My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey

While both sides of the brain must collaborate to ensure smooth progress through tasks, they do offer unique qualities and support certain functions. While many people achieve a kind of balance between their hemispheres, others are more “unilateral” in their thinking, having “extreme” left brain or right brain thinking patterns (138).

Taylor posits that compassionate thinking is a rarity and that many people fall into patterns of negative and critical thinking that generate more anxiety and conflict in their lives. When neural circuits are used often, they become more easily triggered, making recurring negative thoughts more prevalent . These thoughts, which are founded on judgements and criticisms, originate in our left hemispheres and can inform a great deal of our thinking if left unchecked. Our right hemispheres, however, can make observations about differences among people and situations without generating judgment about them. The author feels that the positive aspect of her stroke is the increased “innocence and inner joy” she feels as the result of her more capable right hemisphere (139).

The left hemisphere makes very valuable contributions to our lives through its ability to organize our thoughts, and rationalize, analyze and memorize information. Our left brains are also excellent at ‘storytelling’ as they are able to take different details and combine them into a coherent narrative. While this skill serves a purpose, the author also warns against its ability for “stirring up drama and trauma” (144).

For these reasons, Taylor argues that we should learn more about how to guide and censor our thoughts and teach the next generation to do so as well. This will help us avoid unnecessary negative thought patterns and make us more resilient against propaganda and misleading advertising. Uncovering some of her left mind’s ego center is disturbing to her right mind, and Taylor decides to regain some of its function while letting go of its more selfish tendencies (145). 

The author writes that we can use our “response-ability” by actively deciding how to respond to our sensory stimulation (146). She acknowledges that some emotions, such as anger, can be activated unintentionally but claims that holding onto that feeling is a choice, not a physical response. Taylor laments that so many people spend their lives living on “automatic pilot,” reacting to their environment without trying to be mindful of their thought patterns (147). For her, “[t]here has been nothing more empowering than the realization that I don’t have to think thoughts that bring me pain” (147). For example, when she gets a speeding ticket, Taylor wants to ruminate over the event but reminds herself that obsessing over his misfortune will not change the outcome. While Taylor occasionally enjoys more left-brained thinking, such as engaging in debates or arguments, she now finds compassion and empathy more rewarding to her brain and body. She feels that it is easy to approach others with compassion since we are all “a product of our biology and environment” (148).