Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor (Part 1) - Meet the Four Characters of the Brain That Run Your Life

Fanboy alert: It"s no exaggeration for me to say that Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor is my top hero. I"ve mentioned her many times in prior episodes, and that"s because discovering her work years ago was a paradigm shifting experience for me. Having this conversation was a highlight of my time doing Slo Mo, and it exceeded even my wildest expectations. Jill is a Harvard-trained and published neuroscientist. In 1996 she experienced a severe hemorrhage in the left hemisphere of her brain causing her to lose the ability to walk, talk, read, write, or recall any of her life. Her memoir, My Stroke of Insight, documenting her experience with stroke and eight-year recovery, spent 63 weeks on the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list and is still routinely the #1 book about strokes on Amazon. Dr. Jill is a dynamic teacher about the beauty of our human brain and its ability to recover from trauma. In 2008 she gave the first TED talk that ever went viral on the Internet, which now has well over 26 million views. Also in 2008, Dr. Jill was chosen as one of Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World” and was the premiere guest on Oprah Winfrey’s “Soul Series” webcast. In her forthcoming book, Whole Brain Living: The Anatomy of Choice and the Four Characters That Drive Our Life, Dr. Jill debunks the myths that we use only 10% of our brain as well as the idea that our right brain hemisphere is our emotional brain, while our left brain houses our rational thinking. Instead, our emotional tissue is evenly divided between our two hemispheres, as is our thinking tissue. In Part 1, listen as we discuss:What is "Whole Brain Living"?What she"s learned since her hit TED talk.The four characters of the brain:Character 1: Left thinking tissue is the rational brain that defines the boundaries of ourselves as individuals, has language, and seeks material gain.Character 2: Left emotional tissue that sounds the alarm to protect us against the unfamiliar.Character 3: Right emotional tissue that lives to only experience in the present moment without comparison or time. No conflict can be solved by two Character 2"s, and the present moment is perfect. Instagram: @mo_gawdat Facebook: @mo.gawdat.official Twitter: @mgawdat LinkedIn: /in/mogawdat Website: mogawdat.com/podcast Connect with Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor and her new book, Whole Brain Living, here.   Don"t forget to subscribe to Slo Mo for new episodes every Sunday and Thursday. Only with your help can we reach One Billion Happy #onebillionhappy YouTube: @mogawdatofficial Instagram: @mo_gawdat Facebook: @mo.gawdat.official LinkedIn: /in/mogawdat X: @mgawdat Website: mogawdat.com Don"t forget to subscribe to Slo Mo for new episodes every Saturday. Only with your help can we reach One Billion Happy #onebillionhappy