mind blowing

From the anthropologist to the neuroanatomist. From an amazing artist with very real and scary portrayals that force us to think (especially abusers of cigarettes, prescription drugs and such..hit hard with me...a smoker) to a talk by Stephen Hawkins a paraplegic who uses eyetracking to communicate, it's been an amazing experience so far. Jill Bolte Taylor, who had a stroke and lost the left side of her brain which as she explained is where our memories reside. She is describing how it all happened, what she was thinking, how confused she was with everything...couldn't remember her name, couldn't translate images, even letters on business cards. She couldn't even determine who she was, who to call, what to do with the telephone....talking about how hard it was to do any simple task without the left side of her brain functioning. People talking sounded like gibberish, even herself. When she woke, she had already "said goodbye to my life" and was shocked to find that she wasn't. Could not identify who she was or where she was...not in a sense of being lost but really and truly not knowing where, who, anything about herself or the world around her. Somewhere in the midst of all of it she "found nirvana". She realized that we could find "nirvana" and if she as a stroke victim could then certainly the rest of us can. She says we have the power to choose who we are and what we are n the world. That we can choose to step into the consciousness of the "right side" of our brain vs the left and really be a part of the energy that surrounds us. If we chose to move to the left we will "find ourselves", but lose out on being part of the "big picture", the energy all around us. We can project and be peaceful.