Joy Is Revolutionary
The idea that Joy can be revolutionary is certainly not new.
Many artists and thought leaders have contributed to this conversation including writer & professor, Audre Lorde; poet and professor, Jack Gilbert; writer, Austin Channing Brown; and writer & illustrator, Emily McDowell (see quote above).
I may not be a well-known artist or thought leader (yet), but I’d like to offer my contribution to this conversation, nonetheless.
In last week’s newsletter, we reviewed the eight pillars of Joy outlined by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. If you accepted my call to action and have been incorporating the eight pillars into your life – congratulations! You have been practicing the revolutionary act of Whole Brain Living.
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What is Whole Brain Living?
To truly understand Whole Brain Living, it’s helpful to know the story of its founder. I’ll provide a summary here, but I highly encourage you to watch her captivating and unforgettable TedTalk, My Stroke of Insight.
Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor is a neuroanatomist, which means she dedicated her professional life to mapping the microcircuitry of the brain. This career path took an unexpected turn when, at age 37, Dr. Bolte Taylor suffered a severe stroke.
On the morning of December 10th, 1996, a blood vessel exploded in her brain. Over the course of four hours, the bleed slowly shut down the entirety of her left hemisphere, meaning she lost the ability to speak or understand language and to feel emotions like shame or resentment. The left hemisphere is also responsible for organizing information, comparing it to our past experience, and projecting future possibilities.
“Imagine what it would feel like to lose 37 years of emotional baggage!” she jokes.
But the stroke was certainly no laughing matter.
As the pressure in her left hemisphere continued to build, her right hemisphere became dominant. This nonverbal part of the brain takes in information through our senses, “bringing in multiple streams of data that simultaneously reveal a single complex moment of existence.” (source) It’s characterized by emotions like compassion and gratitude and an overall sense of oneness and expansiveness. She could no longer recognize herself as an individual separate from the energy of the universe.
“Nirvana!” she exclaims, “I found Nirvana!”
The fact that Dr. Bolte Taylor is alive and able to communicate this story to us is truly a miracle. It took her eight years to fully recover, and the gift she brought back from this experience is the power of Whole Brain Living.
In essence, Whole Brain Living is “a new paradigm for understanding how the different parts of our brain work together to manifest our perception of reality.” It’s understanding that “[we] have the power to choose, moment by moment, who and how we want to be in the world” by “taking our brain anatomy into account.” (source)
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What makes Whole Brain Living revolutionary?
We live in a largely left-brain dominated society. Our culture places significant value on left-brain characteristics such as analytical or linear thinking, structure, independence, and information that can be processed verbally. Much of our anxiety-ridden culture is stuck in the emotional circuitry of the left hemisphere, comparing, judging, criticizing, and forecasting terrifying futures. We tend to distrust or place less value on fluidity, flow, and information processed experientially through our senses.
Choosing to “step to the right of our left hemisphere” is truly revolutionary.
Dr. Bolte Taylor ends her TedTalk saying, “I believe that the more time we spend choosing to run the deep inner-peace circuitry of our right hemispheres, the more peace we will project into the world, and the more peaceful our planet will be.”
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How is Whole Brain Living related to Joy?
When we embrace Whole Brian Living, we are actively creating a world that is more connected, abundant, peaceful, and yes… more joyful!
Take a look at how these common right brain characteristics correspond to the eight pillars of Joy:
Imagine what the world might look and feel like if more people embraced Joy through Whole Brain Living. Imagine what our political, educational, and healthcare systems might look like if they were created through the lens of the right hemisphere. This might sound Pollyanna, but like all great ripple effects, it starts with a few and travels to the many.
