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A review by ryancrasta
Emotional Alchemy: How the Mind Can Heal the Heart by Tara Bennett-Goleman
4.0
I picked up this book because I was curious to learn more about basic emotional patterns and see how I could use these insights in tandem with my lessons in therapy. I finished this book feeling like I have a fundamentally better understanding of myself and an ability to more deeply empathize with others.
The lucid explanations along with the author’s many client examples constantly put me in reflective moods. By the end of each chapter, I felt like I was confronting the hard truths about who I am and why I might be that way. It’s weirdly therapeutic.
One of my favourite quotes:
“[Changing an emotional pattern] is very different from mere intellectual understanding—it involves the emotional brain. It takes much persistent practice, cultivation of the ability to bring awareness to what had been unconscious behavior, and sustained effort to try out the new way of thinking and acting despite its initial awkwardness and relapses into old habit.”
Since I was targeted in what I wanted from this book, I did find Part I & IV a bit verbose. I found myself skimming past these sections. If you are interested in attachment theory and the conversations that Brene Brown has on shame, this might be up your alley of interests.
The lucid explanations along with the author’s many client examples constantly put me in reflective moods. By the end of each chapter, I felt like I was confronting the hard truths about who I am and why I might be that way. It’s weirdly therapeutic.
One of my favourite quotes:
“[Changing an emotional pattern] is very different from mere intellectual understanding—it involves the emotional brain. It takes much persistent practice, cultivation of the ability to bring awareness to what had been unconscious behavior, and sustained effort to try out the new way of thinking and acting despite its initial awkwardness and relapses into old habit.”
Since I was targeted in what I wanted from this book, I did find Part I & IV a bit verbose. I found myself skimming past these sections. If you are interested in attachment theory and the conversations that Brene Brown has on shame, this might be up your alley of interests.