Get Happy, Be Happy, Stay Happy

Brain researcher Jill Bolte Taylor shared her “stroke of insight” at this year’s TED Conference in Monterey, California. If you’re interested in hemispheric brain function, mystical experiences, the concept of humans as energy beings, or consciousness, this is a must-see video.

Watch the video

Read the transcript

One morning, a blood vessel in Jill Bolte Taylor’s brain exploded. As a brain scientist, she realized she had a ringside seat to her own stroke. She watched as her brain functions shut down one by one: motion, speech, memory, self-awareness …

Amazed to find herself alive, Taylor spent eight years recovering her ability to think, walk and talk. She has become a spokesperson for stroke recovery and for the possibility of coming back from brain injury stronger than before. In her case, although the stroke damaged the left side of her brain, her recovery unleashed a torrent of creative energy from her right. From her home base in Indiana, she now travels the country on behalf of the Harvard Brain Bank as the “Singin’ Scientist.”

What she said about the right hemisphere and perception:

Our right hemisphere is all about this present moment. It’s all about right here right now. Our right hemisphere, it thinks in pictures and it learns kinesthetically through the movement of our bodies. Information in the form of energy streams in simultaneously through all of our sensory systems. And then it explodes into this enormous collage of what this present moment looks like. What this present moment smells like and tastes like, what it feels like and what it sounds like.

I am an energy being connected to the energy all around me through the consciousness of my right hemisphere. We are energy beings connected to one another through the consciousness of our right hemispheres as one human family. And right here, right now, all we are brothers and sisters on this planet, here to make the world a better place. And in this moment we are perfect. We are whole. And we are beautiful.

I have never experienced right-hemisphere perception like this. It’s hard for me to even imagine it. My left hemisphere is running the show in my head. However, my “body” easily connects to the energy of my environment. Actually, everyone does this. But I think we have varying abilities for receiving and perceiving information. Fascinating stuff.

I read a lot of books that tell you how to create a successful life. Many are written from the author’s point of view. Their success recipe works great for them and it will work for you too, they claim. Simply follow their formula and success is virtually guaranteed!

Those authors drive me nuts. The reality is, unless you have the same strengths (and a host of other things) as the author, following their formula won’t lead to success. Some readers will blame themselves for not having what it takes. Some will give up in anger or frustration. Some will finally figure out that they need to design a life based on their own unique strengths.

Success strategist Philip Humbert addresses this point in this week’s TIPS e-newsletter.

Foolish Impulse or Tragic Hesitation?

The English language is full of cliches, but few are more confusing than the conflict between “Fools rush in” and “Those who hesitate are lost.” How do we balance the “need for speed” with the advice to “look before you leap?”

We all know the necessity for planning and preparation. We know that success requires a strong foundation, careful thought, and precision. But, we are also advised to “strike while the iron is hot” and that “the early bird gets the worm.” What’s a person to do?

This confusion first struck me when I read biographies of Roald Amundsen and Robert Scott, the first two men to reach the South Pole. Amundsen was the more impulsive of the two. He landed on the shelf ice, unloaded his gear and took off. He got to the pole first, and he returned to tell the tale.

Robert Scott was far more organized, and he had better equipment. When he landed on the ice, he prepared carefully for the enormous challenge ahead. He was the better scientist and he, too, got to the South Pole. But he got there second and, because of his delay the Antarctic winter began before he got back. After weeks of bitter and heroic struggle, he and his men died just eleven miles short of base camp and safety.

I was reminded of that this week while reading Edmund Morris’ biography of young Theodore Roosevelt. When he was 25, after his wife died in childbirth, Roosevelt made his first trip to the “Bad Lands.” When his guide backed out, he plunged ahead with no idea what to expect. He was unprepared and might have died, but instead found a rugged wilderness that restored his health and in many ways created the man who later became president. Who could have guessed?

So how do we balance the “need for speed” with the advice to “look before you leap?”

First, understand and honor your unique personality. Some of us are “planners.” For them plans, research and a methodical approach are required. Impulsive action makes them nervous, and that’s fine! But others are built for speed. They see opportunity and feel they must act quickly. That’s fine, too! As Shakespeare advised, “First, know thyself and to thine own self be true.” Design your life so that it (mostly) brings you the type of opportunities and situations you prefer.

Second, understand the limitations of your preferences. Some of us eagerly jump in, while others are planners, and both are good but each has its limitations.

Some things in life must be grasped instantly or they are gone forever. Sometimes, if “you snooze, you lose!” and if you are a planner, some opportunities won’t fit your natural inclinations. Design your life so that, as often as possible, you have time you need for thoughtful, careful consideration.

Others prefer the drama and excitement of speed. If that’s your preference, design systems that create multiple opportunities where you can “grab and go.” But, be aware of the downside risk. Some impulses, like driving too quickly on a dark and slippery road, can end in tragedy.

Finally, learn the fine art of flexibility. Few of us are so extreme in one direction or the other that we can’t make exceptions when called for. Learn to analyze the true nature of the situation, and respond accordingly. Even if you strongly prefer careful planning, know that some situations call for immediate action and that’s alright! Go for it! It’s good practice and might, like Roosevelt’s ride into the Badlands, lead to amazing results. Other situations require detailed preparation and no matter how much you want to act quickly, caution is advised. Winners recognize the difference and respond appropriately.

The key to success is using your personal preferences to your advantage. Design a life that builds on your strengths.

Copyright 2008. All rights reserved. Philip Humbert.

Contact him at www.philiphumbert.com or Coach@philiphumbert.com. Sign up for his free TIPS e-newsletter.

The Kolbe Index will help you discover your innate action mode. It will tell you, for example, if you’re naturally wired to gather the facts first, or if you’re the type to jump in feet first.

The Kolbe Index discerns your distinctive pattern of action in four areas: Fact Finding, Follow Through, Quick Start, and Implementation. You can take the test here for $49.95. This is money well spent if you suspect that you’re operating against your grain but don’t understand how. Clues that you’re not living or working using your natural action mode include frustration, fast depletion of energy and lack of ease or flow. Stress.

I’m a Fact-Finder/Quick Start. Whether I like it or not (or whether a particular book author likes it or not), I will naturally insist on researching and gathering facts. If someone tries to push me into a decision before I have the facts, they’ll be met with resistance. However, once I have the facts, I can move quickly. There are times that I want to jump in before knowing the facts, but it feels stressful. My Fact-Finder instinct will always be stronger.

For now, I’m not a believer in human-caused global warming. Yeah, the earth is heating up in some areas, and some of that may be due to human activities. But I’m not convinced that we’re on our way to hell in a handbasket. Or even to an ice age.

This NPR article provides more to consider:

The Mystery of Global Warming’s Missing Heat

I read today that an AP probe revealed that our drinking water is tainted with drugs and may pose problems for humans and animals. That’s old news for most in the alternative health field.

The good news is that normally you’d find this kind of article only on so-called “alarmist” health sites.

AP probe finds drugs in drinking water

A vast array of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows.

To be sure, the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are tiny, measured in quantities of parts per billion or trillion, far below the levels of a medical dose. Also, utilities insist their water is safe.

But the presence of so many prescription drugs — and over-the-counter medicines like acetaminophen and ibuprofen — in so much of our drinking water is heightening worries among scientists of long-term consequences to human health.

In the course of a five-month inquiry, the AP discovered that drugs have been detected in the drinking water supplies of 24 major metropolitan areas — from Southern California to Northern New Jersey, from Detroit to Louisville, Ky.

Water providers rarely disclose results of pharmaceutical screenings, unless pressed, the AP found. For example, the head of a group representing major California suppliers said the public “doesn’t know how to interpret the information” and might be unduly alarmed.

How do the drugs get into the water?

People take pills. Their bodies absorb some of the medication, but the rest of it passes through and is flushed down the toilet. The wastewater is treated before it is discharged into reservoirs, rivers or lakes. Then, some of the water is cleansed again at drinking water treatment plants and piped to consumers. But most treatments do not remove all drug residue.

And while researchers do not yet understand the exact risks from decades of persistent exposure to random combinations of low levels of pharmaceuticals, recent studies — which have gone virtually unnoticed by the general public — have found alarming effects on human cells and wildlife.

“We recognize it is a growing concern and we’re taking it very seriously,” said Benjamin H. Grumbles, assistant administrator for water at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Keep reading

Right after I published this post, I received an email with the following six reasons why you should think before you speak. Yes, it doesn’t take much to get me to laugh.

It’s possible that these stories are true. I’ll share my own at the end.

FIRST TESTIMONY

I walked into a hair salon with my husband and three kids in tow and asked loudly, “How much do you charge for a shampoo and a blow job?”

I turned around and walked back out and never went back. My husband didn’t say a word… he knew better.

SECOND TESTIMONY

I was at the golf store comparing different kinds of golf balls. I was unhappy with the women’s type I had been using. After browsing for several minutes, I was approached by one of the good-looking gentlemen who works at the store. He asked if he could help me. Without thinking, I looked at him and said, “I think I like playing with men’s balls.”

THIRD TESTIMONY

My sister and I were at the mall and passed by a store that sold a variety of candy and nuts. As we were looking at the display case, the boy behind the counter asked if we needed any help. I replied, “No, I’m just looking at your nuts.”

My sister started to laugh hysterically. The boy grinned, and I turned beet-red and walked away. To this day, my sister has never let me forget.

FOURTH TESTIMONY

While in line at the bank one afternoon, my toddler decided to release some pent-up energy and ran amok. I was finally able to grab hold of her after receiving looks of disgust and annoyance from other patrons. I told her that if she did not start behaving “right now” she would be punished.

To my horror, she looked me in the eye and said in a voice just as threatening, “If you don’t let me go right now, I will tell Grandma that I saw you kissing Daddy’s pee-pee last night!”

The silence was deafening after this enlightening exchange.

Even the tellers stopped what they were doing. I mustered up the last of my dignity and walked out of the bank with my daughter in tow. The last thing I heard as the door closed behind me, were screams of laughter.

FIFTH TESTIMONY

Have you ever asked your child a question too many times?

My three-year-old son had a lot of problems with potty training and I was on him constantly. One day we stopped at Taco Bell for a quick lunch in between errands. But it was very busy, with a full dining room.

While enjoying my taco, I smelled something funny, so of course I checked my seven-month-old daughter, and she was clean. Then I realized that Danny had not asked to go potty in a while. I asked him if he needed to go, and he said “No.” I kept thinking “Oh Lord, that child has had an accident, and I don’t have any clean clothes with me.”

Then I said, “Danny, are you SURE you didn’t have an accident?”

“No,” he replied.

I just KNEW that he must have had an accident, because the smell was getting worse. So, I asked one more time, “Danny, did you have an accident?”

This time he jumped up, yanked down his pants, bent over, spread his cheeks and yelled “SEE MOM, IT’S JUST FARTS!!”

While 30 people nearly choked to death on their tacos laughing, he calmly pulled up his pants and sat down.

An older couple made me feel better, thanking me for the best laugh they’d ever had!

LAST BUT NOT LEAST TESTIMONY

This one had most of the state of Michigan laughing for 2 days and a very embarrassed female news anchor who will, in the future, likely think before she speaks.

What happens when you predict snow, but don’t get any?

We had a female news anchor who, the day after it was supposed to have snowed and didn’t, turned to the weatherman and asked: “So Bob, where’s that 8 inches you promised me last night?”

Not only did HE have to leave the set, but half the crew did too, they were laughing so hard!

***MY OWN TESTIMONY***

A guy in my office had a crush on me. He was shy and socially awkward, but he always found a reason to come by my desk. One day I mentioned that I was hungry and needed a snack. He smiled broadly and with great enthusiasm proclaimed, “Oh! I have nuts in my drawers!”

It took every ounce of energy I had not to laugh. His face turned bright red and he slunk back to his desk.

Okay, here is proof that the Law of Attraction doesn’t work as claimed.

For several reasons I’m “vibrating” pretty low right now. I’m in a funky mood. Stay out of my way.

I got an email this morning with a link to The Gratitude Dance. I know that the video is associated with the Law of Attraction and the belief that the attitude of gratitude creates high vibration, which, of course, enables you to attract high-vibration stuff. Due to my disdain for The Secret and the Law of Attraction, I haven’t been interested in watching it. But this morning I decided to watch it and see what the fuss is all about.

Now I’m in a worse mood.

That you’ll like this article about intuition.

Go with your gut — intuition is more than just a hunch, says Leeds research

Most of us experience “gut feelings” we can’t explain, such as instantly loving or hating a new property when we’re househunting or the snap judgements we make on meeting new people. Now researchers at Leeds say these feelings or “intuitions” are real and we should take our hunches seriously.

According to a team led by Professor Gerard Hodgkinson of the Centre for Organisational Strategy, Learning and Change at Leeds University Business School, intuition is the result of the way our brains store, process and retrieve information on a subconscious level and so is a real psychological phenomenon which needs further study to help us harness its potential.

There are many recorded incidences where intuition prevented catastrophes and cases of remarkable recoveries when doctors followed their gut feelings. Yet science has historically ridiculed the concept of intuition, putting it in the same box as parapsychology, phrenology and other pseudoscientific practices.

Through analysis of a wide range of research papers examining the phenomenon, the researchers conclude that intuition is the brain drawing on past experiences and external cues to make a decision — but one that happens so fast the reaction is at a non-conscious level. All we’re aware of is a general feeling that something is right or wrong.

Read the entire article

I’m highly intuitive and highly sensitive, which is a blessing and a curse. So I’m very interested in exploring all the ways we’re able to take in and process information. For example, I want to know if the heart’s powerful electromagnetic field contains information that others can sense and understand. I want to know if the earth’s electromagnetic field can carry information from one brain to another. More on this later!

I started this blog post several weeks ago after reading “Consciousness is Nothing But a Word,” an article by Henry D. Schlinger in Skeptic Magazine. I enjoy reading about consciousness, which remains a mystery. I absolutely loved the article and Schlinger’s ideas about what consciousness is. To my delight, the article is now available online in the latest e-skeptic.

I believe we do have the ability to create the wonderful world we want.

I invite you to read the article and comment.

Shake it, baby, shake it!

According to this Live Science article, “Scientists may one day be able to destroy viruses in the same way that opera singers presumably shatter wine glasses. New research mathematically determined the frequencies at which simple viruses could be shaken to death.”

Every “thing” vibrates because everything is made up of atoms that vibrate. We vibrate. Even our “thoughts” vibrate, because brain function is electromagnetic.

Sounds pretty woo-woo, doesn’t it? But this stuff comes straight from science.

Maybe one day the energy healing folks will have the last laugh. Maybe one day the Stuart Davis “thoughts are things” video (warning — R rated!) won’t be a parody. Maybe Bruce Lipton is right about his understanding of epigenetics, and that our own thoughts control certain genes.

Maybe is the key word for me. Obviously I’m very interested in woo stuff, but I need a lot more scientific evidence before accepting certain notions hook, line and sinker.