Brown - Alchemy of the Heart: Transform Turmoil into Peace Through Emotional Integration

Alchemy

of the

Heart

Transforming Turmoil into Peace

through Emotional Integration

Copyright 2012 by Michael Brown

First Printing 2008

Second Printing 2009

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations used in book reviews and critical articles.

LibraryandArchivesCanadaCataloguinginPublication

Brown, Michael, 1962

Alchemy of the heart: transforming turmoil into peace through emotional integration / Michael Brown.

isbn 978-1-897238-37-0

1. Spiritual life. 2. ConsciousnessReligious aspects. 3. Quietude. 4. Self-realization.

5. Health. 6. Alternative Medicine. 7. Addiction. I. Title.

bd311.k44 2008 204.4 c2008-902672-9

Published by Namaste Publishing

PO Box 62084

Vancouver, BC, Canada v6j 4a3 www.namastepublishing.com

email:

Distributed in North America by Hampton Roads Publishing Company

Cover design by Gabreyhl Zintoll

Interior book design by Val Speidel

Printed and bound in Canada by Friesens Corporation

Other books and recordings by Michael Brown

The Presence Process: A Healing Journey

into Present Moment Awareness

A Walk Through The Presence Process (4 cd set)

The Heart Is the Healer (cd)

Our Heart Is Our Responsibility (cd)

The Radiance of Intimacy (cd)

Awakening to Innocence/ Inner Sense (3 dvd set)

dedicated to

Trevor George Tinker

For being a father to me.

You are often in my thoughts,

Always in my heart.

Thank you.

Alchemy of the Heart

How do we become alchemists of the heart?

The quality of our experiences is a reflection of the condition of our inner being. For our experiences to change, we must make adjustments at the causal point of these experiences. The causal point of all that occurs in our lives is the heart.

To be an alchemist of the heart is to impact the quality of our external experiences by making internal adjustments.

The key to the heart s alchemical magic is to accept responsibility for the quality of our experiences. When we accept responsibility, we begin to turn the base metal of our unintegrated emotions into the gold of harmonious living. We then realize the peace we seek in the world.

Acknowledgments

Constance Kelloughfor a beautiful and tender vision that makes so much possible for so many. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Dr. Paul Bahderfor the landing and takeoff strip, the creation of The Presence Portal, and our wonderful friendship. Kathy Cholodfor spreading the word, directing traffic, endless enthusiasm, putting up with this moody Leo, and having the patience of a saint! How would we do this without you? Elizabeth McManusfor the lattes, spontaneous laughter, keeping it real, things & stuff, and everything unsaid that flows in between. Teresa Bahderfor believing so sincerely in The Presence Process and staying true to the heart of the work. Nora Morinfor the behind-the-scenes work in the engine room that places an expression on the face of this work. Diane and Ludovico Iezzofor picking me up, dropping me off, and all the fun and food along the way. David Robert Ordfor sharing your wisdom, insight, and guidance, and for saturating this text with your masterful editorial touchthank you. For all gardeners of the heartmay our harvest be authentic, have integrity, and lead us into an ever-deepening, intimate encounter with our humanity.

Note to the Reader

Throughout this book, I use a play on words to help us see things in a different light and understand them at a deeper level. I use the vocabulary of the mind to help us impact ourselves at an emotional level. Hence, for the word realize, I use real eyes . To do so causes us to consider what we are doing when we realize something. We are seeing with real eyeslooking at something in an authentic way. Presenting certain words in this way is a perceptual tool used to create an opening of awareness within the reader.

Introduction

After writing The Presence Process, my journey transformed from personally facilitating individuals through this procedure to sharing this work within the context of group encounters. Out of this evolved a way of presenting this work that clearly communicates the role of the heart within our quest for authenticity, integrity, and intimacy.

Because I cannot personally deliver this presentation to everyone who is drawn to this work, and because I real eyes the significance of the perceptual insight and integration it invites, I have chosen to make it accessible through Alchemy Of The Heart.

Like The Presence Process, this book is a deliberately designed perceptual journey. It empowers us to transform the quality of our human experience by revealing the alchemical role of our heart. The perceptual journey it initiates inspires a movement of our awareness from revolutionary to effortless evolutionary behavior.

By continuing to behave as if we can authentically transform our circumstances through imposing our will upon the outside world, we constantly enter revolutionary behavior. The very word revolutionary reveals the outcomewe inevitably revolve into similar circumstances from which we are attempting to extricate ourselves, and often worse.

A revolutionary approach is born of a mentality that seeks to liberate itself with the same approach that it perceives to be the cause of its suppression. By resorting to this reactive mentality, a revolutionary always becomes an oppressor. This in turn seeds a whole new crop of revolutionaries.

Alchemy Of The Heart invites us to consider the option of evolutionary behavior, an approach to adjusting the quality of our human experience that doesnt lead us back into the experiential circumstances from which we seek liberation, but takes us beyond.

Evolutionary behavior transforms an experience by using a means completely different from whatever is perceived as the method of oppression. To become evolutionary is to real eyes oneself as the only oppressor to be dethroned .

By embracing an inwardly-directed approach to adjusting outer experiences, evolutionary individuals navigate their experience according to a completely new paradigm. To communicate the perceptual shift that makes evolutionary behavior possible is at the heart of this book.

In keeping with the resonance of non-interference, Alchemy of the Heart does not ask us to step upon any new path or alter our allegiance to the one we are currently treading. Instead, it empowers us to use every fiber of our accumulated life experience as a means of integrating our current circumstances in a manner that reveals a clear point of continuation.

Unlike The Presence Process, Alchemy of the Heart requires no systematic procedure, other than reading, to reap the benefits of the fruits within the text. It is intended to effortlessly inspire, challenge, trigger, and question our human experience in a manner inviting verification, not through debate or discussion, but through consciously transforming the way we perceive the purpose of our presence upon Earth, and then encouraging us to engage the wondrous play of life accordingly.

Contents

Real Eyes

The stranger sat quietly amid the ever-shifting tide of the morning market, quiet enough to be noticed by a young boy whose heart was at peace.