Freedom is ALWAYS right here in the right hemisphere

Our western minds have been conditioned to believe only in separation, Our culture has very much revered the logical, rational, self serving left hemisphere of our brain functioning. This part of our brain is propelled by comparison, ranking, status, manipulation, authority and control. It is motivated by fear and survival. It lives in the illusion of past and future.It constantly chatters, criticises , judges, categorises. It separates oneness, wholeness or present experience (this mysterious, infinite, ever free moment) in to patterns that it ‘knows’ or has learned (its program). It continuously trawls for ‘problems’ to ‘fix’; churning over historical data. It continuously overlays its learned and ‘known’ perspectives on to this ever free, unknowable moment!

Jill BolteTaylor; the eminent neuroscientist, experienced a stroke in the left hemisphere of her brain. She gave an amazing, fascinating account of the stroke as it was experienced and her recovery. It changed her life and her perspective. Before the stroke, she says her life was dominated by her left brain, with its emphasis on being right, dominance and worldly success, and she said she was so self-absorbed and absolutely clueless about the wonderful gift of ‘Beingness’ or wholeness; a trait of our right hemisphere functioning. 

She came to understand through direct experience that we all have this innate capacity to reconnect with the peace that passes all rationale, logic and understanding. This peace is beyond our beliefs of separation; it is the peace that the baby is born with before it downloads language and concepts. It is beyond the abstract human construct of space and time. It is pure clarity before definition of this moment and it's ALWAYS here! So funny isn’t it that time and space is only a human construct created in the human brain!. We believe in the construct of time so vehemently :). Jill came to experience a pristine peace that is ALWAYS present, here, underneath thought and belief constructs. It is not a ‘state’ that we need to strive towards. It is not a ‘state’ that we may possibly experience when we have ‘healed’ our personal problems (personal problems only exist in the left hemisphere of stories!). It isn’t a state reserved only for the ‘enlightened’ gurus, sages or the Dalai lamas. It is accessible always right here, right now, always, for EVERYONE. 

Our perceived issues only exist in the left hemisphere. In the constructed reality of a separate ‘me’ walking along an imaginary ‘timeline’ made of constructed memories, from birth to death. How fascinating to contemplate that!! A baby has no idea that it is a separate entity with ‘problems’ to fix :). 

It just is…that's why it is so joyous!

Where are your problems without the left hemispheres definition and 'thoughts' about them?!!

With her left hemisphere virtually off line Jill couldn’t talk or recognise faces of loved ones (she didn’t know her own mothers face, but she felt her love). She could feel and intuit kindness, she really only had natural, authentic, intuition, and she felt the unwavering peace of eternity. She didn’t have the capacity to form abstract thoughts ‘about’ what was happening. She didn’t have the capacity of the left brain to abstract a personal, separate reality from the ‘whole’. She only had direct, intuitive experience. She felt no separation and had no access to a linear timeline I.e thoughts of past (memories) or thoughts of future. She was completely free and unhindered. She was in bliss. It is only the mental processing of thought that makes us doubt our immediate intuition :)....our hearts.

It took eight years for Jill's brain to recover the faculties of the left brain functioning but she learned so much about how our egos (separate selves) are formed and developed.

We don’t need to have a stroke in our left hemisphere to experience the peace and bliss that passes all understanding. Bliss is simply our experience when we are not ‘thinking’ about our direct experience. And of course we need to have the illusion of separation and time and space in order to communicate with each other and ‘experience’ reality, it’s beautiful. I share this information simply to show you that there is a greater reality beyond the confines of our rational, logical minds.

The logical mind of course isn’t bad but if it is too dominant then suffering is created. By balancing out the functioning of both hemispheres of the brain we can have peace.

When the right hemisphere of the brain is more dominant I.e when we are engaging in creative projects we love or when we meditate beyond thought. When we do yoga or are engaged in a really good movie or conversation or laughing, or enjoying a walk in nature, we are ‘in flow.' or presence. We are simply not engaging in the feeling of limitation during ‘flow’ that the left hemisphere thoughts of past or future create. That is why 'flow' feels so good!

All suffering thoughts of limitation and separation are simply a construct of the left hemisphere of the brain.

Of course pain arises in the natural flow of life in the moment but if we are functioning more from the right hemisphere then pain is as it is without a timeline dramatic (left brain) story of suffering to go with it. Feelings of anger, sadness, grief, etc...are free to come and go much quicker, nothing stays without 'thought' about experiencing.

We have become addicted to thinking and the stress hormone cortisol that rumination produces, which of course causes more left brain dominance (fight/ flight) and therefore more thinking is generated. It is a vicious cycle of anxiety that needs to be broken. The brain thinks that if it thinks more then the unease will be fixed. Not true. By flowing out of thought altogether and back in to the body or presence, the body naturally begins to calm, cortisol and adrenalin production lessens therefore rumination lessens.

The peace of eternity that the baby is born with is our primary, natural reality. Belief in separation, suffering thoughts narrating an illusionary timeline, is our secondary reality. It is an ‘overlay.’ We really have the capacity in EVERY moment to drop all thought and return to the infinite peace of the ‘heartspace’ or pristine...silent...clarity.

It’s ALWAYS here!

So try it today. Whenever suffering thoughts try to pull you in to the past or the future simply drop in to the heartspace…connect to the breath…and let all drama go now….

It is our birthright to be free and contented.