Marks out of ten: 7/10

Jill Bolte Taylor, a brain scientist, experienced a stroke in her late 30s and observed her mind deteriorate in a few hours. Her story is about her recovery but also her insights into how the different sides of the brain works.

As the left side of her brain lost its ability to function, she experienced the alternate reality of the right side of the brain, which was no longer dominated by the logical, linear thinking of the left. The stroke taught her that the feeling of eternal peace exists beyond the brain chatter that often completely occupies us.

In the 1970s, the theory that the two halves of the brain perceive the world differently first became popular. Dr. Roger W. Sperry conduced a series of split-brain experiments when he surgically separated the two halves of the brains of people experiencing severe epileptic seizure.

Since those early studies of split-brain patients, as they subsequently became known, scientists have observed that the two hemispheres perform differently when they are connected than when they are separated. When connected the two halves enhance one another’s abilities. When split, the two hemispheres function as two independent brains with unique personalities, often described as “the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde phenomenon.”

This is a subject that I have become interested in, since I believe that we can all access the creative part of our minds and develop an ability to observe and record things visually, ie. draw and paint.

Just opposite to how our right hemisphere thinks in pictures and perceives the big picture of the present moment, our left mind thrives on details, details and more details about those detalis. Our left hemisphere language centers use words to describe, define, categorize, and communicate about everything.

When we draw and paint, I believe we are accessing the right side of our brain and in order to do this we need to switch off the eternal (and often annoying) chatter of the left (that internal voice that constantly talks about the past, future, points out all our faults, while seemingly ignoring the present moment).

When we are observing something and drawing it, I believe we are experiencing the present moment of the right side of the brain. That is also why art can be such a rewarding thing to do as it brings a sense of calm to the world around us.

My Stroke of Insight is a recovery guide for anyone dealing with brain injury and an exploration of a completely different perception of our surroundings, available to anyone.