A brain scientist studies her own stroke
On the morning of December 10, 1996, Harvard-trained neuroanatomist Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor experienced a severe hemorrhage in the left hemisphere of her own brain. Rather than losing her scientific curiosity, she found herself observing her own stroke happen in real time, even as she lost the ability to speak, read, or recall her own life.
Eight years back
It took Dr. Taylor eight years to fully recover. She has since described the experience as a gift as much as a crisis — the stroke silenced the analytical left side of her brain long enough for her to experience a profound sense of peace and connection she believes the right hemisphere offers all of us, if we know how to access it.
The 90-second rule
Dr. Taylor's account of her stroke, told in her bestselling book "My Stroke of Insight" and one of the first TED talks to ever go viral, includes what's become her most quoted idea: that the body's automatic chemical response to a strong emotion lasts about ninety seconds — and what happens after that is a choice.
