The Dignity of Notice

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor is a neuroanatomist from Harvard. 

She studies the brain.  I had no idea what that meant either... 

Taylor suffered a stroke and in the midst of that stroke she was able to study her left brain and right brain functioning.  When the left side of her brain started shutting down, she started losing the ability to comprehend numbers, analyze and verbalize. 

But here's where this gets freaky...

As the right hemisphere of her brain began to grow stronger, Taylor discovered that her sense of individualism decreased and her relational connection to the world around her increased.  She also began to experience a sense of joyous well-being, shared reality and peace. 

Taylor concluded that what's happened in our culture is that we've been trained through our industrial-era educational systems to approach the world with left-brain angles.  And this one-sided approach can diminish our ability to care for others and feel connected to the world around us.

My wife has a beautiful way of engaging everyone she meets.  When we visit a restaurant, stay at hotels, or go on cruises she easily becomes the most popular guest.  All of the stewards, concierges, wait staff... they love her and bend over backwards to joyfully serve her. 

I asked her recently about this incredible trait that she possesses.  She told me that she actively thinks about it every day wherever she goes.  She said to me that what people are responding to is what she calls the "Dignity of Notice." 

The Dignity of Notice. 

Here's what I think.  At the very core of our being where those trillions of atoms that make us us are exchanging energy with other things and other people to the tune of billions a second... At the very core of our being where we are imprinted with God's DNA...

Something happens when we actually see other people, truly see them. 

I think the God DNA inside of us sings for joy--it hums with happiness.  I believe that the God-energy between us, the Holy Spirit of God in Jesus, thrives on the moments where we exercise the Dignity of Notice.


Practice the Dignity of Notice today.  As you travel through your day, find people to share this wonderful gift with, and see what happens.  

And may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and always. Amen.