8 Reminders That Your Body Is Incredible. As Is.
It can leap and lounge, stretch and sit, be tickled and dance the tango. Let's explore the fantastic features of the frame that's brought you this far.
Illustration: Samantha Hahn/CWC-i.com
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Music to His Ears
After two blows to the head, 17-year-old Lachlan Connors is now a virtuoso.
My mom had been trying to get me to learn piano for a while, but I could barely play simple songs like "Für Elise." Then one morning in 2008—a couple of months after I was hospitalized for seizures I'd had after two sports-related concussions—I sat down at the piano and from nowhere played "Moonlight Sonata." By ear. It was baffling. I just went through each note, deciding what sounded right. Now I can figure out some songs in only five or ten minutes and play14 instruments by ear:
Piano
Guitar
Mandolin
Ukulele
Banjo
Accordion
Karimba
Bass
Bagpipes
Harmonica
Button box
Melodica
Organ
Appalachian
Dulcimer
My doctors still aren't exactly sure how this happened. I had symptoms that resembled the epilepsy that some researchers think Chopin had. When I hear a song for the first time, I think, "Hmm, that's an interesting sound." Then I develop an intense hunger to re-create it. I feel a connection to each instrument, like my mind syncs with the sounds it makes.
Keep Reading: 4 things you never knew about the head
From the
May 2014 issue of
O, The Oprah Magazine
