Heroes of Healing
A group writing project

by Jenny Mannion

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor became fascinated with the brain because her brother was diagnosed with Schizophrenia. She trained at Harvard and became a prominent neuroanatomist (brain researcher). It was her knowledge of the brain that enabled her to recognize when she was suffering a severe stroke and fully “process” it as it was happening. Her stroke affected the left side of her brain which deals with cognition, language, processing and “ego”. What took over was the right side of her brain whose function is the emotional and “spiritual” side of our brain. Her stroke left her without speech and physical mobility and it took her 8 years to fully recover. Her story is one of inspiration, courage and pure amazement as you listen to her experience. She credits KNOWING the importance of telling others about her experience with giving her the will to recover.

Since her recovery she has written a best selling book, been on the Oprah Soul Series and has spoken at the TED Conference as well as many other public appearances. She travels speaking about her experience and expressing her important message of living from LOVE and consciousness. The video below is of her speech at the TED conference. It is 20 minutes long but I assure you — you have never seen anything like it.

Video

Resources

Website: Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor

Books: “My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey”

What Jenny Mannion has Learned from Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor

There is so much more out there than meets the eye. The right side of the brain is as (if not more) important than the left but most of us predominantly use the left side. There are ways to “silence” your mind and get to that “space” of love and quiet that your body and mind so desperately need for happiness and growth.

What Lisa Erickson Learned From Jill Bolte Taylor:

Spiritual experience is a natural part of our humanity. Reading about mystics, it can often seem like we have to lead an unusual or exceptional life to have powerful spiritual experiences. But Jill’s experiences are a testament to the fact that our ability to connect to deeper truth is already present in us, through the tool of our right brain. We are just conditioned not to listen to it.