spokesperson for stroke recovery and for the possibility of coming back from brain injury stronger than before. In her case, although the stroke damaged the left side of her brain, her recovery unleashed a torrent of creative energy from her right. From her home base in Indiana, she now travels the country on behalf of the Harvard Brain Bank as the “Singin’ Scientist.”
Watch how a scientist describes what happened to herself. If you’re not intrigued by what she has to say and the enormous possibility it implies, then IMHO you ought to check your pulse…
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Art Gonzalez on March 26th, 2008 at 10:24 am
Amazing story of faith and personal transformation.
Thanks for sharing,
Art Gonzalez
Check my Squidoo Lens at: [link removed by Admin] Quantum Knights
Ellen on May 18th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
I’ve been recommending a book by Jill Bolte Taylor called “My Stroke of Insight” to everyone I know. It’s an amazing story, both uplifting and powerful on three levels: physical, emotional, and spiritual, but the spiritual aspect alone makes this the best book I’ve read all year.
How often do you get to hear a neuroscientist describe having a stroke, nearly dying and finding Nirvana, and then making a miraculous recovery so that she’s back to teaching medical students!?!
I came away with a renewed sense of understanding, wonder and hopefulness about the capabilities of the human brain. I give “My Stroke of Insight” highest marks!
You can get the book for just $16.47 with free shipping from Amazon!
Sueta on May 29th, 2008 at 4:47 am
The New York Times Sunday Newspaper on May 25 had a great two page article on Jill Bolte Taylor and her book, “MY STROKE OF INSIGHT”. Her book is a must read and this NY Times article - called “A Superhighway to bliss” is worth checking out too.
Jille on May 30th, 2008 at 6:03 am
I read “My Stroke of Insight” in one sitting - I couldn’t put it down. I laughed. I cried. It was a fantastic book (I heard it’s a NYTimes Bestseller and I can see why!), but I also think it will be the start of a new, transformative Movement! No one wants to have a stroke as Jill Bolte Taylor did, but her experience can teach us all how to live better lives. Her TED.com speech was one of the most incredibly moving, stimulating, wonderful videos I’ve ever seen. Her Oprah Soul Series interviews were fascinating. They should make a movie of her life so everyone sees it. This is the Real Deal and gives me hope for humanity.
Ethan @ Self Improvement Mentor on June 3rd, 2008 at 1:07 am
That was a pretty mindblowing video. Never thought that it is possible that the right hemisphere of the brain is the gateway to understanding the one-ness of life. Very fascinating. I’ll be looking for her book the next time I go to a bookstore. Inspiring.