I’m reading a book right now called, My Stroke of Insight, by Jill Bolte Taylor. Dr. Taylor is a Harvard brain scientist that had a massive stroke in 1996, when she was 37 years old. Within four hours, she lost her entire left brain, which is the center of logic, language, and sequence. The constant chatter of her mind was completely silenced. This left her living only in her right brain, where she felt a sense of complete peace and oneness with the universe. She could no longer sense the boundary between her body and the rest of the energy in the world around her.

The book takes us through the morning of the stroke and through her 8-year recovery. This is a fascinating story on so many levels!  She, a brain scientist, got to study the stroke from the inside out, and her findings are astounding. To physicians, recovering stroke patients, their family members, and to us as a human family.

When we meditate, we try to achieve the quieting of this right brain chatter. We are searching for that moment when our true selves expand into the universe and we experience it not as a separate “I,” but as a collective and peaceful “we.” This is what Dr. Taylor experienced for weeks! And the impact on her is profound. It’s as if she died, went to heaven, and was sent back to tell us all about!

I encourage you to take a 20-minute break to watch this video of Jill Bolte Taylor talking about her “stroke of insight.” I promise, it will captivate you.

Jill Bolte Taylor, on how it feels to have a stroke. . .