Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor is a Harvard-trained and published neuroanatomist affiliated with the University of Indiana. At the age of 37, one morning, she woke up with a throbbing headache due to an exploded blood vessel in the left hemisphere of her brain. As she realized that she is having a stroke attack, she found herself thinking "‘But I’m a very busy woman! I don’t have time for a stroke!’" She took the opportunity to observe and study the brain circuits during her own stroke while keeping herself busy calling for help.
In the 4 hours that followed, she witnessed her different brain faculties shutting down one by one but became aware of certain other changes in her self.
She desribes the feeling of knowing what a number looked like in her mind, although when she reached up to the phone for help, she could not identify the numbers on the keypad. She remembered knowing what to say in her mind when she was finally able to contact someone for help, but when she said it out aloud, it turned out to be gibberish.
As she watched her language centres, mathematical abilities and the very capability of thinking in a flow, (all related to the left hemisphere)diminish, she also felt a strange peace and calm. She felt the continuous brain chatter diminishing and she felt the physical boundaries between her own skin and the rest of the world diluting. She felt happy and at one with the entire universe. The dominating right hemisphere had opened the door to a peaceful, spiritual experience.
She managed to get help and was out of danger from the stroke after a surgery. In the following 7-10 years where she spent her days regaining her language abilities, mathematical learning and even her own gait, she learnt that everyone has a choice as to which part of the brain to use to respond to a particular situation. The experience is a story of determination of Dr Taylor to find help and survive the stroke through those 4 hours. The narration reveals her passion towards neuroscience which she took interest in from early on as her brother was diagnosed with schizophrenia. It is also a story of how determined she was in her path to re-learn all the skills that she had learnt over 37 years of her life which were unlearnt in the 4 hours of her stroke.
This experience is a sneak peek for the reader into the different functionalities of the different parts of the brain. It helps us analyse our own personalities as a consequence of the combination of the left and right faculties that we put to use. The "thinking with the head"( left) and "thinking with the heart"(right) aspects of our own minds are distinct manifestations of the circuits of the 2 different sides of our brain- the 2 different potential personalities of our own self which we experience as one.
In the 4 hours that followed, she witnessed her different brain faculties shutting down one by one but became aware of certain other changes in her self.
She desribes the feeling of knowing what a number looked like in her mind, although when she reached up to the phone for help, she could not identify the numbers on the keypad. She remembered knowing what to say in her mind when she was finally able to contact someone for help, but when she said it out aloud, it turned out to be gibberish.
As she watched her language centres, mathematical abilities and the very capability of thinking in a flow, (all related to the left hemisphere)diminish, she also felt a strange peace and calm. She felt the continuous brain chatter diminishing and she felt the physical boundaries between her own skin and the rest of the world diluting. She felt happy and at one with the entire universe. The dominating right hemisphere had opened the door to a peaceful, spiritual experience.
She managed to get help and was out of danger from the stroke after a surgery. In the following 7-10 years where she spent her days regaining her language abilities, mathematical learning and even her own gait, she learnt that everyone has a choice as to which part of the brain to use to respond to a particular situation. The experience is a story of determination of Dr Taylor to find help and survive the stroke through those 4 hours. The narration reveals her passion towards neuroscience which she took interest in from early on as her brother was diagnosed with schizophrenia. It is also a story of how determined she was in her path to re-learn all the skills that she had learnt over 37 years of her life which were unlearnt in the 4 hours of her stroke.
This experience is a sneak peek for the reader into the different functionalities of the different parts of the brain. It helps us analyse our own personalities as a consequence of the combination of the left and right faculties that we put to use. The "thinking with the head"( left) and "thinking with the heart"(right) aspects of our own minds are distinct manifestations of the circuits of the 2 different sides of our brain- the 2 different potential personalities of our own self which we experience as one.
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