This is a story, in images and words, about the journey of healing after a heart attack.
In September 2000, I woke up from a dream of a malfunctioning red four-cylinder engine with these words in my head—you have heart problems.
In February 2001, from out of the blue, I experienced dizziness, nausea, difficulty breathing and chest pain. The world turned gray, and I had an emergency stent placed in my heart.
In November 2005, I experienced a massive heart attack and had to be medically evacuated by jet from Fairbanks to Anchorage.
Six weeks later, in desperation from depression, I began drawing and painting on the computer, inspired by images that came to me.
I had no previous experience making art.
Over the next nine months, I completed a series of 27 paintings.
In February 2007, something in me decided to spend the next forty days reviewing the paintings and posting a daily comment about them on a blog.
Each day I wrestled with how to express how the heart attack had affected me, and then finally posted an illustrative image and a short commentary.
In that intense process of thinking, painting, and writing, a profound spiritual awareness slowly emerged, transforming my perception of myself and the world around me.
This is the story of that alchemical transformation.