No.1 Brain Scientist: My Brain Shut Down & I Realised Everything I Believed Was Wrong!

The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett

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Thursday, 6 November 2025 - 1 hour 36 minutes

Harvard Neuroscientist DR. JILL BOLTE TAYLOR reveals How to Retrain Your Brain, Heal Trauma, Control Emotions, and Unlock the 4 Characters Running Your Mind

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor is a Harvard-trained brain scientist who experienced a stroke in the left hemisphere of her brain and spent 8 years recovering. She is best known for her viral TED Talk “My Stroke of Insight” and is the bestselling author of books including Whole Brain Living.

She explains:
◼️What her near-death stroke taught her about consciousness, ego, and identity
◼️How to escape the brain loop keeping you stuck in stress and anxiety
◼️How technology and habits are silently shrinking your brain’s potential
◼️Why overthinking physically damages your brain, and how to reverse it fast
◼️What holding a REAL human brain taught her about life and death

(00:00) Intro
(02:31) Understanding Your Brain Will Improve Your Life
(05:23) Choose What Part of Your Brain to Use
(09:23) A Real Brain with a Spinal Cord
(15:54) The Central Nervous System
(19:04) The Event That Changed Your Brain Forever
(22:04) When I Realised It Was Life or Death
(25:29) The Left Side of My Brain Was Damaged: I Couldn't Speak or Remember Anything
(26:50) The Importance of Having Fun and Being Present
(32:24) Reaching for Help During the Stroke
(37:48) What Did the Scan Show?
(43:53) Ads
(44:56) Where Do These 4 Personalities Happen in the Brain?
(47:59) Where Addiction Lives
(49:39) What Are the 4 Personality Types?
(55:12) The Odds of a Single Human Being Born
(01:05:11) How to Shift Between the 4 Characters
(01:10:20) Ads
(01:12:24) Emotions Only Last for 90 Seconds
(01:21:58) How to Heal Trauma from the Past
(01:25:57) Lifestyle Choices for a Healthy Brain

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You can purchase Dr Jill’s book ‘Whole Brain Living’, here: https://amzn.to/4hMIVWT

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