Episode 81: Your Four Brains with Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor

Aug 12

What if you could live in the present moment, create unity with all the parts of who you are, and experience emotions without numbing them out?

On today’s episode of Euphoric The Podcast, Karolina welcomes Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor. A neuro-anatomist, Dr. Jill breaks down the four different characters that make up our brain. Tune in as she talks about her new book, Whole Brain Living, and gives us an illuminating understanding of the functions and characters of our brains--that she learned firsthand from experiencing a stroke--and how we can find more peace and happiness today.

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor is a Harvard trained and published neuroanatomist, a New York Times bestselling author, and deemed one of the top 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine in 2008. This is a fascinating conversation that you don’t want to miss!

Understanding our brains and becoming acquainted with our left hemisphere.

Dr. Jill has spent much of her life studying neuroanatomy. At the age of 37, her studies became her reality when she woke up experiencing a stroke. In the aftermath of it all, she experienced a state of presence unlike anything she had ever known before; a beautiful sense of connectivity and universal oneness.

So what was happening for Dr. Jill to access this otherworldly experience?

The brain has two different hemispheres, left and right. Dr. Jill describes the left side as our language center. As a result of her stroke, this part of her brain became quiet, allowing greater access to her right hemisphere. And the best part? We all have the ability to access this experience of connection and unity!

Our left and right hemispheres each have an emotion center and a thinking center. In her bestselling book Whole Brain Living (one of my favorite books I read this year), Dr. Jill breaks these different parts down into characters:

Character One, the left side of our thinking center, is our ego. This is represented by the classic Type A personality. Think organization, structure, and to-do lists. This part of you puts something in a specific place because you know you’ll find it there later. Character One is about creating order out of chaos.

Character Two is the emotion center of the left hemisphere. This part of your brain is connected to trauma and pain. It is also the part of you that experiences cravings and is the reactive side of you. If you perceive pain or a threat, this part pushes it away and tries to eliminate those experiences. This character is looking for safety.

Have you ever found yourself caught up in rigid thinking, stress, and overwhelm because of obligations? Do you then turn to alcohol to bring you some relief? After drinking do you feel shame, guilt, regret? It’s not uncommon to fall into a cycle of switching between Character One and Two, which can also become a very traumatizing way to navigate life.

Finding joy in the present moment and living uninhibited.

The right hemisphere of our brain focuses on embodying the present moment. This part doesn’t know where our body ends and where the world begins and as a result, it feels a sense of connection to something greater than self.

Character Three is our right side emotion center. This part of our brain operates without limits. It is free and uninhibited, not bound by society’s rules. This side is present, connected to others, experiences joy, and taps into creativity. Character Three is about working with others in community, caring for others, and understanding that we are all united.

Character Four is the thinking center of our right hemisphere. Functioning without limits, this is the unique part of humans that experience gratitude and appreciation. This is the part of you that asks, “Who do I want to be in this world?”, “What impact do I want to have?” With character four, you can observe your emotions and your experiences with curiosity.

These two characters are about possibility, dreaming, and living without limits. If you're drawing a picture, the left side of your brain expects the grass to be green, but the right side might feel inspired to make it pink. Have you ever found yourself laughing uncontrollably without any care if anyone hears you? Or running through a field of wildflowers for the simple joy of it? In these moments, you’re accessing your characters Three and Four.

Empowering your whole brain with a 90 second reset.

Understanding these four characters is an incredibly empowering tool that will bring you clarity on why and how we respond the way we do in different situations.

So what do you do when you are feeling emotions, and you find your Two chiming in? Maybe you feel the desire to numb out with alcohol. Dr. Jill shares her 90 second reset tip.

When we get emotionally triggered, our feelings show up in a ninety second circuit. As the incredible thinking and emotional beings we are, we have the unique ability to observe our feelings.

What does this mean?

If you feel an emotion coming on, before defaulting to alcohol, try to observe it, noticing that it’s there. Remember that the circuit will completely run its course in just a minute and a half.

Then you are on the other side of that discomfort!

Not only that, but we have the ability to create new circuits and new ways of responding to triggering situations. As you observe your responses to emotions, get familiar with your characters and try the 90 second reset. It may seem scary, but remind yourself that it’s just 90 seconds. Allow yourself to feel everything fully and recognize what it’s trying to teach you. You will begin experiencing welcoming feelings and gain the power to let them go after they run their circuit.

So how do you start getting to know your characters more? Dr. Jill encourages a Brain Huddle 20-30 times a day. This is when you sit down with your characters and do a BRAIN check in:

B- Breathe and ground into the present moment
R- Recognize which character called you into the huddle
A- Appreciate all the characters in the huddle so they can create relationships with one another
I- Inquire about which character needs to come out in the next moment
N- Navigate by asking which characters you will tap into as you move from one moment to the next

Just imagine the freedom and possibility that will arise as you integrate your characters, create space for them to all feel honored and valued, and learn to be present with each moment.

I am so enthralled by Dr. Jill’s energy, spirit, and wisdom that she shared today. It was truly an honor to have this conversation with her, and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

“We're gonna have a dominant character, but we're gonna have all of these characters in there, and the better we get to know them, then we have the power to choose moment by moment, who and how we want to be in the world.” Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor

LINKS/RESOURCES MENTIONED

Learn more about Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor and her book: Whole Brain Living: The anatomy of choice and the four characters that drive our life.

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