Summary

This summary provides an overview of the life-altering insights shared by Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, a Harvard-trained neuroanatomist, during her conversation with host Hala Taha on the Young and Profiting podcast. It details her personal background, the neurological mechanics of her stroke, the warning signs of a stroke, her groundbreaking "Four Characters of the Brain" framework, generational shifts in cognitive dominance, and practical strategies for achieving cognitive balance and whole-brain living.

Introduction and Biological Motivation

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor's journey into neuroscience was deeply personal. Growing up with a brother diagnosed with schizophrenia, she observed profound differences in how they uniquely perceived the same reality. While she might interpret their mother’s shouting as terror for their safety, her brother perceived it as anger. This stark contrast in emotional processing sparked a lifelong quest to understand how the brain constructs our perception of reality, normal versus abnormal cognitive function, and the cellular basis of human consciousness.

Prior to her stroke, Dr. Taylor viewed consciousness from a strict neuroanatomical perspective. She believed that every human capacity is mapped directly to specific brain cells and that even a single-celled organism possesses a fundamental form of consciousness, defined by its semipermeable membrane separating "self" from "other." In her view, the human body is a highly organized, multicellular culmination of various nested levels of consciousness operating in dynamic neural constellations. Climbing the academic ladder at Harvard Medical School and working under Nobel laureate David Hubel, she integrated her scientific rigor with her artistic passion, specializing in the visualization of cells, neurotransmitters, and neural relationships.

The Stroke: Experiencing Brain Death from the Inside Out

On December 10, 1996, at the age of 37, Dr. Taylor experienced a massive hemorrhagic stroke caused by a congenital arteriovenous malformation (AVM). An AVM is a rare malformation where high-pressure arteries connect directly to low-pressure veins without the buffering capacity of a capillary bed. These malformations typically rupture between the ages of 25 and 45. In Dr. Taylor's case, it had caused chronic, severe migraines since age 17—a symptom that permanently disappeared after surgical removal of the ruptured tissue.

Over the course of four hours, Dr. Taylor watched her own brain shut down:

• The Initial Pain: She woke up to a sharp, pounding pain behind her left eye and extreme light sensitivity.

• Dissolution of Boundaries: While exercising and taking a shower, she watched her motor coordination fail. The sound of running water became painfully amplified. Crucially, as the hemorrhage expanded into her left hemisphere, she lost the ability to define the boundaries of her physical body. Her arms and skin seemed to blend with the molecules of the shower wall, bringing about a state of profound sensory euphoria and boundaryless connection to the universe.

• Loss of Language and Panic: Her right arm became paralyzed, signaling a stroke. Attempting to make a phone call took 45 minutes of painstaking effort. By the time she connected with a colleague, her speech had degenerated into unintelligible, animal-like sounds (which she likened to a golden retriever's bark), though she believed she was speaking clearly.

• The Lack of Fear: Because the hemorrhage was drowning her left emotional brain (the seat of fear and anxiety), she felt no panic. Instead, she felt a profound, peaceful surrender, observing her cognitive collapse with scientific curiosity.

Her survival and recovery were miraculous. After a golf-ball-sized blood clot was surgically removed from her left hemisphere, she spent eight years fully rebuilding her brain. Guided by her mother, who treated her like an infant in an adult's body, she had to relearn colors, sounds, speech, vocabulary, and motor skills from scratch.

Stroke Warning Signs: The S.T.R.O.K.E. Acronym

To help the public quickly identify and respond to stroke symptoms, Dr. Taylor developed the acronym S.T.R.O.K.E.:

• S - Speech: Sudden difficulty speaking, understanding language, or producing coherent sounds.

• T - Tingling: Acute numbness or a tingling sensation, typically concentrated on one side of the body.

• R - Remembering: Sudden inability to recall basic information, such as a spouse's name, current location, or common facts.

• O - Off-balance: Sudden loss of coordination, difficulty walking, dropping limbs, or physical drooping on one side of the face or body.

• K - Killer Headache: A sudden, excruciating, throbbing, or pulsating headache, often localized to one side.

• E - Eyes: Sudden, dramatic changes or deficits in vision.

Prevention Strategies: Dr. Taylor emphasizes that stroke prevention requires maintaining healthy vascular pressure in the brain. The blood vessel walls in the brain are exceptionally thin and transparent. Chronic anger, stress, lack of sleep, and poor diet elevate internal vascular pressure, increasing the risk of rupture. Sleep is particularly critical, as it acts as a cellular flushing system where metabolic waste accumulated by active neurons is cleared.

The Four Brain Characters (Whole Brain Living)

Traditional neurology historically claimed that only the analytical left cerebral cortex is conscious, leaving the remaining parts of the brain classified as unconscious. Dr. Taylor's stroke dismantled this myth, revealing that the brain is divided into four distinct anatomical modules of cells—two emotional (limbic) and two thinking (cortical)—split between the left and right hemispheres. Each module houses a distinct personality or "Character" that influences our decisions, habits, and self-perception:

• Character 1: Left Thinking (The Analytical Brain):

• Attributes: Highly organized, logical, structured, and obsessed with details, language, planning, and linear time.

• Role: Focuses on identity, status, achievement, and maintaining control over the physical environment.

• Character 2: Left Emotional (The Protective/Reactive Brain):

• Attributes: Powered by memory, pain, past trauma, and fear.

• Role: Acts as a defensive scanner, projecting past negative experiences onto the present to protect us. It is the seat of the "imposter syndrome," anxiety, tribalism, and the exclusionary "us versus them" mentality (which underlies racism and social division).

• Character 3: Right Emotional (The Experiential/Playful Brain):

• Attributes: Playful, highly creative, sensory, physical, and deeply connected to the immediate present.

• Role: Seeks raw experiences, joy, laughter, and collective bonding without judgment of right or wrong.

• Character 4: Right Thinking (The Wise/Spiritual Brain):

• Attributes: Boundaryless, peaceful, compassionate, and deeply rooted in a sense of universal love and awe.

• Role: Acts as the internal observer, recognizing our connection to all of humanity and the universe, offering deep, calm, and unconditional reassurance ("I got you").

Generational Shifts in Cognitive Dominance

Dr. Taylor outlines how societal structures and technology have shaped the dominant brain hemispheres of different generations:

• The Greatest Generation & Baby Boomers: Historically dominated by the left hemisphere. Winning World War II and building post-war financial security required intense discipline, pragmatism, and left-brain organization. This fostered a zero-sum, transaction-focused economic model where financial profit and material security were valued above all else.

• Generation X: Technologically savvy and pragmatic, serving as a transitional group that built the digital tools we use today.

• Millennials & Gen Z: Increasingly right-brain dominant. Dr. Taylor traces this to developmental shifts, such as childhood exposure to interactive technology (e.g., Teddy Ruxpin) and visual learning systems (e.g., teaching arithmetic using pictures rather than rote memorization). Consequently, younger generations prioritize collective well-being, collaborative decision-making, ethical alignment, and human connection over pure corporate profit.

This generational friction is evident in modern workspaces. While Baby Boomers may struggle to understand a younger worker's willingness to quit a high-paying but unfulfilling job, Millennials and Gen Z find the traditional, profit-at-all-costs corporate grind alienating.

Actionable Strategies for Whole Brain Living

Dr. Taylor stresses that the goal of human evolution is not to abandon the left hemisphere for the right, but to practice "whole-brain living" by consciously integrating all four characters. She shares two key physiological rules to help individuals regain control of their minds:

• The 90-Second Rule: When an emotion is triggered, a chemical cascade is released by the brain, flushing through the body and runing its physiological course in less than 90 seconds. If an individual remains angry, anxious, or sad for longer than 90 seconds, they are making a conscious, often habitual choice to re-stimulate those neural loops. By simply pausing and watching the feeling dissipate, one can choose to exit the emotional reaction.

• Tapping into the Right Brain: To balance an overstimulated, stressed left brain, individuals must practice mindfulness. This includes physical exercise without competition, listening to music, breathing consciously, eating meals mindfully without digital distractions, and allowing oneself to play and create without an end goal.

Ultimately, Dr. Taylor suggests that our primary purpose as human beings is to love one another. By balancing analytical drive with deep empathy and systemic connection, humanity can move past its current state of geopolitical and cultural division toward mutual profit, peace, and holistic survival.

Transcript

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor: Brain cells are like people. We're social; they're social. A single cell can have 10,000 to 15,000 connections in a network with other neurons. Ten to fifteen thousand—that is a social network. Talk about influencers, boy, it's those brain cells.

Hala Taha: Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, a Harvard-trained neuroscientist, experienced the unthinkable. She witnessed her own brain shut down, moment by moment. Today's conversation will change how you understand your brain and how you use it.

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor: Running a business is very different than being an entrepreneur, especially in this day and age. Entrepreneurs have to have creativity. In order for you to do everything that you do, you have to have brain cells that perform that function. We have four major modules of cells inside of our head: two emotional—the right hemisphere and the left hemisphere—and then two thinking—the right thinking and the left thinking. The value of the right hemisphere says, "I care about people." Creativity is in the right hemisphere. It is that left emotional brain that looks at someone and says, "You're different from me. I'm going to push you away." We are skewed to the values of the left hemisphere.

Hala Taha: When you were 37, you had a stroke. It took you about 45 minutes or longer to realize that you were having a stroke, and you were somebody who studied the brain. How can we know if we're having the symptoms of a stroke, and what do we do immediately when we feel those symptoms?

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor: So, the warning signs. Here are the warning signs. I use S-T-R-O-K-E to help people remember. S stands for—

Hala Taha: Hey, YAPfam. Welcome back to another amazing episode. Today's conversation will change how you understand your brain and how you use it. Our guest is Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, a Harvard-trained neuroscientist who experienced the unthinkable. At just 37 years old, she suffered a massive stroke and witnessed her own brain shut down, moment by moment.

That life-altering experience became the foundation for Whole Brain Living, a powerful framework that reveals the four distinct characters inside your brain that shape your thoughts, emotions, habits, and decisions. Once you learn to recognize them, you'll gain the ability to consciously choose clarity over chaos, intention over reaction, and calm over stress.

We're going to be covering this extensively in today's conversation. But first, if you're new here, hit that follow button so you never miss a dose of wisdom.

Dr. Jill, welcome to the Young and Profiting podcast.

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor: I am so happy to be with you. Thank you.

Hala Taha: Likewise, I'm so excited. I love talking about the brain. I love understanding the brain more. As entrepreneurs, we're using our minds every day, and we need to make sure that we're optimizing our minds and our productivity. So, I am very excited for this conversation today.

Something that really made me curious when I was researching you, Dr. Jill, and was really eye-opening, is that you were actually studying the brain before you had this traumatic stroke. When I had heard about you in the past, I thought that you had a stroke and then you got interested in the brain. But it turns out you were actually studying the brain long before you had your accident, which I want to hear all about.

But first, talk to us about why you decided to study the brain. What were you curious about? What were the kind of questions that you were trying to solve when you were initially starting out as a scientist and researcher?

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor: Thank you. Yes, I have a brother who is 18 months older than I am, and he would eventually be diagnosed with the brain disorder schizophrenia. As a child, I just noticed that this guy and I were completely different in the way we interpreted our experiences.

For example, if we were out playing kickball, and the ball goes flying out into the yard, and my mom is on the stoop, and all of a sudden she jumps up and she's screaming at us. I interpreted that as terror—she was afraid her kids were going to get killed if we ran out into the street. But my brother interpreted her hollering as anger. That is a fundamental difference when we are not understanding and perceiving people's emotions in the same way.

So, I became really fascinated with what the differences were between me and my brother, and what was going on. It had to be at the level of the brain, because biologically, he is the closest thing to me that exists in the universe. I became fascinated with body language, social relations, vocal languaging, and what I am as a human being. I was just fascinated with what I am as a living being.

That caught my attention, and then as I got older, I really became fascinated with how our brain creates our perception of reality. What is normal, and what is not normal? I grew up to be a neuroanatomist. I study the brain at a cellular level, because fundamentally, I figured the differences between me and my brother were going to be in the way our brains wired themselves.

Hala Taha: Something I really want to dig deep on is the fact that you were studying what our reality is. What is perception? How do we perceive reality and consciousness itself? Talk to us about how you thought consciousness worked before you had your accident.

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor: Oh, that's a big question. I believed that every ability we have is because we have brain cells that perform that function. To me, the single-celled organism is life—that is the miracle. We just happen to be a bunch of cells stuck together for multicellular life, which is also fantastic. But I was fascinated with the single-celled organism.

How did the universe create a bunch of atoms and molecules that work together in order to become a blueprint for a living entity? That living entity is defined by having a boundary, a cellular membrane that is semipermeable. Things exist outside in the universe beyond that membrane, and then that membrane allows some things in, giving it a perception of its environment.

So, I was very cellular; I was very anatomical. My perception of consciousness was: I do believe that a single cell has a consciousness. It's, of course, not like ours, but I believe it still has an awareness of the difference between itself and that which is outside of itself.

Hala Taha: And you believed this before your accident—that each individual cell had its own consciousness? That's so interesting. Why did you believe that?

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor: Well, because what is life? To me, the difference is in the universe's ability to put all the atoms and molecules in the right formation in order to come up with genetic material. That genetic material then becomes something, which is ultimately nothing other than atoms and molecules. I don't believe that we have the physical construct of a human body and then consciousness suddenly happens to us. I think that we are a culmination of consciousness.

We have different levels of consciousness, and different parts of our brain work together in constellations of skill sets that then end up looking like separate consciousnesses, which also end up looking like different personalities. I always had that construct, but I was focused on working in the lab. I was teaching and performing neuroanatomy in the gross anatomy cadaver lab. I loved my life, and I loved what I was doing. I had that same thinking pattern, really focused at a cellular level on the differences between my brain and my brother's brain.

Hala Taha: One last question before we get into your accident and what happened: who were you back then? Who was Jill back then? How did you self-identify and define success?

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor: I was climbing the Harvard ladder. I had my PhD in neuroanatomy, and my first post-doc was at Harvard Medical School. I grew up in Indiana, and once I got my PhD, I went to Harvard for my post-doc. I was studying in the lab of David Hubel, a Nobel laureate. It was a very alpha personality—go, go, go, let's achieve.

From David Hubel's lab, I moved from the Department of Neurobiology to the Harvard Department of Psychiatry because I wanted to focus my basic science research on schizophrenia and what the differences were at a neuroanatomical level. I was climbing the Harvard ladder, doing what a girl had to do.

But I was also an artist in my heart, and I chose neuroscience to make a living. When I went to the labs, I said to all of my mentors, "I'm an artist in my heart, so give me projects that you care about that have an aesthetic component to the science." That meant the visualization of cells, neurotransmitters, and the relationships between them. It allowed me to make beautiful art and learn new things in the lab at the same time.

Hala Taha: So, you got to combine both passions, which is great.

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor: Yeah.

Hala Taha: When you were 37, you had a stroke. Take us back to the morning of the day that it happened. What were some of the initial things that you realized were happening? What did you think was happening in the moment, and how did things unfold?

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor: First of all, I'm a PhD. I am a scientist. Of course, I had learned neurology and studied stroke at a cellular level, as well as dementia and all kinds of neurological trauma. But I was a scientist, a lab rat; I was not an MD or a practicing clinical neurologist.

When I woke up on the morning of December 10, 1996, as soon as I sat up, I had a major pounding pain behind my left eye. It was very unusual for me to experience any kind of pain. I was generally very healthy, knock on wood. But I had this pounding pain, so I thought, "Okay, I'm going to exercise and get my blood flowing, and hopefully I will feel better."

I got up, but as soon as I stood up, I realized that the light coming in through the windows was really burning my eyes. It was uncomfortable. So, I closed the blinds. I got on my Cardio Glide—it was a full-body exercise machine back in the '90s. I was jamming away on this thing, and I looked down at my hands, and they literally looked like primitive claws grasping onto the bar. I thought, "Wow, that is unusual."

The pounding kept going, and I just looked at myself. It was as though I was observing myself having this experience instead of actually being inside the body having the experience. The pounding in my head just wasn't getting any better, so I thought, "Okay, enough of exercise."

I decided to take a shower, because at this point, I was still planning on heading to work. I started walking across my living room, and every step was rigid. It was as though I was having to actively tell my legs to move: Move. Coordinate. Move.

As I was getting into the shower, lifting my leg, there was literally this conversation going on inside of my body: Okay, you muscles, contract. You muscles, relax. I lost my balance while in the shower. I leaned up against the wall and turned the water on. I pulled out the nozzle, and when the water hit the tub, the volume was so amplified that it literally knocked me backward. It was like raw energy just knocked me over.

I was leaning up against the wall, looking at my arm, and I realized I could no longer define the boundaries of where I began and where I ended. I felt like atoms and molecules blending with the atoms and molecules of the wall.

About this time, your audience is probably thinking, "Man, this sounds like some kind of a psychedelic trip—psilocybin, maybe." Having not had that experience, I can't speak to it directly. But if you've ever had a similar experience, it is the dissolving of the boundaries of where we begin and where we end as a biological creature. Because we are this massive conglomeration of cells and the energy of the life of those cells. A group of cells in that left hemisphere, right where the hemorrhage was happening, had gone completely offline. Because of that, I could no longer define the boundaries of where my body ended.

Eventually, I got out of the shower, went into my bedroom, and mechanically dressed myself. I just somehow got dressed. Then I asked myself, "Can I drive? Can I drive?" In that instant, my right arm went totally paralyzed by my side. That was the moment I realized, "Oh my gosh, paralysis. A warning sign of stroke. Oh my god, I'm having a stroke."

The very next thing my brain said was, "Wow, this is so cool! How many brain scientists have the opportunity to study their own brain from the inside out?" That alpha personality was saying, "Okay, we're having a stroke. We'll do this for a few weeks, learn what we can learn, and then we'll go back to work."

After that, it took about 45 minutes for me to actually figure out how to make a phone call and get help.

Hala Taha: Wow, what a powerful story. I really want to dive into what was happening neurologically, but I'm also very curious: could you have prevented this stroke to begin with? Do you feel like there's anything you could have done to prevent this, or that we can do to prevent the same thing happening to us?

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor: Well, there are different kinds of stroke. There are two primary types of stroke. One is hemorrhagic, which is when blood vessels rupture and blood seeps out into the brain tissue. That was the kind of stroke I had. Specifically, I had what we call an arteriovenous malformation (AVM).

Essentially, you have an artery, which is a high-pressure system, coming in. Usually, it tapers down to a very small capillary space where red blood cells line up, and then at the other end, it connects to a low-pressure vein that absorbs fluid to take deoxygenated blood back to the heart. In my case, I had a congenital malformation where an artery was directly connected to a vein without the capillary network to neutralize the pressure. These blood vessels usually rupture between the ages of 25 and 45. I was 37 at the time.

So, no, I did not know it was there, and there was nothing I could do about it unless someone had given me an MRI and said, "Oh, Jill, we have a problem." We do that now, but back then in 1996, we weren't routinely giving people MRIs.

However, I had been diagnosed with migraine headaches at the age of 17—20 years before this thing ruptured. I have not had a single migraine since I had the surgery to remove the malformation. If there is someone in your audience who experiences chronic migraine headaches, and none of the current medications—which are actually excellent for migraines—help, I highly encourage them to go get a scan. Go get your brain looked at to see what's actually going on inside of your head. Knowing if you have an organic vascular problem is incredibly important.

Hala Taha: Yes, being preventative. Now, like you said, MRIs are widely available. Immediately when you said that, I thought of a person in my life who always gets migraines. I need to tell them to go get an MRI scan.

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor: If the medications don't work, then absolutely, you want to go and see what else might be going on inside. I have had people write to me and say, "I heard you give this advice on a podcast, and it saved my life." Who knows who we can positively influence out there?

Hala Taha: Absolutely. One more question: it took you about 45 minutes or longer to realize that you were having a stroke, and you were someone who literally studied the brain. How can we know if we are having the symptoms of a stroke, and what should we do immediately when we feel those symptoms?

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor: The most typical type of stroke happens when a blood clot is thrown somewhere in your body and travels up into the blood vessels of the brain. Because those brain arteries get smaller and smaller as they taper, the blood clot eventually blocks the flow of blood. That is called an ischemic stroke.

To help people remember the warning signs of a stroke, I use the acronym S-T-R-O-K-E:

• S stands for Speech: If you suddenly have any problems with language—either formulating words or understanding them. If you try to speak and what comes out is garbled or makes no sense, even if you can still hear the correct language in your head, that is a huge warning sign.

• T stands for Tingling or Numbness: Usually, this occurs on only one side of the body, though not all the time. Pay close attention to what is going on with your limbs and how they feel.

• R is for Remembering: All of a sudden, are you experiencing an acute problem with memory? For example, suddenly forgetting your spouse's name, where you are, or basic details. This is not like forgetting where you parked your car, which is common; it is a sudden, major cognitive lapse.

• O is for Off-balance: If you suddenly feel very off-balance. Often, one side of the body or one side of the face will droop. You might find yourself dragging a leg or experiencing sudden paralysis in an arm.

• K stands for Killer Headache: This is a throbbing, pulsating, intense headache—like the intense ice cream brain-freeze pain, but severe. It is a major warning sign, usually on one side of the head.

• E stands for Eyes: Sudden, major problems with your vision.

A stroke happens quickly—boom. What can you do to help prevent it? Pay attention to what you are eating, because food makes a massive difference.

Also, how much sleep are you getting? Sleep is the time period when the incoming stream of sensory information shuts down. This is when brain cells turn on their garbage collection system, and fluid flushes out all the cellular waste. Your brain is made of roughly 86 billion neurons that are constantly communicating, consuming energy, and creating waste while you are awake. When we go to sleep, the system is flushed.

How stressful is your life? The stress circuitry is a constant "go, go, go, do, do, do" loop. It tells us: "I reached a goal, I'll celebrate for a second, and now I want more." There is always this driving force of the left brain that wants more.

We can manage this stress. Our vulnerability to vascular injury is high because if you look at a human brain, you can actually see the blood inside the vessels because the blood vessel walls are incredibly thin and transparent. When we get angry, hold in rage, experience deep fear, or feel out of control, that high emotional state directly impacts the internal pressure system of the brain. That is simply not healthy for the biological organism.

Hala Taha: Such good tips. I feel like that is so helpful. I want to go back to your story. Suddenly, you found yourself with awareness but without any physical control. You were witnessing your own brain shutting down. What happened next?

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor: What was really interesting to me was experiencing how the two hemispheres of the brain process information in completely different ways.

The left hemisphere houses our language centers. Language is the ability to take a sound—like the word "dog"—and associate a specific meaning and comprehension to that sound. It allows us to read, write, perform mathematics, and speak multiple languages. The left hemisphere is a very, very busy place.

Because my hemorrhage was in my left hemisphere, those circuits began to go offline. When they did, I would drift into the consciousness of the present moment. The right hemisphere is a "right here, right now" processor. It is entirely focused on the present moment.

In the present moment, my name doesn't exist—that information is housed in the left hemisphere. The physical boundaries of where I begin and end are also in the left hemisphere. Right here, right now, there is only the richness of the immediate sensory experience. And in that state, it feels like pure euphoria. It is beautiful, because there is no judgment of what is right, wrong, good, or bad. It's just, "Wow, I am alive."

On the morning of the stroke, I waffled back and forth between the two hemispheres. I went from being in the present moment thinking, "Oh my gosh, I'm alive!" to shifting back to the left brain thinking, "Oh my gosh, I'm having a problem. I need to get help."

Eventually, I was able to make a phone call and get help. But by the time help arrived, I had lost all language. I could no longer speak. To myself, I thought I sounded like a golden retriever barking, and the person on the other end of the line also sounded like a golden retriever to me. Fortunately, he recognized my voice, realized something was terribly wrong, and did what he needed to do to get me help.

Hala Taha: So, you felt like you were barking?

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor: Yes, in my mind, the communication made no sense.

Hala Taha: Were you afraid at this time? Did you feel fear?

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor: No, I did not. I was very fortunate that the cells in the emotional portion of my left brain—where fear, anxiety, and trauma are processed—were swimming in a pool of blood as well. My fear center was offline. I was completely fine, and I didn't really care.

The right hemisphere doesn't care about those things; it thinks life is great and peaceful. I was motivated to save myself, but I had no linear information to attach myself to normal reality or organize my rescue.

As I waffled between the two hemispheres, I knew I was in grave danger. Right after I finally managed to make the phone call, I dragged myself down the stairs, unlocked the front door, and curled up into a little fetal ball on the floor. I heard a voice inside my own mind saying, "Hold on. Hold on." And I remember thinking, "What am I holding on to? What does that even mean?"

It meant: Don't leave the body. Over the course of four hours, I had become so profoundly disabled that I was afraid if I went unconscious, I would never be able to make this body work again. In the consciousness of the right hemisphere, I felt energetically as large as the universe, because we are energy, and there are no boundaries in energy. When you are connected to all that is, there are no small details or fear of death.

Hala Taha: You just knew that if you left your body, you wouldn't be coming back.

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor: I felt like I would be gone.

Hala Taha: What happened next in terms of your recovery? How did you get better, what did you learn, and how did you realize there are "four characters" in the brain?

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor: As I was passing out, I was in an ambulance arriving at the Massachusetts General Hospital emergency room. I felt my spirit surrender; at that point, I had no say. I was gone.

Within moments, they took my gurney into the emergency room under bright lights. People were poking and prodding me, setting up IVs, and handing me a consent form to sign. I remember thinking, "What is wrong with you people?" They had to take my hand and help me make a scribble on the page.

They gave me anti-inflammatories and steroids, and they already had a CAT scan from the first hospital showing the hemorrhage. Because I worked at Harvard, they recognized me as a colleague, so I received incredible care. They stopped the bleeding, and two and a half weeks later, they performed major brain surgery. They cut my head open and removed a blood clot the size of a golf ball.

They sewed me up, sent me home, and told my family, "We have no idea how much of her function she will ever get back. Her job now is to try to recover."

I have a mother who is an absolute angel. She dropped everything in her life to come take care of me. She surrounded me with an environment of love, watching to see what I could learn and what was blocking my progress. She recognized that I was essentially an infant in a woman's body.

At first, I couldn't even see color. She had to teach me what colors were. She had to teach me how to make sounds to produce language, rebuild my vocabulary, and teach me how to walk. She taught me everything. She raised me twice.

Hala Taha: Wow. What did this experience teach you about consciousness? A lot of us don't think about consciousness at all—it's just something that is. Explain to us, simply, what you believe consciousness actually is.

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor: Let's start with a single cell. That single cell contains the entire DNA blueprint required to multiply and differentiate into all the different kinds of cells that make up the body.

Initially, you have three layers of cells: the ectoderm, which becomes the nervous system (brain, spinal cord, peripheral nerves) and the skin; the mesoderm, which becomes the muscles; and the endoderm, which becomes the connective tissues and internal organs. All of this is made of highly differentiated groups of cells.

Eventually, we end up with this magnificent human brain. The brain is divided into two hemispheres. The primary evolutionary difference between a reptile and a mammal is the addition of our emotional limbic system. Reptiles do not have complex emotions; mammals do. And the primary difference between typical mammals and humans is the massive explosion of our thinking cerebral cortex.

We humans have four major modules of cells inside our heads: two emotional modules (divided between the right and left hemispheres of the limbic system) and two thinking modules (divided between the right and left cerebral cortex). Most of us have heard the pop-psychology myth that "the right hemisphere is emotional and the left hemisphere is analytical." Anatomically, that is simply not true. We have both emotional and thinking modules in both hemispheres.

The primary difference for me when I lost my left hemisphere was that I lost linear time. The right hemisphere is entirely a "right here, right now" machine. The emotional component of the right hemisphere processes the raw, physical experience of the present moment—what it feels like to be alive, to sit, to walk, to feel the temperature of the air, or to feel the water against your skin. The right thinking module is also entirely rooted in the present. If you are purely in the right hemisphere, only what is directly in front of you exists; the past and the future do not exist, and neither does your name or language. It is a state of deep gratitude, love, and connection to all that is, beyond the physical limitations of the self.

By contrast, the left hemisphere steps completely out of the present moment. If I ask you, "Hala, what did you have for dinner last night?"

Hala Taha: I had Asian food.

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor: Exactly. Where did you go in your mind to remember that? You don't have that Asian food right in front of you. You had to step out of the present moment and leave me here alone to access a different consciousness that runs in your background.

The beauty of the left emotional brain is that it acts as a catalog of everything you have ever experienced. It is constantly running to help you navigate and survive. If the ground suddenly started to shake right now, your brain would say, "Earthquake! I need to get out of this building." That emotional reactivity is designed to protect you in the present moment based on threat data from your past.

So, we are running four distinct consciousnesses:

• Right Emotional: The raw, physical, sensory experience of the present moment.

• Right Thinking: The peaceful, wise, boundaryless observer connected to the universe.

• Left Emotional: The protective scanner that uses past memories and fears to keep us safe.

• Left Thinking: The analytical, logical, detail-oriented coordinator that plans, organizes, and speaks.

When we understand all four of these characters, we gain the power to choose who and how we want to be in any given moment. That is true personal power.

Hala Taha: This is fascinating. I've only ever heard of the classic "left brain versus right brain" concept. Let's bust some common pop-psychology myths about the brain. What do we need to know?

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor: The biggest myth is that we only use 10% of our brain. No, if a brain cell is alive, you are using it.

Consider this: for an entrepreneur to do everything they do, they have to use diverse groups of brain cells. Some people say, "Oh, I'm not creative at all." But creativity is a function of the right hemisphere because it operates outside the box of what is "right, wrong, good, or bad"—which is the domain of the left brain.

Brain cells are highly social. A single neuron can have 10,000 to 15,000 connections forming a massive social network. The same is true for humans; we are social creatures. If we don't socialize, we become rigid, set in our ways, and emotionally decline. The same thing happens to neurons.

Another major myth is that the right brain is purely emotional and the left is purely analytical. As I mentioned, we have emotional and thinking processing centers in both hemispheres.

Hala Taha: Let's talk about how the left and right sides of the brain uniquely perceive reality.

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor: According to traditional medicine, only one-quarter of our brain is considered "conscious," and that is the left thinking tissue. Look at the state of the world—it's a bit of a mess because we almost exclusively value that one portion of our brain.

Imagine the world we could live in if we stopped treating the other three-quarters of our brain as unconscious and out of our control. Whole-brain living is about recognizing which parts of your brain you are using, deciding if you are balanced, and choosing when to activate different circuits.

If your left analytical circuitry is running all the time, that is your stress circuitry. It can interfere with your sleep, your health, and your relationships. We are not single-celled organisms, reptiles, or simple mammals. We are human beings, and we have these four wonderful groups of cells designed to serve us. To be a whole, successful human, we need to utilize the skill sets of all four characters.

Hala Taha: Just to recap the four characters for our listeners so we are all on the same page:

• Left Thinking: Identity, planning, control, organization, and achievement.

• Left Emotional: Pain, fear, trauma, and memory.

• Right Emotional: Play, creativity, and connection.

• Right Thinking: Witness, wisdom, peace, and universal love.

Let's talk about how these four characters specifically influence an entrepreneur.

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor: Running an established business is very different from being a creative entrepreneur, though there is a lot of overlap today.

If you operate solely from the left thinking brain, you focus strictly on the physical brand, the product, the logistics, and the finances—you hire "bean counters" to watch the money. But if you want to grow, you also have to hire a creative team. The creative team might terrify the left brain because they don't look at strict historical data. Instead, they operate on intuition, saying, "If a customer shops for this, they will reach for this package design over that one." The left brain panics because that requires changing production based on a feeling. All of life is this dynamic relationship between the right and left hemispheres.

Entrepreneurs must have right-brain creativity. You might be relaxed, letting your mind wander, and suddenly—boom—you get a brilliant idea. But if you don't act on that idea, it just goes back into the collective ether. To bring it to life, you have to turn on your left brain. You have to organize it, get funding, plan steps A through Z, and figure out how to sell it.

Along the way, you have to manage your left emotional brain, which might trigger imposter syndrome: "Who am I to start a company? I don't know what I'm doing. How do I know who to trust?" Firing someone or managing team conflict can be terrifying for that emotional center.

This is where you need your right thinking brain—your vision and wisdom. It steps in and reminds you: "You can do this. You have good intentions, excellent logical skills, and emotional strength. You are not alone."

When the left emotional fear says, "Who am I to do this?", the wise, loving right thinking character can step in and say, "I've got you." That isn't arrogance or narcissism; it is healthy self-awareness. Fear is meant to be temporary information, not a permanent lifestyle. It is a warning to look at the bigger picture, find your balance, and keep moving forward.

Hala Taha: Would you say that modern society is heavily left-brain dominant? What part of the brain do we need to understand and tap into to help solve our current global crises? It feels like the world is constantly facing conflict, war, and deep division. Why are we so skewed to the left brain, and how can we change that?

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor: You are absolutely right. We are heavily skewed to the values of the left hemisphere, and this has been dominant for a very long time.

After World War II, the "Greatest Generation" focused on prosperity and stability. They valued family (right brain), but also focused heavily on building roots, the American Dream, owning a home, saving money, and buying nice cars (left brain). Because the U.S. played a decisive role in ending the war with the atomic bomb, it positioned itself as a dominant global power. The system naturally became highly disciplined, organized, pragmatic, and left-brain dominant.

The Baby Boomers inherited this left-brain focus from their parents, who wanted them to have everything. Then, the Boomers had Millennials and Gen Z.

Technologically, a major shift occurred. Think about the creation of early interactive toys, like Teddy Ruxpin in the '80s. It was one of the first times we put a talking, simulated creature into a child's crib to soothe them. Gen X came along as technologically savvy creators, building the digital world.

When we taught the older generations math, we made them memorize timetables: two times two is four, six times six is thirty-six. That is pure, rote left-brain training. But for Millennials and Gen Z, we introduced visual concepts: "Two chickens plus two goats equals four animals." We gave them a visual, which actively trained their right brains.

As a result, younger generations are much more right-brain oriented. They value collective collaboration, group decision-making, and alignment with their personal values over pure corporate loyalty. A Boomer might stay at a job they hate for 40 years just for a paycheck, while a Millennial or Gen Zer will leave a toxic or unfulfilling job immediately because they prioritize their mental and emotional well-being.

Because of this shift, younger generations are more naturally collaborative and group-focused. However, they are still trying to fit themselves into an older corporate structure that prioritizes pure left-brain, zero-sum financial profit.

Hala Taha: That explains so much about the shifting political and cultural dynamics we see today.

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor: Let's look at how this plays out politically.

The value structure of the right hemisphere cares deeply about people, social programs, food security, mental health support, and rehabilitation. It is inclusive.

The left brain focus, particularly the left emotional center, is tribal. It says, "There is a 'me' and a 'you.' If you don't look like me, sound like me, or belong to my tribe, you are a threat." This tribalism is fueled by politics, sports, and nationalism.

When the left emotional brain looks at someone of a different race or culture, it says, "You are different, so I am going to push you away." And when we push others away through racism or bias, our left brain naturally attempts to elevate itself as superior to justify the exclusion.

By contrast, when the right hemisphere encounters someone different, it says, "Oh, you are different! You have different skin, speak a different language, and eat different food. I am curious about you; I want to know you better."

Racism and division really boil down to which neural circuits we are choosing to run.

Hala Taha: Do we have conscious control over which parts of our brain we use? Is our brain dominance something we are born with, or is it programmed in childhood? Can we consciously change it as adults?

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor: Because society and traditional medicine have taught us that only our left thinking brain is conscious, we grow up assuming the other three-quarters of our brain is an untouchable "unconscious" black box.

But during my stroke, my left thinking brain, my left emotional brain, and my right emotional brain were completely wiped out. All I had left was my right thinking tissue. I had to live entirely in that consciousness.

As I recovered and slowly regained my right emotional tissue, I realized that was a completely different state of awareness. To function in society again, I had to deliberately rebuild my language and analytical circuits in my left hemisphere. I literally used my intact right hemisphere to rebuild the neural pathways in my left hemisphere.

Because of that experience, I learned how to consciously choose which part of my brain to activate. In an instant, I can choose to be highly analytical, playful and creative, or quiet my mind to connect with the present moment.

My TED Talk about this experience went viral in 2008, and I was named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people because people recognized the profound implications of this concept. My book, My Stroke of Insight, spent 63 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.

I realized that while people walked away with a reverence for my story, my actual goal was for them to develop a deep reverence for their own minds. There is nothing wrong with capitalism or money, but that represents only one-quarter of who we are. It shouldn't dictate our entire existence. Our greatest power as human beings lies in our present-moment relationships with ourselves and one another.

Hala Taha: We have about ten minutes left, so let's focus on how we can practically use the right side of our brain. How do we catch ourselves when we are stuck in our left brain, and how do we build the habits to tap into our right brain? Hala, what do you personally do for fun?

Hala Taha: I like to work out, go out to dinner, go to the movies, and spend time with my boyfriend.

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor: Working out gets you into your body, which is excellent for activating the right hemisphere's experiential processing.

But if you are doing yoga, holding a pose, and simultaneously planning a business call or analyzing a problem, that does not count. You have to bring your mind completely into the present moment.

If you are doing something physical, be completely physical. Listen to the music, feel the movement of your muscles, and get your entire body awake. If your physical activity is always highly competitive, you are still operating out of your left brain.

Enjoy the simple fact that you have a physical body that can move. Play, laugh, have joy, and be creative without needing a specific business purpose.

Your left analytical brain might hear this and think, "What a total waste of time!" But you need to realize that your creative genius lives in that right-brain tissue. The left brain is the coordinator—it wants to do, plan, build, and check things off a list. But your raw genius lives in the present moment, where you can look at the world with fresh eyes and see new possibilities.

When you eat, actually taste your food. Don't eat while watching a movie, scrolling on your phone, or standing up. Take a pause from the constant "go, go, go."

If the pause feels uncomfortable to you, start small—just try it for five seconds. Focus entirely on your breath. This is why breathwork and yoga are so powerful; breathing only happens in the present moment.

Allow yourself to feel a sense of spiritual awe that you exist at all. Think about the absolute miracle of your physical body—your eyes, your voice, your hands, even your internal organs. Be grateful that you are here in this world.

It is the same feeling of awe you get standing on a mountaintop looking out over a vast horizon, or standing on a beach watching the ocean. It reminds you: "I am alive, and I have this brief window of time to exist in this form. How do I want to connect? How can I bring gratitude into my daily life?"

When you operate from that space of appreciation, you can consciously choose how much time and energy you want to spend in your busy left hemisphere. This is not about being solely right-brained or left-brained; it is about being a whole, integrated human being.

Hala Taha: After everything you have lived through, what is the most important thing you want people to understand about who they really are?

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor: I want people to understand that every single ability we have is made possible by living brain cells, and this brain is an incredibly precious, vulnerable organ. Please take care of it.

We live in a society where people regularly use drugs and alcohol that disrupt their brain function. I lost my mind and so much of my brain tissue, and I had to work incredibly hard for eight years to rebuild it. Now, I might drink a beer twice a year, and that is plenty for me. I want to protect what is going on inside my head.

If people truly value the unique skill sets of all four characters, they will see that they can live their lives with real intention and choose who they want to be in any given moment. To me, that is true freedom.

Hala Taha: I totally agree. This was an absolutely incredible episode. Personally, I learned so much about the distinct differences between the left and right hemispheres. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom.

I always end my show with two final questions. First, what is one actionable thing our listeners can do today to become more profiting tomorrow? Given your expertise, it can be directly related to the brain.

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor: Since your entrepreneurial audience spends most of their time engaged in the intense, analytical work of the left brain, my actionable tip is to regularly pause throughout the day and ask yourself: "Which of the four characters am I operating from right now? Is this where I want to be, or do I want to make a different choice?"

This is especially helpful when you become upset. When an emotion is triggered, the chemical cascade released by your brain takes less than 90 seconds to completely flush through your body. If you remain angry, sad, or jealous for longer than 90 seconds, you are making a biological choice to keep re-stimulating that loop.

Ask yourself: "Do I really want to stay in this negative loop, or am I ready to let it go?"

Hala Taha: I love that. It is all about stepping outside of your immediate reaction. What is your secret to profiting in life? This can go far beyond finances and business.

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor: I truly believe that our number one job as human beings is to love one another. If we approach life with the mindset that our energy should benefit all of us collectively, then we all profit.

Hala Taha: Dr. Jill, thank you so much for your time. Where can our audience go to learn more about you and your work?

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor: My website is DrJillTaylor.com. Thank you so much, Hala. I was really looking forward to this.

Hala Taha: Likewise! What an incredible conversation with Dr. Jill. I'm still processing everything we learned today about the brain and consciousness.

We covered so much ground. I study productivity and performance constantly, but Dr. Jill showed me that we've been missing three-quarters of the picture. We've been conditioned to think only our left brain is active, leaving us running on a single cylinder when we have four powerful characters inside our heads.

Your creative genius is not hiding in your endless to-do list. It lives in your right hemisphere—in play, presence, and purposeless creativity. When you are grinding through your day, checking off tasks and analyzing metrics, you are stuck in that left-brain loop.

When you pause, get into your physical body, and actually taste your food instead of scrolling through emails, that is when your mental breakthroughs happen. When the left emotional fear of imposter syndrome kicks in, tap into your right thinking wisdom that says, "I've got you. You can do this." That is whole-brain living.

To my fellow entrepreneurs: your drive and ambition are beautiful, but they are only one-quarter of who you are. The real magic happens when you balance that hustle with presence, play, and genuine human connection. Get out of your head and into your body.

Also, please remember the warning signs of a stroke: speech problems, tingling, memory issues, balance trouble, severe headaches, and vision changes. If you suffer from chronic migraines that don't respond to medication, please go get an MRI scan. Your brain is precious—protect it.

If this conversation opened your eyes to a new way of thinking about consciousness and success, please share it with someone who needs to hear this message. And if you learned something valuable today, please drop us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Castbox.

You can also watch the video version of this episode on YouTube by searching "Young and Profiting." Connect with me on Instagram @yapwithhala or on LinkedIn.

A big shout-out to my incredible YAP production team. Thank you for all your hard work. This is your host, Hala Taha, AKA the Podcast Princess, signing off. Go out there and start profiting!