I shall choose a few inspirational and important quotes to
help explain my experience and the connections I made while listening:
The scientific stuff about the brain: she emphasized the separation
of the left and right hemispheres and their functions. She elaborated on the
functions of the right and left hemispheres and their ways of processing.
She also stated that 'they think and care about different
things [...] they are like two different personalities.' Now reading this
statement might automatically make your brain make a connection to
psychological disorders. This was her interest in studying the brain in the
first place. To me, this statement made me think of the personalities of each
individual person, specifically the students we work with. Each student thinks
more with one side of the brain than the other and this accounts for their personality
(so do genetics and nurture, etc.). It also made me think of the students who
struggle with emotional disturbance and personality disorders where it may be
that their brain process and interpret information so differently from a
'normal' brain and they may have no control.
When speaking about the functions of the right [hemisphere
of the] brain she spoke that the right is all about 'the present moment,' 'the
connections of energies,' and how it 'learns and processes kinesthetically.' To
me this combined personality, learning styles and Gardners' Multiple
Intelligences all in one. Although all true, the corpus callosum and other
factors play a part in these aspects of a person.
Her ending quote to describe the function of the right
hemisphere was this: 'In this moment we are perfect, we are whole and we are
beautiful.'
Powerful. But not really my choice on how to describe the
right hemisphere function. But what about to a student who learns differently
from my factual approach to science? What a powerful way to introduce the
differences between the right and left hemispheres, their functions and their
connections. How many of your students might identify with this statement to
their personal world view?
In describing the left hemisphere she used the words 'I
am...I am...' and she continued to say that
they left hemisphere thinks almost like 'I become separate from the
energy flow around me and from you.'
Interesting. She noted that the left hemisphere focuses
on the past and the future leaving the right brain to work on the present. Thus
creating a separation...? I was not so sure about this description. But this
made me think of the students that have difficulties relating socially or those
who are planners or those who only focus on the past and have difficulty seeing
the problems they can solve now and get to in the future.
In describing her experience she was grateful for it. She
felt she had found true nirvana in the connection of her energy to the energy
around her. She had lost (at the time) much of her left brain mentality and
became more in tune with her right hemisphere. Her corpus callosum was blocked
and she was unable to process information, make connections and create speech. In
her connection to the energies around her she stated that everyone can find
nirvana and connect to the Earth and one another. In this I saw the support for
the importance of empathy and the ability to connect to one another. As
mentioned in an earlier post, I do believe this needs to be promoted and taught
in schools. Student self, community and global awareness is important to
develop in order to help change our world for the better.
Connecting the two cognitive minds (right and left hemispheres) and supporting the development of both can help a student become more whole and more cogniscient of the impact they can have on their world.
As Jill stated in this we can find peace. 'These are the
we inside of me. The more peace found in me, the more peace in the world.'
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