Lately I’ve been going further down the rabbit hole of neuroplasticity. It is a fascinating topic. As you may know, my dad suffered a stroke and for the past few years I have been struggling to understand how it has impacted him and to understand if it ever will be possible for him to improve his mental function. He had a stroke that affected his right hemisphere near the brain stem. In some ways it is amazing that he lived and has recovered as much as he has. Unfortunately, he hasn’t recovered to the extent that he would like. It has been a few very hard years.
In order to better understand stroke and how it impacts an individual I thought that reading the book “My Stroke of Insight” by Jill Bolte Taylor would help. 
Jill is a PhD scientist who has extensively studied the brain, mainly with respect to mental illness. When she was 37 she suffered a major left hemisphere stroke. This book is her tale. It is an amazing story of recovery from a traumatic brain injury.
This book walks through her experience, from the morning she had her stroke through her recovery 8 years later. Since her stroke impacted the opposite hemisphere than my dad’s it gave me some perspective in terms of what voices were silenced in my father’s head. Strangely, a right hemisphere stroke probably is harder to recover from. The left hemisphere provides the daily “brain chatter” that causes many of us to not consider compassion and one-ness with the universe. The left helps define your sense of self and individuality. It also is the seat of negative thought processes that cause us all a lot of grief.
If you’re interested to hear her tell her tale – check out
Jill Bolte Taylor’s TED talk
