A friend shared with me this truly amazing and astonishing story of brain scientist Jill Bolte Taylor. She had a stroke and shared her experience at a TED convention.
[HTML1]
I watched it for the first time over a year ago and watched it again a few weeks ago and then again today. I put in on my right sidebar as something that is inspiring me right now. It has inspired me for quite a while, to tell you the truth, and I wanted to share.
You, the creative person that I know you are, will find it particularly interesting because it talks about the right hemisphere vs. the left. Now, I am assuming that you are like myself and tend to be a little more right brained than left. At work, where I must be organized, methodical and very focused on logistics and can feel my left brain waking up and working hard. It’s stressful for me, as a nurse, to maintain a left side focus for long periods of time. It is when I am able to focus on a mom and a baby– teach them, help them, touch their lives that I feel a calm wash over me like nothing else. It is the same feeling I get when I make my family happy, or when I create. It is what keeps me going to work. To be able to tell a mother: “You are amazing and your baby is amazing and you and your baby will thrive because you love each other.” I need that interaction or I wouldn’t be able to do it anymore.
So, you will see if you watch the video why it is so important to be more on the right side of your brain. It’s the reason why I think there is such an amazing sense of community, love of sharing, peacefulness and giving hearts among all of us crafty-artsy bloggers. Please watch. It’ll only take 20 minutes.
![her experience at a TED convention](<object width="446" height="326"><param name="movie" value="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><param name="bgColor" value="#ffffff"></param> <param name="flashvars" value="vu=http://video.ted.com/talks/embed/JillBolteTaylor_2008-embed_high.flv&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/JillBolteTaylor-2008.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=229" /><embed src=){kind=link}
uhm.. wow, I’m so glad my life slowly down for a few moments so I could watch this video. Definitely worth the 20 minutes.
Regina, you truly are an endless source of inspiration. I found your blog at a time when our life walks were on a similar path and find that in all the time of getting to “know you” through your blog we still cross paths and are connected. It’s comforting. I can’t explain it, but somehow it makes me happy. I suppose that’s part of what Ms. Taylor is saying! I hope some day we can meet in “real life”. Here’s to the left hemisphere. Bravo! =)
On May 1, 2001, I had my first stroke. I was 45 years old, perfectly healthy, so I had no inkling what was wrong. Over the next 2 months I presented myself 3 times at the hospital and each time I was told that I had a migraine headache. Eventually, I woke up and I couldn’t see. I called the Migraine Foundation and I was informed that you don’t go blind from a headache, so I went back to the Doctor. This time they finally listened to me. I had a CAT scan done, where it was found that I had an infarction in my brain where blood clots formed and let go. I had a massive clot forming, that when it let go it would kill me. But why? I was perfectly healthy in every other way. Well, after many tests it was found that I had severed the artery going into the back of my brain, when I snapped my head going over a frost heave in the road. At the time, it hurt but I never thought any more about it. Well, to make a long story short, I never regained my site, and I have had to change my whole way of living. Please tell everyone to pay attention to the warning signs of a stroke.
I loved the video – it reminded me of a book I read years ago – Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards – I highly recommend it.
I am addicted to TED….thanks for this link. So very interesting and inspiring.
I’m sure you have seen it, but if you haven’t one of my favs is Sir Ken Robinson’s talk on creativity and schooling. It’s one I watch over and over….
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html
Thanks for the food for thought, as always!
Thanks for sharing this. I watched this one a few months ago, and just seen it again thanks to your reminder. It is absolutely wonderful and inspiring.
Thanks. I heard an interview with this woman last year and was riveted by what she had to say. It’s nice to see a video of her and hear more. You are so right about “all of us crafty-artsy bloggers.” There are many generous and supportive voices out there that I appreciate so much.