Jill Bolte Taylor

Last night, while browsing the internet, I came across an interview with Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor on the World Puja Network. I was so moved by what she had to say that I listened to it three times and took notes. Her talk directly applies to people with run-away thoughts like anxiety. Please note that my typing isn't the fastest so my notes are paraphrased and any and all mistakes are my own. If you want to listen to the talk (which I recommend), I will include a link at the end of this post.

We have the conscious power to decide whether or not we want to think those thoughts! You can turn your mind to something else. You have the ability to pick and choose. The more you choose a happy thought, your thinking will go back to that. You have the choice. Just laugh at the thoughts you don’t like because they are just circuitry. As soon as you engage with it…it feeds it. If you just observe it, it doesn’t feed it. You are not a total slave to what is going on in your brain. The brain is always changing. The longer you think about something it becomes habit. You have to do it repetitively and be committed to changing the circuitry. It only takes 21 days.

The brain is always changing. The more you think about something, the more it becomes habit. You have to be diligent and be committed to changing the circuitry. It only takes 21 days to create a new habit.

The right hemisphere is always on and always blissful. The left hemisphere's purpose is to interact with the world but can be turned off when it doesn’t serve us. We each have the ability to pay attention to when we are in the right hemisphere. The longer you can keep yourself there the quicker you can bring yourself back there when you get out of it. Just pay attention. You know you are there (right hemisphere) when you are relaxed and rejuvenated. You can put yourself there by simply remembering what it feels like.

Most people have 12 emotions. Each has a circuitry that triggers a physiological response in the body by dumping chemicals in the blood stream. There is a 90 second rule which is how long it takes the chemicals to leave the blood stream. When you feel yourself getting angry you can observe it by saying to yourself that anger has been triggered. In 90 seconds it will be flushed out of your system. If you get hooked into it, it can be very unhealthy for the body. Pay attention to what your emotions feel like inside your body so that you can just observe instead of engaging. Once you learn to deactivate, you will observe that some people in your life pride themselves in how easy it is to trigger your emotions. No one has the power to trigger your emotions because they are just neuro-circuitry. We have the power to de-escalate. Pay attention to thoughts and emotions. Say…I am not my thoughts or emotions; they are circuits running in my brain and body. I have the choice of which circuits I will run!

Don’t give your power away to your circuitry! You can create a new relationship with your body, a relationship that you have chosen.

The interview was on the website "World Puja Network", and the interview was by Maureen Moss. I first saw Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor on Oprah and that interview can be seen on Oprah's website (I am not linking to that because Oprah's site changes all the time and the link won't work in two weeks). Dr. Jill has two websites (links below), one dedicated to her work and her book and the other has a forum to talk about Dr. Jill's information. Her book is called "My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey" and can be found wherever books are sold.

Dr. Jill's Website

Dr. Jill's Forum Website