My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor.✔✔✔✔

I saw Dr. Taylor being interviewed on Oprah, then a short time later, she was interviewed on CBC Radio. Both interviews convinced me this was a book I had to read. Jill, a 37-year-old neuroanatomist surgeon, woke one morning to find she had suffered a major hemorrhage in her left hemisphere as a result of an undiagnosed congenital malformation of the blood vessels in her head. The two first chapters are the explanation of the makeup of the brain, the functions of each hemisphere, and then she goes on to relate the stroke, plus her recovery from it, which took a full eight years.

But in experiencing this trauma, plus the recovery, Jill also discovered that the brain can be trained - that the two sides of the brain, although opposite in makeup, complement each other, and as humans we can tap into the right side more often to make us better people, to control those aspects of our left side which limit us. So the stroke was a blessing - a revelation that by "stepping to the right" we can all uncover feelings of well-being that are often sidelines by the "brain chatter" of our left side. We can talk to our cells, acknowledge the work they're doing in keeping us healthy, asking them to work a little harder when we need them to, tell our left brain to take a rest, ask our right brain to help us out.

For example,, are you feeling angry? Give yourself 90 seconds, then let it go - you'll be a lot happier and a lot healthier. Live in the present moment, feel your body as a living, self-energizing vessel.

I enjoyed this book so much I read it twice to make sure I spent enough time meditating on it and trying to apply its philosophy to my own life. I find the process somewhat similar to the technique from yoga whereby you take your breath and wrap it around any pain your body might be experiencing in order to ease - and in some cases, assuage - the pain, or the other yoga technique used by our instructor after a period of meditation when you feel completely relaxed, at ease and fully alive - she says ""You can return to this feeling at any time in your day". I've found both of those techniques valid and useful.

As the back cover says: "This book is about the wonder of being human", and this is something I've become very interested in as it relates to one's spirituality, because I believe that what - or who- is called God is actually ME - the very core of one's being, the spark that inspires, strengthens, and guides me comes from within. Then that spark in each and every person finds energy between them, and that is the connection between us all. There IS a lot of wonder in that!