My Stroke of Insight

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It taught her that by “stepping to the right” of our left brains, we can uncover feelings of well-being that are often sidelined by “brain chatter. Today, Bolte Taylor—an adjunct professor at Indiana University Medical School—speaks widely to corporate and other groups about these insights; has appeared on Oprah Winfrey's TV program and Soul Series Webcast; and has a movie deal in the works.

But the "new world" that Cherkaoui is exploring is current theories about the brain, and the text that the 17 dancers speak during the first moments of the 75-minute work comes from My Stroke of Insight, neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor's uncanny recollection of her stroke. After suffering a massive stroke, Jill Bolte Taylor turned the negative event into a positive stroke recovery story. But when that was all gone, I felt this incredible sense of relief because I was no longer juggling a billion details. It is interesting to note that although our limbic system functions throughout our lifetime, it does not mature.Firstly, she realized the importance of being surrounded by others who believed in her recovery and treated her accordingly. However, neurons, the primary cell of the nervous system, do not multiply (for the most part) after we are born. On December 10, 1996, Jill Bolte Taylor, a thirty-seven-year-old Harvard-trained brain scientist experienced a massive stroke in the left hemisphere of her brain. My favorite definition of fear is “False Expectations Appearing Real,” and when I allow myself to remember that all of my thoughts are merely fleeting physiology, I feel less moved when my story-teller goes haywire and my circuitry is triggered.

Most of us have experienced that moment when a stroke of insight makes us understand or see something in a new light. Bolte Taylor was intrigued that his view of the world was disparate from hers despite the fact that they were siblings so close in age.I learned that I need to be very wary of my storyteller's potential for stirring up drama and trauma.