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I've recently been making it a habit of spending my hour-long commute listening to audiobooks and podcasts. If you haven't yet tried either or both formats of learning, I highly recommend you do. Not only are you able to sample content and information from a great variety of authors and sources, you end up feeling like a learning machine, able to absorb new information quickly and quite enjoyably.
I also recently came across a post recommending a few well-regarded TED talks. If you haven't heard of them, TED talks are brief lectures (18 minutes or less) delivered by experts from a wide range of areas of interest — music, arts, psychology, and business to name a few. And so, I plugged in and discovered yet another source of education and entertainment for myself.
I've found many of the TED talks informative, but I've found a smaller subset of TED talks to be moving. They've affected me and the way I think, and I find myself talking to my patients about some of the new information that I've picked up.
This is all a long-winded way of recommending one TED talk in particular — the one called “My Stroke of Insight” given by a neuroanatomist named Jill Bolte Taylor. At the time I was writing this post, the TED talk had been viewed 17,225,029 times, so there may be others in the universe who might agree with my recommendation.
The story is a most unusual one, where someone devoted to the study of the brain experiences a stroke, and recovers to recount to us even the minutest details of that event and her behaviors, thoughts, and feelings in the aftermath. She does so with humor, personality, and real story-telling flair.
Aside from learning a lesson on the differences in the personalities of the left and right brain in each of us, I also came away from the TED talk with Dr. Taylor's insights in my own head.
Her talk made me think, in what ways are we limiting ourselves with our own thoughts? Her talk let me know that part of our brain allows us to experience life in the present moment, unbounded by chatter and worry. What if we were able to expand our own point of view consciously, to encompass more of that experience — living without bounds, without comment, without fear?
Well, of course, as soon as I started thinking in that frame of mind, I started thinking of all of us Procrastinators. What if we were able to push past those self-statements that hold us in a non-moving state, like “I am lazy,” “I am worthless,” or “I don't know how”? What kinds of energy might be released. Tremendous energy, I suspect.
If you feel stuck today, that is okay. If what you do today is pick up something to get some insight from or to change your view, that is okay too. Just know that your potential has no limits and know that you can begin to reach for it again tomorrow.
Enjoy the TED talk and any other learning experiences you might have today. If you have any of your own insights or recommendations for learning materials you'd like to share, please leave a comment here.
