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Have you been reading this blog awhile? I think it is so cool that a neuroscientist recovering from a stroke recommended the kind of inner work about which I talk.
Toward the end of the book My Stroke of Insight[1] by Jill Bolte Taylor reports about
the attitudes which she discovered dramatically improvement her healing process.
AT age 37, Jill had a massive stroke. As the stroke came on and manifested, she, the neuroscientist by profession, was aware of phenomenon inside her in excruciating detail. She, an expert on the brain and its processes, was experiencing a dramatic brain event and at the same time observing in herself what she studied.
She watched herself lose functioning in significant areas– walking, talking, eating and much more. Miraculously, she was able to recall it and write this work. As only she could she details a fascinating account from inside a stroke. Most important she recovered and she tells readers what attitudes were critical to her journey to health.
Here I list her key points. Please note the parallels to recommendations of the blog posts:
- Run appreciation and gratitude as much as possible.
- On the path of recovery, appreciate and applaud every positive step of progress.
- Surround yourself with supportive individuals whose presence soothe and nourish you.
- Get plenty of sleep and rest frequently and as you need it. Honor your flow of energy.
- Relish your senses. Enjoy and feel into the sensuous details of being in your body.
- Take charge of what thoughts you think and which emotions flow in your being.
- This will take practice. In her state of damaged brain she felt acutely the effects of negative thinking of various stripes. She realized she could choose what ran in her brain and she used her will to steer toward uplifting thinking as a key strategy. He applied it both for recovery and then to increase enjoyment of life as a fully functioning being!
Isn’t it exciting that Jill came upon this deep wisdom directly from her own rich and challenging experience?
From Dr Bolte I feel greater inspiration to pause and appreciate my sensual experiences with more depth and presence. These ways of being, healing, and growing supported her in what many agree is a remarkable, over the top recovery, a process– one that spanned more than a decade.
As you have read, I personally testify that these ways of being with oneself, ways of thinking and feeling, work for me too. Please review the list to discern if one offers you something new with which to experiment?
Feel inspired? Please comment! Let’s spread around the energy of insight!
[1] Taylor, Jill Bolte, My Stroke of Insight, (New York: Penguin Group, 2008)