I watched Jill Bolte Taylor's talk on ted.com when it first came out. Also, Time magazine named her one of the 50 most influential people in the WORLD (I believe it was the WORLD & not just the nation) quite a while ago. Her talk was very moving.
I live close to Jill Bolte Taylor & am involved in NAMI so I knew of her from that & from the talk on ted.com.
What moved me so much about her talk was she told about how her stroke changed her idea of what it meant to be "human." She started to investigate the "other" side of the brain--the one that is not like a computer--doing tasks like remembering or calculating, but the part that deals w/emotions, joy, those intangible parts of the brain that can't be studied so readily but that make us "human" rather than just "computers" (brains that perform functions that Jill lost when she experienced her stroke).
Dr. Bolte Taylor realized when she couldn't even dial the phone correctly to call for help that as a brilliant brain researcher she was distilled down to some kind of an essence of what it means to be "human" & she said she has changed her focus of her life after this life-altering experience.
Isn't that something?
I am eagerly looking forward to reading her book. It seems a synchronicity that you have found this post and responded. May I ask...how did you find this post?
I have always been interested in neuroscience...and especially now since I have been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. The brain and how it works is fascinating.
After I read this book I will try to post on what I think about it.
Thanks again for your comments.
Oh, I subscribe to your postings as well as several others!! I have bipolar 1 disorder, ADHD, & have had chronic pain issues for the last year (neurologist, surgeon, pain management docs have not had much success in alleviating the pain so I may be heading to the Mayo Clinic as the neurologist thinks maybe it is an auto immune thing going on). I just don't use the same name when posting even though I post regularly as I was being "attacked" by someone who was commenting on one of the people who writes about bipolar. I made some comments & this person kept targeting me & calling me names (saying I was stupid & he was a genius) & tore me down for taking meds for bipolar. This person has been removed from the site, finally...
But it was really awful to be targeted in that way when I basically think of this as a support site & people should share their experiences but not belittle someone who cannot be "healed" of bipolar by being a "genius" & will power as he claims he was--but he was definitely not "well." He was very antagonistic towards me & not "supportive" of anyone who did not agree w/him.
So I'm fearful of being attacked...
I am 57-years-old & my mother committed suicide after many attempts when I was 15. She was dxed w/schizo affective disorder, but she also had alcohol problems. She was in & out of mental institutions ever since I was 3 when she threatened to kill me & my siblings & then herself in a phone call to my father at his work so I never knew her "well" & have much compassion for her. She was a very tortured person. I just wanted to make sure I would not repeat her experience w/my own children (as I did have suicide attempts starting at 15) so I took free classes offered by NAMI & attended support groups.
I have been trained by NAMI to talk to groups through their "In Our Own Voice" program about putting a face to mental illness & the struggles, yet still the tremendous hope there is for treatment through medication (if necessary) & various kinds of therapy. I found DBT was the most beneficial for me & consider it my "medication" & have been able to get off Abilify after being on it about 8 years after doing weekly DBT groups & indiv. therapy. You can retrain your brain to think when you have cognitive distortions as I did (due to my chaotic homelife growing up; my father was a "functioning" alcoholic & was not a very good father). So I have been interested in learning about the brain; thus, my interest in Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor
I still do take Lamictal (for bipolar 1), Concerta (ADHD), Trazodone if necessary for chronic insomnia that has been made much worse by the pain issues plus it is an anti depressant so that is an added bonus, Klonopin (small dosage if needed for acute anxiety).
I also teach NAMI's Provider Education classes (taught in mental health facilities such as hospitals). I'm part of a team of 2 consumers, 2 family members & 1 professional such as a therapist, doctor, social worker, etc. who teach this 10-week class; Peer-to-Peer classes for consumers that meets weekly for 9 weeks.
Hey again!
Okay...I think I know the situation you are talking about. I am so sorry that anyone has attacked you on the sites. This should never be. I am very vigilant about not allowing such a thing to happen and I put a stop to it immediately. Life is too short. You are here to gain support...not to be abused. I will not tolerate any member attacking others.
I personally think the whole medication debate is nauseating. There are people who wish to get into this on almost every website where people take meds. I can tell you that I have been attacked for being too "holistic" and not promoting meds enough and in other instances I have been called names because I have taken meds. It is just ridiculous and it hinders people from getting the support they need.
Please feel confident and safe in posting here. You obviously have a lot of experiences to share and I hope you continue to write on this site.
Thanks for taking the time to comment and we hope to see you again!
I agree about the meds thing. No one wants to take these meds, but sometimes they are necessary. I was in bad shape when first dxed w/bipolar & did an intensive outpatient program in the hospital & the meds helped me tremendously so that I could actually benefit from therapy & start thinking without all my cognitive distortions.
Then I was able to get off some of the meds & am decreasing the dosages of others w/the hopes of getting off them as I am getting elderly now! I don't think they have been tested in the geriatric population.
So just because you are on meds now doesn't mean you will be on them forever (despite what most people say about bipolar & having to take medication for life to prevent a relapse if you are working hard to improve your life & your meds provider agrees it is certainly possible to get off certain meds & maybe for some people--all meds). My meds provider saw such an improvement w/my DBT therapy that she agreed w/me to try getting off Abilify (had been on it for about 10 yrs., 25-30 mg. daily, & it was very helpful to get me away from thinking in a paranoid way or ruminating on negative stuff all the time; been off it for about 3 years now). BUT I also agreed that if my symptoms returned I would go back on the medication.
However, even docs say comments that are upsetting such as my surgeon out of the blue while taking out my stitches said he thought I was on "too many medications." That was very upsetting to me. I wanted to tell him that I was on fewer medications than I had been; I felt very defensive. I had signed a consent for him to talk to my meds provider (as I had to have general anesthesia & have had problems w/it "not working" in the past during surgeries).
Here I have been in incredible pain for over a year & have not slept well at all (not good for bipolar) & if he were really concerned about my meds he should have talked to my meds provider--not "criticized" me (how I perceived it). He is a surgeon, not a specialty in psychiatry, & he made me feel very humiliated--like I am a drug addict or weak or ready to go into detox or something.
I had talked to him about my mental health issues at my first meeting (as it is part of my medical history & I had a hypo manic relapse despite being on all my meds--"medication compliant" when I went through a period of time w/chronic insomnia & then went into a sudden depression & had a suicide attempt about 5 years ago).
I didn't go into all the gory details of my family history (though they were on the forms I filled out), but I have been in the ER several times due to the incredible pain & my bipolar issues & anxiety were something I needed to keep a close eye on w/the pain interrupting my sleep & basically robbing me of any quality of life.
I thought if he were that concerned about my meds he should have talked to my meds provider--not made an offhand, negative comment to me. It upset me very much & I was already "fragile" so I acted rashly (something I do when I'm doing well & feeling very fragile & getting despondent about the pain issues not being addressed well enough) so I just quit taking all my meds (even high blood pressure & thyroid).
Well, of course after about 3 days without my medication for ADHD or bipolar or any other conditions, I was not feeling well but I still kept off my meds for a month due to feeling like I was bad for taking "pills."
When I finally "confessed" to my meds provider what I had done, she was really upset that the surgeon had made that remark to me, also. He didn't know how much I hated taking medication & how I am very intimidated by docs & feel judged by those kind of remarks.
Everyone is an individual & I think if you have a good collaborative relationship w/your provider--someone you trust--that is essential. Your condition is constantly in flux (much as your blood sugar levels when diabetic are affected by stress, ill health, being out of balance, etc.). People who take "psych meds" can be very sensitive to negative, offhand remarks...
It's funny, this reminded me of something similar regarding a book. I'm a big fan of Mary Gordon, who has written a number of very good books, some fiction and a few memoir. One of her books was about her father and all the work she did looking into his history, since he died while she was fairly young. She ended up learning some very startling truths about him.
Mary Gordon is my age, has a Catholic history like mine, her writing is sometimes flippant and somewhat sarcastic like I often am and it turns out her father was the same age as my grandfather and died in the same year. There were a bunch of other similarities that I can't remember offhand right now, but it was kind of freaky and it almost made me write to her - but I didn't.
I do think that many things are less random than we think and truly are "opportunities" to explore things. I think about the people I've met and had in my life and how I might not know them except for maybe some little detail in my life or place I was in and I do feel blessed.
Hi Judy
I have not heard of this author...what does she write? I need to take more time to read books. When I was young...I feel that books saved me...especially autobiographies. There is great power in the written word to transcend our experience and to let others know that they can too.
Let me know the names of the books this author has written...I am very interested!
Hi, Merely Me. The books that I can think of that Mary Gordon's written are "Final Payments," "Men and Angels," "The Company of Women," "The Other Side," and "Pearl" - these are fiction and not all of them. Her non-fiction includes Good Boys and Dead Girls, The Shadow Man, Circling my Mother, Joan of Arc. The Shadow Man is the one about her father that is very fascinating. My favorite fiction was "Final Payments." I think you'd like her writing.
Judy
Hi, yes I find this. My friend from WI lives half time in a small town in CO. He told me he had no idea how we found eachother because he did not find me on the internet. I did not find him by searching, his profile appeared in my box. He assured me he did not see my profile until I contacted him. But I only contacted him because his profile showed up. I still don't know. He says he does not either.
Then I met another friend playing tennis within a month. He lives in the same small town in Colorado. Of all the many states, towns, places on the planet, turns out he lives in the same small town of 5,000 people.
Actually I find when I am very present, these things happen often.
Another time, I met a guy online. We talked online for some time. He said he was coming to the city I live in in a week. ( there were a few pictures of him)
I went to a park and saw a guy crossing the street. Somehow I just 'knew' it was him. I asked him his name as he got in his car. He said the same name I thought that was his name. I stood shaken for a few minutes. I knew I had just meditated for hours on the mountain previously and actually was 'expecting' a 'coincidence' to happen, just feel it somehow and it does scare me...but I don't think it is supposed to be scary ..it is just like when you are very still and animals come to you...or children...gentle grace of some sort....
Marishka
Hey Marishka
This is interesting that you say these things happen when you are present. I believe this too. When I am not present and trapped in my mind...I feel I miss so much.
The world is full of these amazing "coincidences" and I think they are opportunities to explore.
Thanks so much for sharing your experiences here.
It's easy for folks to chalk these things up as coincidence...but I really feel you risk a lot by not taking a closer look at these synchronistic events. It's easy to explain these things away but then again if you just calculated all the little things that would have had to make these things happen, it's quite awe inspiring. I think we live on one planet in a huge planet and that we should be amazed all the time. Thanks for sharing!
Dan Worth
Hi Merely Me,
We first "met" when you were writing on a synchronicity blog. Funny.
My caregiver, friend, and sweetheart is a fan of Freud. That is hard to dispute, but I am more a fan of his student, Carl Jung who first described the concept of synchronicity. It is funny how we each view the relationships of people and events, or how we don't. I think whether someone is present as Marishka said is actually part of the synchronicity, too.
You could have found that book by the TV on the last day of Oprah's broadcasting and simply put it back on the shelf, but you didn't.
You write so beautifully about such interesting and important topics, and your commenters provide thoughtful perspectives. Your writing helps us all think and understand, and the collection of comments is good reading.
Sorry for my stream of consciousness. See what you do? You help us be present. Thank you.
P.S. I don't think I have ever seen a TED video that I do not like. Thank you for sharing this one.
Vicki
Hi MM and all,
It is always nice to see a good response here and you got one today. Another concept like coincidence someone described to me a few months ago. He said there is a name for it when people try to ascribe direction from God to obscure
activities: i.e. the light burns out just when you were going to turn it off; therefore dadada. The whole ancient Greek religion of Dionysus was about understanding the mysteries underlying events. Some people can only understand
what is put into words, but words are just symbols of what we hope has importance. Science requires careful observation, but much of what we experience
will never be measured in a test tube, nor a brain scan. Did you find your rabbit?!
Ric
My synchronicity is really odd and it's making me logically suspect that I could be a schizophrenic. The odd thing about it is that it could go on for something like a stretch of twenty minutes or so, and my inner dialogue would coincide directly with the activities in my immediate surroundings.
Take this for instance, last Friday I was in a parking lot deciding to see if I wanted to go into a bar my friend is in. While there I was pretending to be in Portland, and from some far off distance I would imagine the whistle blows of the passing boat and ships around the bay. Every single time I would imagine two whistle blows, two sounds would occur that mimics my imagination. The first one I think was a car's horn blown twice... the second time I imagined the whistle blows, I heard someone turning their car's alarm on (and of course the car's alarm beeped twice, again, mimicking the imagine whistleblows). It is really odd.
Another time I was smoking outside at my backyard when I saw this small bird approached me. I remember clearly thinking "you are a brave bird aren't you? Aren't you nervous of me?" And at that right moment the bird pooped, as if saying "I am."
The synchronicity hasn't really freaked me out, because of some of the funny "inner dialogue" that have occured in my head because of the amazing amount of coincidences that occurs around me. I am however depressed though because aside from the synchronicity other things have been occurring to me that I am not really happy about... like me thinking I might be schizophrenic just because "I feel" that things are beginning to get too central around me.
Anybody with schizophrenia out there who maybe could tell me something more about this synchronicity thing?
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Hi Merely me
Im very much stuck on the death thing
Im not where I want to be
I feel like I was meant to die
Its very scary
Jon
Hi Jon
It is good to see you. What is making you feel stuck on death? Do you want to talk about it?
We want you to stick around.
You are very important to us and we love hearing from you.
Thanks for commenting.
Jon,
Hang in there...You can come back out of that feeling...Keep working at it and wait for the sunny day to come back! It will be that much brighter when you make it cause you had to work at it...
All the best,
Dan Worth