Exciting possibilities emerge, but they have yet to be tested for longevity. Enjoy the new energies and meeting new people.… Read the rest for the #1 below.

The number information in italics is for the current month’s universal forecast. To find your own personal month: add your month and day of birth and the current month and year together like in the example below.

Example: Feb 3, May 2012
2+3+5+2+0+1+2=15=1+5 = 6

#1 – Exciting Possibilities

Be ready for exciting possibilities to emerge – but they are not yet tested for longevity. Enjoy the new energy and be open to meeting new people. This is a competitive time in business with excellent prospects for growth. Take advantage of the fact that this is a good month to take risks, design, travel and explore.

#2 – Slow Down

There are so many points to be considered, slow down as time is needed for maturation and growth. Set some time aside to be with your mate, family and friends. You could even end up in hospital for a rest. Gather information, learn more and take classes.

#3 – Listen to Your Creative Urges

Creative urges bring about the birth of something from your unconscious. It is time to examine old habits and patterns. This is a very interesting time of psychic connections. Expect your social life to increase. Money is less pressing.

#4 – Work Oriented Month

May will turn out to be a very work oriented month. Travel strictly for business with a specific goal. You encounter many restrictions and don’t overspend. Make basic purchases and hold off on the frivolous ones. You are shouldering much responsibility with family and relatives.

#5 – New Opportunity: Change or Conflicts

A new opportunity can bring unexpected change or maybe conflicts. Stay flexible. You have now the freedom to travel. This month carries heavy sexual and romantic influences which may prove to be a flash in the pan. This is a dynamic and magnetic time for you. Go out and promote and perform.

#6 – Time of Service

This is a month of service as you will spend a lot of time taking care of others: motherhood, teaching, service, family life and home repairs. Expect changes in your domestic front. Timing is great for getting married. You are sure of your opinions and views and tend to stubbornly stick to them. You decisions reflect emotional values rather than intellectual ones this month.

#7 – An Emotional Time

May is going to be an emotional time for you. You tend to feel depressed, but can find much peace through meditation, study and reading. Go out and find more information about your area of interest. Pay attention to your health and take your vitamins. Be careful about your communications with your family as they will sense your unrest. Above all be patient in all things.

#8 – A Decisive Month

You may receive a promotion and earn more money. You are working hard and some of your best plans get a big boost. Go ahead and take on the large project and use your imagination. When buying on credit make sure you can really afford what your are buying. All in all timing is favorable for buying, selling or exchanging of property. You currently feel very good about yourself.

#9 – Review Your Overall Plan

It seems that a major part of your job is in transition. Plan to finish as many major projects as possible and do not begin a new one until next month. Pay attention to what others have to say and review your overall plan.

This month is all about business, finding a job, getting a promotion, more money. It is vital to use good judgment and exercise self-control… Read the rest for the #8 below.

The number information in italics is for the current month’s universal forecast. To find your own personal month: add your month and day of birth and the current month and year together like in the example below.

Example: Feb 3, March 2012
2+3+3+2+0+1+2=13=1+3=4

#1 – Time to Begin a New Project

Now is the time to start a new project. You find that you have renewed energy. You set the goal and its success revolves around your special talent or skill. You are learning something new about something old. If you are looking for a mate this could be the month. You may also feel isolated, but you are in a period of maturation that requires solitude, understanding and wisdom. Know that you don’t know it all. You will have to give up something this month.

#2 – Slow Down a Bit

This month will force you to slow down a bit. Do things well and attend to all the details. It is prudent to be cooperative rather than assertive. You feel held down and want to make changes that you cannot effect yet. Love is also much on your mind. You feel emotional, but can control your strong feelings. You have a strong sense of justice.

#3 – Very Creative Time

You are entering a surprising, creative time with bursts for artists. You want to write and paint, travel, entertain friends, learn a foreign language. You feel very generous. Your social life is very active as you give and sympathize.

#4 – Time for Making Changes

This is the month to make time for changes in business, work, career or your family situation. You are ready to take on more domestic responsibility. You want to build something tangible and it is a great idea to start a long-range plan or goal. On the other hand it is a rather restrictive month as you have to make decisions that will affect your future. Don’t gamble with the unknown and do your research.

#5 – Change Is Coming

A change is coming your way this month, but it will not clarify your situation.  You find it hard to know what to do and will have difficulty in completing what you have started. There is also the possibility of conflict in relationships. Love and sex don’t always go together.

#6 – Creative Urge

The creative urge to express yourself is quite strong this month, but you will have to defer your wishes to the needs of your family. This is a time of increased responsibilities. Use your creative urges for redecorating or any other artistic project. You are in a period of service, educations and emotional attachment.

#7 – Pay Attention to Your Health

This is a critical time for your health. Do not work too hard, make sure you take plenty of breaks. Study up on your profession and practice your skills. The outlook on the money front isn’t very encouraging right now.

#8 – Exercise Self-Control

If you are looking for a job, this will be the month and it might even turn out to be better than you expected. A promotion and more money a very possible, but with that also come higher expenses. Business influences are excellent, but use your good judgment. Only take risks on what you have researched well. Above all exercise self-control.

#9 – Strong Feeling of Completion

The strong feeling of completion this month might lead you to start new ventures, but the timing just isn’t right yet. Hold off for now as the influences next month will be more helpful. there is pull toward religion and community action groups that is affecting you right now. You could suffer the loss of a relative this month. Long-distance travel involving a family member or service group is another possibility, as well as an inheritance.

The number information in italics is for the current month’s universal forecast. To find your own personal month: add your month and day of birth and the current month and year together like in the example below.

Example: Feb 3, January 2012
2+3+1+2+0+1+2=11=1+1=2

#1 – Change is in the Air

There is a feeling of extra power and change is in the air, but do not expect plans made now to last beyond the year. It is time to begin a new aspect of an old project or find a new way to implement the final stages. You feel optimistic and have a strong desire to reform.

#2 – Details vs Urge to Act

You are starting a new 9 year cycle this month with to opposing forces at work. You have a strong urge to act, but also need to take care of many details that slow you down. Go with the flow and follow your gut feeling. Be diplomatic and careful now. Relationships are highlighted, but you must compromise.

#3 – Difficult to Accomplish Things

You will be reminded of a project you began in November and will also meet with friends from that time. It seems hard to get anything accomplished. You could feel emotional confusion. You draw your inspiration from art and music.

#4 – organize and Reorganize

Pay careful attention to your monetary situation and don’t overspend. Buy only that which as lasint value. Organize your closets and reorganize your life. There are still some details left over from the previous year that have to be finished.

#5 – More Change

Your decisions from last month are changing again. This is an excellent time for progress in business, selling, promoting and advertising. You are starting a year of working hard, so take advantage of a sudden early opportunity. You may make significant changes in your living arrangement. You have a strong need to control your environment. You want to settle down, but you experience a period of initial restlessness first.

#6 – Serve Others

This month is time of much responsibility. You find yourself taking care of your family and your home. A change in your domestic situation is possible. You feel that you don’t really know all the details of what is happening right now. You could meet your future mate this month. Above all this is a time to serve others.

#7 – Slow Start

The year is off to a slow start for you. Your health may be a problem and you might have to rely on your family to see you through. You are drawn to taking a class. Your spiritual side is prominent.

#8 – Decision Time

You have make a major decision early in the year. Money comes to you through a new job or a promotion. You are working hard on a long-range project. Expenses are high and you could also suffer monetary disappointments involving large sums of money. You get the opportunity to look at both the material and spiritual sides of life.

#9 – Finish up a Project

Before you can start the year off you will have to finish up a project. Make every effort to complete anything pending. You may have some surprising financial rewards this month. Other look to you for your authority. Peole recognize your worth. You feel much more yourself, confident, happy and satisfied. You are learning wisdome and maturity.

This month it is time to rest and re-evaluate, to do market research and pinpoint your audience. There is a strain between what you want and what you are given… Read the rest for the #7 below.

The number information in italics is for the current month’s universal forecast. To find your own personal month: add your month and day of birth and the current month and year together like in the example below.

Example: Feb 3, February 2012
2+3+2+2+0+1+2=12=1+2=3

#1 – Full Steam Ahead

You are ready and now in the position to move full steam ahead. This is a very important year for you to reap the rewards of what you have sown for the past seven years. Don’t fear challenges and changes. You will have more abundance than ever in your life. Work hard and be consistent. Look for work in institutions or groups or work with money.

#2 – Rest – Take it Easy

Be very careful not to give into low spirits and fatigue now. Rest and take it easy. Have a major checkup. Don’t overspend. Go into therapy if you feel like talking to someone. A relationship may come to an end. Don’t start anything of consequence this month. This is a spiritual time to evaluate your life.

#3 – Very Creative Time

Are you ready for an extremely creative time with short trips, writing and new friends?. Expect to lose money through frivolousness and extravagance as you feel the impulse to buy new clothes and furniture. Go out to movies and dinner.

#4 – Feeling Held Down

You have a strong feeling of being held down by restrictions involving money and work. Pay attention to your family and your marriage. You get easily frustrated over small details. In order to succeed now, you need strong emotional support and someone to compliment your efforts. Watch your health and set realistic goals.

#5 – Change and Variety

This month will bring you change and variety. You could travel or experience a change in your marital status or the amount of time you are spending with your mate. Then there possible conflicts with friends. You are restless and want to be rid of an old situation. Timing is perfect for sales, promotions and taking some risk, but don’t act too impulsively.

#6 – Keep Your Promises

If you are planning on getting married this is the month for you in this whole 9 year cycle. Don’t be too critical of others. Fix what needs work on the house. Make sure you have a saving account. Don’t make more promises than you can keep. This is going to be a very busy year for you that has much for you to do and complete.

#7 – Re-evaluate

There is a very busy year ahead of you and now is the time to rest and re-evaluate. Do market research and pinpoint your audience. Don’t worry if you are unemployed and wait for the money to come when you need it most. There is a strain between what you want and what you are given.

#8 – Responsibility and Hard Work

You are entering into a month full of responsibility and hard work. You will have to make a major decision about your domestic life. Repairing the house, remodeling and or adding on are just some possibilities as well as buying a car if you can. A promotion at work is another possibility. You find it easy to deal with groups and institutions as well as buying and selling. You feel very confident.

#9 – Emotional Time

February will turn out to be a very trying and emotional month for you. You need a mature outlook. This whole year involves some spiritual yearning. Take the time to reflect on your life and re-evaluate your goals. Be tolerant of others. An unexpected reward or disappointment is also possible at this time.

get out of a rut

This is month it is time to work on getting out of your rut, but don’t force matters as your life will change enough without your help.… Read the rest for the #9 below.

The number information in italics is for the current month’s universal forecast. To find your own personal month: add your month and day of birth and the current month and year together like in the example below.

Example: Feb 3, April 2012
2+3+4+2+0+1+2=14=1+4=5

#1 – Go-ahead for a New Project

You got the go-ahead for a new project. You experience fresh energy and vitality associated with a feeling of accomplishment. Timing is excellent for marriage, meeting your future mate, or the birth of a child. You could even buy a new house.

#2 – Persevere

You may meet someone special or eccentric. Trust your intuition as your unconsciously lead to the right place. This is going to be a very slow time for money and you are forced to wait for everything. You are expected to be a perfectionist. The best way to deal with all this is to be very yielding and co-operative. Don’t even consider being assertive. Above all persevere in all projects.

#3 – Puzzling Month

This puzzling month will be great for business involving entertainment or selling of luxury items. Expect an interesting social life, but that could also get in the way of accomplishment. You feel that you do not get much done, but this month is going to be a very creative time. Explore painting, performing, writing and teaching. Take short trips and be extravagant.

#4 – Work and Details

April will turn out to be a time of hard work and details. Time has come to sign contracts. You could experience struggles with relatives or changes in the family. Work on finishing all open projects. If you feel generous give money to charities. You are in a period that grounds you, but at the same time feels restrictive. So make sure that all your plans are well laid.

#5 – Changes, Surprises, Conflicts & Outbursts

April will turn out to be a very changeable and surprising month with conflicts and outbursts. Pay close attention to your legal commitments. Be prepared to drop everything to move or take a trip. You feel braver and more independent than ever before and are willing to risk the unusual. On the love front, don’t expect that love affair to last on the other hand your sex drive is up. Pay attention what you are eating as you are so much on the move and it easy to fall into the fast food trap. Don’t forget to exercise.

#6 – Aim for Harmony

You can see now what makes your life more harmonious, but at the same time everyone wants something from you and you find it difficult to say no. Focus with your heart and stay with the traditional. You want to teach, nurture, help and serve.

#7 – Re-evaluation Time

It is time to pull back and re-evaluate. Limit your projects so you have more quiet time. You may feel more withdrawn so that you can pursue special projects such as learning technical subjects or going on a retreat. Be patient with money as it may be delayed because of something that has not yet surfaces. It is a good idea to hold back on a decision right now. Have you considered starting a savings account?

#8 – Stay Centered

A promotion or more responsibility could be coming your way, as well a purchase might cost more than expected. Timing is excellent for major purchases and buying property or starting a business as long as you make wise choices. You could get audited. In all this it is important to stay centered and not to waste time. You have excellent judgment now and know how to avoid risks.

#9 – Get out of Your Rut

This month will turn out to be quite a confusing time, leaving your feeling adrift, restless and eager to start something, but what? In light of this the best choice is to finish all current projects. Then go on and use your intuition and dreams for images to guide you. How about taking a long trip to give you  new perspective. Get out of your rut, but don’t force matters as your life will change enough without your help. Be forgiving, tolerant and yield control.

The number information in italics is for the current month’s universal forecast. To find you own personal month add your month and day of birth and the current month and year like in the example below.

Example: Feb 3, December 2011
2+3+1+2+2+0+1+1=12=1+2=3

#1 – A New Start

You are ready for a new start. You find that you have more energy and opportunities are opening up. Take that risk. Join a group or church. You could meet a new friend who shares a special interest of yours. Go visit a new place. You are able to state your needs very clearly now, so ask for what you want. Be assertive and decisive. How about getting a new hairstyle or taking a class?

#2 – Details are Important

You are feeling letdown after much accomplishment. Having to pay attention to details brings restrictions. Back down on a threat. Group meeting will be long tedious. You need to analyze carefully where you are right now and then reform. A relationship is demanding your attention. This month will bring a strong feminine influence and also earned peace.

#3 – This Is It

This is the last month of the whole 9 year cycle for you, so reminize over the good memories of the last nine years. Use your imagination and intuition to feel out the new phase you are entering. Look ahead. 

#4 – Tradition and Family

It is a good idea to finish the work that needs to be done by the end of the year. You will take care of the things that need to be done on or in the home. This is a very traditional and family time with a strong sense of duty. You suddenly realize that an idea, plan or work will bear fruit later on. Make sure that you stick to your schedule. Money will be tight unless you have saved all year long.

#5 – Change

Yes change will happen, but it will only be short lived and will sadly only last a couple of months. A love affair? You are restless and want change. Travel if you can.

#6 – Devote Yourself to Others

You maybe fantasizing about marriage now, but you should wait until February. There are changes coming in January that may alter your decision now. This month is great time to spend Christmas at home with family. It is time to be responsible and devote yourself to others. Do the work that needs to be done on the house. Timing is perfect for creative work. You feel more loving and secure now.

#7 – Virtual Hibernation

Surprise this is the month for virtual hibernation as you have a great need to relax an analyze what you have been doing and where you are going. It will be a poor month for money unless you have a popular specialty. Schedule some ‘alone time’. Be easy on your made and be less demanding. Go for trip to the country or even a retreat. Go with the flow and don’t fight circumstances. Get in touch with your spiritual side.

#8 – Business Opportunities

Business opportunities are highlighted as the long-awaited change arrives. You are working hard and are reaping much success. This is the time for promotion, money, authority, supervision and working with groups and institutions. You want to buy, sell and exchange. You notice that you have currently  tendency towards ostentatious behavior. You feel strong and very confident.

#9 – Go With the Flow

This could be a time of very great accomplishment and satisfaction. Be sure to finish all projects and don’t start anything new just yet. Be tolerant and philosophical in all matters. Go with the flow and let your higher self (not your ego) guide you and make decisions. Just let go and aid humanitarian causes.

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It was written by Burton “EarthWalker” Smith

Why am I in this place and what am I supposed to do?

Now, isn’t that the question of the ages? At some point in our lives, don’t we all think, “So what is this all about? Why am I in this place and what am I supposed to do?”

And sometimes we’ll have an intense meditation, get a big realization of what it’s all about, crack up and roll on the floor laughing, thinking we’ve solved the problem of the ages, and in two days, we’re sitting there again going, “Hmm, I wonder why I’m here.”

It’s even funny for me to think I’m going to tell the big secret. Why? Because it’s inexpressible. And that is not a cop-out, because I’m going to try anyway. But I look at this as art, not as a left-brain, logical explanation. Logic, after all, is why we’re sitting here going, Now what could this be?”

In a few short words, we’re here to experience it all, to be it all. That’s what we’re here to learn; how to go through it all: the joy, the sorrow, the merriment, the depression, the feelings of security, feelings of fear, love, hate, anger, happiness, calmness, upset . . . all the highs and also the lows.

But (we say), I don’t wanna be scared, upset, depressed, sorrowful. So we spend time making arrangements so that we can be secure, happy and peaceful. Only it doesn’t always work, does it? Fear comes at us like a demon. Friends leave or pets die, and we suffer. A tree falls on our house, and we’re so upset we rant and rave at the sky, shouting, “Why are You doing this to me?” In times of distress, we really get down to questioning, “Why am I here?” When we’re blissful, we don’t so much question it.

But here’s the point: we’re learning to be it all, without resistance. Our lessons are to stop shielding ourselves from life. As soon as we block the pain (or what we perceive as pain), the worse it gets. Why? Because it’s only our belief system that says, “This is bad. I don’t want to feel this.” The universe is set up to allow us our beliefs, and to give us more of what we believe, i.e., what we want.

Imagine a universe where we can have whatever we want, and better than that, it increases as we want it more. If we believe a certain experience is bad, the universe gives us more and more of our belief. The more we intensify our belief (by trying to hold it back), the more we get of it. That’s why certain people suffer more than others: because they really, really don’t want it. And are powerful blockers. But the universe reflects our power and we get it in our lap.

The secret is, of course, to understand what’s going on, and try to shift our beliefs — not to block more of what we don’t want. The secret is to accept the fact that we can experience anything as just another part of life, and feel it for what it is, and go on from there. Sorrow is just that: an emotion of grief from being separated from what we love. Allowing the grief to be there in its totality, as it needs to be, helps us discover an amazing thing: it’s only temporary. All things are temporary. Something else will come along, if we allow it. Otherwise, fending off that sorrow can become a full-time occupation, and the universe will comply with our desires. We’ll be stuck in sorrow for a long, long time.

We feel the sorrow. We feel the fear. We feel the unhappiness. And we know that there’s more to life. That emotion will change into something else: joy, peace, security. That doesn’t mean the grief goes away and never returns. It is a part of us and we will re-experience it. But we don’t have to shove it away. We accept it. We cherish it. And then we come to the real lesson we’re here to learn: it can all be cherished, accepted and loved. That’s the secret. Underlying it all is love. Big L Love. The universe is love, and when we accept that, and accept it all, we can learn to love the joy, the peace, the merriment and the sorrow, the fear, and the depression. What exists is Love. Divine Love. But it’s up to us to take the responsibility for our life. Accepting full responsibility for however we feel — that’s the path of Love. And isn’t it a wonderful path to walk? Do we really want to give that responsibility to someone else? Hand it to the “authorities” to make us secure and peaceful? Watch out for that one!

We’re here to accept a valuable lesson: we can only take responsibility for our own selves. Our job (joy of being) is to inspire others by the example of our own lives.

Why am I here? To learn to stop asking and start being — all of it!

Burton “EarthWalker” Smith is a wanderer. He can usually be found roaming somewhere around North America and writing about it. “I want to be a catalyst, inspiring others to follow their heart’s dream, and be all they can be.” He’d be delighted to hear from you. His mail forwarding address is: 187 Paragon Parkway, #135, Clyde, NC 28721, Voice Mail (704) 258-4839.

The number information in italics is for the current month’s universal forecast. To find you own personal month add your month and day of birth and the current month and year like in the example below.

Example: Feb 3, October 2011
2+3+1+1+2+0+1+1=11=1+1=2

#1 – Start a Major Project

Business influences are fantastic right now. It is time to start a major project. You have incredible energy available that is necessary for accomplishment. You have decisions to make and want to buy things. Promotions and advances are very easily possible. Expect to have to deal with clash of wills. Does heavy machinery mean something to you? If so go for it. Are you planning on publishing or launching a book? Go for it. You could find yourself being praised as a hero.

#2 – Be Patient

It is time to wait and see how your ideas of last month are working out. Be patient, don’t push. There is still something to complete. This is a month for relationships. How about calling your mother, sister or wife out of the blue? Take care of your health.

#3 – Creative Energy

A month full of creative, but nervous energy full of short trips and phone calls. Timing is great for plays and artistic pursuits. A brief separation from you mate is also a possibility. Promoting yourself and selling should go easily at this time.

#4 – Reorganize at Home and Work

It is time again to reorganize both at home and at work and that means to put the summer clothes away have them all cleaned and on the work front file your papers. You are ready to undertake a long-range project. Be very careful with your money this month. This is to put you on notice: resist the urge to be stubborn, negative or stern because others seem to slack off. If at all possible don’t travel this month.

#5 – Possibly an Explosive Month

Are you ready for a possibly explosive month? Expect some clashes of wills. Many thing can change and surprise you. If you are looking for a relationship you now have a better chance of meeting someone for a meaningful relationship. You want to travel and experiment and could experience a temporary separation from your mate. Opportunities are coming your way. Timing is great for publicity, performing, selling and playing. Your energy should be very high, making your attractive to others. It is also a great time for a speedy recovery from an operation.

#6 – Be Helpful

This is the month when everyone will turn to you for help. It is a very domestic time for serving others. There could also be a marriage in the wind. Pay close attention to your promises, it is important to follow through. You feel very secure – or is it trapped? This is an important time for emotional growth.

#7 – Time Out

This month calls for taking time out and to slow down. Money will come in its own time. There are lessons you may not want to learn. Keep yourself on track by exercising. You may meet a very unusual person whom you feel you have known before. Warning: do not have an affair with a married person!

#8 – You Are Ready

You are ready to show the world how competent you are and want to give major push to accomplish. Think about buying a burglar alarm. Start a disciplined health program. You may be promoted or receive money that has been coming for some time. Buy something of long-lasting value. You could make a major decision about your family life and/or find yourself serving on a jury.

#9 – Time of Completion

You are in a time of completion. If you are unemployed, do not despair, you will be hired next month. Be patient and don’t push, go with the flow instead. Reach out to others and visualize what you would like to have appear.in your life. Above all be tolerant and forgiving. Just let go. Go take that trip. 

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I first posted this article on my old site on March 17/2008

Jill Bolte Taylor: My Stroke Of Insight

Jill Bolte-Taylor

I came across this video and was intrigued by it so much that I had to share it.

“Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: One morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke. As it happened — as she felt her brain functions slip away one by one, speech, movement, understanding — she studied and remembered every moment. This is a powerful story about how our brains define us and connect us to the world and to one another.”

• Link to video on the web:: http://www.thoughtware.tv/videos/show/1613
• a transcript of the video can be found here
• Link to Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor’s website

or watch the video right here:

On May 29/2008 Stacy alerted me to the fact that there was an article about Dr. Taylor in the Sunday edition of the New York Times. I have added the article below. (Note  the reason for copying the article here is that in the past I often found it difficult to find articles again).

 

May 25, 2008

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A Superhighway to Bliss

By LESLIE KAUFMAN 

JILL BOLTE TAYLOR was a neuroscientist working at Harvard’s brain research center when she experienced nirvana.

But she did it by having a stroke.

On Dec. 10, 1996, Dr. Taylor, then 37, woke up in her apartment near Boston with a piercing pain behind her eye. A blood vessel in her brain had popped. Within minutes, her left lobe — the source of ego, analysis, judgment and context — began to fail her. Oddly, it felt great.

The incessant chatter that normally filled her mind disappeared. Her everyday worries — about a brother with schizophrenia and her high-powered job — untethered themselves from her and slid away.

Her perceptions changed, too. She could see that the atoms and molecules making up her body blended with the space around her; the whole world and the creatures in it were all part of the same magnificent field of shimmering energy.

“My perception of physical boundaries was no longer limited to where my skin met air,” she has written in her memoir, “My Stroke of Insight,” which was just published by Viking.

After experiencing intense pain, she said, her body disconnected from her mind. “I felt like a genie liberated from its bottle,” she wrote in her book. “The energy of my spirit seemed to flow like a great whale gliding through a sea of silent euphoria.”

While her spirit soared, her body struggled to live. She had a clot the size of a golf ball in her head, and without the use of her left hemisphere she lost basic analytical functions like her ability to speak, to understand numbers or letters, and even, at first, to recognize her mother. A friend took her to the hospital. Surgery and eight years of recovery followed.

Her desire to teach others about nirvana, Dr. Taylor said, strongly motivated her to squeeze her spirit back into her body and to get well.

This story is not typical of stroke victims. Left-brain injuries don’t necessarily lead to blissful enlightenment; people sometimes sink into a helplessly moody state: their emotions run riot. Dr. Taylor was also helped because her left hemisphere was not destroyed, and that probably explains how she was able to recover fully.

Today, she says, she is a new person, one who “can step into the consciousness of my right hemisphere” on command and be “one with all that is.”

To her it is not faith, but science. She brings a deep personal understanding to something she long studied: that the two lobes of the brain have very different personalities. Generally, the left brain gives us context, ego, time, logic. The right brain gives us creativity and empathy. For most English-speakers, the left brain, which processes language, is dominant. Dr. Taylor’s insight is that it doesn’t have to be so.

Her message, that people can choose to live a more peaceful, spiritual life by sidestepping their left brain, has resonated widely.

In February, Dr. Taylor spoke at the Technology, Entertainment, Design conference (known as TED), the annual forum for presenting innovative scientific ideas. The result was electric. After her 18-minute address was posted as a video on TED’s Web site, she become a mini-celebrity. More than two million viewers have watched her talk, and about 20,000 more a day continue to do so. An interview with her was also posted on Oprah Winfrey’s Web site, and she was chosen as one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world for 2008.

She also receives more than 100 e-mail messages a day from fans. Some are brain scientists, who are fascinated that one of their own has had a stroke and can now come back and translate the experience in terms they can use. Some are stroke victims or their caregivers who want to share their stories and thank her for her openness.

But many reaching out are spiritual seekers, particularly Buddhists and meditation practitioners, who say her experience confirms their belief that there is an attainable state of joy.

“People are so taken with it,” said Sharon Salzberg, a founder of the Insight Mediation Society in Barre, Mass. “I keep getting that video in e-mail. I must have 100 copies.”

She is excited by Dr. Taylor’s speech because it uses the language of science to describe an occurrence that is normally ethereal. Dr. Taylor shows the less mystically inclined, she said, that this experience of deep contentment “is part of the capacity of the human mind.”

Since the stroke, Dr. Taylor has moved to Bloomington, Ind., an hour from where she was raised in Terre Haute and where her mother, Gladys Gillman Taylor, who nursed her back to health, still lives.

Originally, Dr. Taylor became a brain scientist — she has a Ph.D. in life sciences with a specialty in neuroanatomy — because she has a mentally ill brother who suffers from delusions that he is in direct contact with Jesus. And for her old research lab at Harvard, she continues to speak on behalf of the mentally ill.

But otherwise, she has dialed back her once loaded work schedule. Her house is on a leafy cul-de-sac minutes from Indiana University, which she attended as an undergraduate and where she now teaches at the medical school.

Her foyer is painted a vibrant purple. She greets a stranger at the door with a warm hug. When she talks, her pale blue eyes make extended contact.

Never married, she lives with her dog and two cats. She unselfconsciously calls her mother, 82, her best friend.

She seems bemused but not at all put off by the hundreds who have reached out to her on a spiritual level. Religious ecstatics who claim to see angels have asked her to appear on their radio and television programs.

She has declined these offers. Although her father is an Episcopal minister and she was raised in his church, she cannot be counted among the traditionally faithful. “Religion is a story that the left brain tells the right brain,” she said.

Still, Dr. Taylor says, “nirvana exists right now.”

“There is no doubt that it is a beautiful state and that we can get there,” she said.

That belief has certainly sparked debate. On Web sites like evolvingbeings.com and in Eckhart Tolle discussion groups, people debate whether she is truly enlightened or just physically damaged and confused.

Even her own scientific brethren have wondered.

“When I saw her on the TED video, at first I thought, Oh my god, is she losing it,” said Dr. Francine M. Benes, director of the Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center, where Dr. Taylor once worked.

Dr. Benes makes clear that she still thinks Dr. Taylor is an extraordinary and competent woman. “It is just that the mystical side was not apparent when she was at Harvard,” Dr. Benes said.

Dr. Taylor makes no excuses or apologies, or even explanations. She says instead that she continues to battle her left brain for the better. She gently offers tips on how it might be done.

“As the child of divorced parents and a mentally ill brother, I was angry,” she said. Now when she feels anger rising, she trumps it with a thought of a person or activity that brings her pleasure. No meditation necessary, she says, just the belief that the left brain can be tamed.

Her newfound connection to other living beings means that she is no longer interested in performing experiments on live rat brains, which she did as a researcher.

She is committed to making time for passions — physical and visual — that she believes exercise her right brain, including water-skiing, guitar playing and stained-glass making. A picture of one of her intricate stained-glass pieces — of a brain — graces the cover of her book.

Karen Armstrong, a religious historian who has written several popular books including one on the Buddha, says there are odd parallels between his story and Dr. Taylor’s.

“Like this lady, he was reluctant to return to this world,” she said. “He wanted to luxuriate in the sense of enlightenment.”

But, she said, “the dynamic of the religious required that he go out into the world and share his sense of compassion.”

And in the end, compassion is why Dr. Taylor says she wrote her memoir. She thinks there is much to be mined from her experience on how brain-trauma patients might best recover and, in fact, she hopes to open a center in Indiana to treat such patients based on those principles.

And then there is the question of world peace. No, Dr. Taylor doesn’t know how to attain that, but she does think the right hemisphere could help. Or as she told the TED conference:

“I believe that the more time we spend choosing to run the deep inner peace circuitry of our right hemispheres, the more peace we will project into the world, and the more peaceful our planet will be.”

It almost seems like science.

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

October 2011 carries the universal number frequency 5. The number 5 often brings surprises both positive and negative. Expect the unexpected as things will not turn out the way you planned right now. Read the rest for the #5 below.

The number information in italics is for the current month’s universal forecast. To find you own personal month add your month and day of birth and the current month and year like in the example below.

Example: Feb 3, October 2011
2+3+1+0+2+0+1+1=10=1+0=1

#1 – New idea?

You are catching the glimmer of a new idea and have a strong desire to start over. Timing is right to begin your plans for the future. Go out and meet new people. Change jobs or move if you need to. You are feeling clearer now and are more confident. 

#2 – Analyze the Situation 

This month will seem to be stuck as you experience a setback due to other people’s schedules, unfinished details and lack of money. You learn to analyze the situation and be patient. Personal relationships are very important now. A women offer you advice.

#3 – Imaginative – Romantic Time

You may want to get out of  the routine and ease up a bit in this imaginative and romantic month. Take that trip if you can. Work with women’s groups and be optimistic and let go of past worries. Remember you sense of humour and be generous in small ways, but be careful not to splurge. 

#4 – Catch up on your work

Finally you get to catch up on your work, so don’t expect to get away too much. This is not the best time to travel for you and you may find that your are frustrated by the restrictions.

#5 – Surprise or Upset

You experience a temporary lightening of the load as change, surprise and upset come your way. Timing is perfect to selling and promotion. Make an effort to stay disciplined and don’t give up or give in. Resist the temptation to have an affair. Be very adaptable and flexible now. Don’t expect things to go the way you planned.

#6 – Changes in the domestic scene

Expect changes in your domestic scene. Are you getting married suddenly? Take care of your family, repair the house. This month people are leaning on you. You feel a little more secure and happy. This is a time to serve and not to be stubborn.

#7 – Make time for yourself

Things seem to finally quiet down or maybe you collapse! Make some time for yourself that you can spend alone. Carefully finish those projects that are most important to you. Explain to your family that you need to have some room for yourself. Go on  retreat if you can.

#8 – Busy Time

You get a chance to look at both the material and spiritual sides of life this month. You work hard and expenses are high. A new job or promotion is possible this month. 

#9 – A sense of relief

You feel a sense of relief as some trying circumstance is ending. Don’t start anything new just yet. You are ready to give up some petty attitude that is blocking your energy for once and for all. This month could also finally bring the end of an illness.

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