My Stroke of Insight
Taylor’s Journey to Nirvana
Silence. It’s something that very few people actually experience in their lifetime. Jill Bolte Taylor is one of the few lucky individuals who have experienced silence. In her talk “My Stroke of Insight,” Taylor tells the audience of how she was able to experience silence in her mind. Jill Bolte Taylor spent many years of her life researching the brain, which is when she discovered the differences between the left and right brain. The left brain thinks methodically, making associations and distinguishing between yourself and others; whereas the right brain is silent consciousness that sees life as an energy being. On the morning of her stroke, Taylor knew something wasn’t right but continued with her normal morning routine, until she could no longer distinguish the outlines of her body from everything around her, “I can’t define where I begin and where I end, because the atoms and the molecules of my arm blended with the atoms and molecules of the wall. And all I could detect was this energy (Taylor, 8:13). In this moment, Taylor’s left brain for the first time has completely failed, giving her right brain complete control. When her left brain was out of commission, Taylor described her right side as “A sense of peacefulness. And imagine what it would feel like to lose thirty seven years of emotional baggage. I felt euphoria (Taylor 9:39). Without her left brain’s ability to think in a way her brain could understand, Taylor’s brain stopped thinking, and she could stop worrying about everything in her life, experiencing what she described at the time as a stress less peace for the first time in her entire life. The left side of her brain would occasionally have a moment of clarity, and during those moments, which Taylor descried would go along the lines of “And then, my left hemisphere would come online and it says ‘Hey! You’ve got to pay attention. We’ve got to get help” (Taylor 10:14). In these moments of clarity, Jill was able to
Silence. It’s something that very few people actually experience in their lifetime. Jill Bolte Taylor is one of the few lucky individuals who have experienced silence. In her talk “My Stroke of Insight,” Taylor tells the audience of how she was able to experience silence in her mind. Jill Bolte Taylor spent many years of her life researching the brain, which is when she discovered the differences between the left and right brain. The left brain thinks methodically, making associations and distinguishing between yourself and others; whereas the right brain is silent consciousness that sees life as an energy being. On the morning of her stroke, Taylor knew something wasn’t right but continued with her normal morning routine, until she could no longer distinguish the outlines of her body from everything around her, “I can’t define where I begin and where I end, because the atoms and the molecules of my arm blended with the atoms and molecules of the wall. And all I could detect was this energy (Taylor, 8:13). In this moment, Taylor’s left brain for the first time has completely failed, giving her right brain complete control. When her left brain was out of commission, Taylor described her right side as “A sense of peacefulness. And imagine what it would feel like to lose thirty seven years of emotional baggage. I felt euphoria (Taylor 9:39). Without her left brain’s ability to think in a way her brain could understand, Taylor’s brain stopped thinking, and she could stop worrying about everything in her life, experiencing what she described at the time as a stress less peace for the first time in her entire life. The left side of her brain would occasionally have a moment of clarity, and during those moments, which Taylor descried would go along the lines of “And then, my left hemisphere would come online and it says ‘Hey! You’ve got to pay attention. We’ve got to get help” (Taylor 10:14). In these moments of clarity, Jill was able to