Salto Mortale - The practice of dying and living - poetry podcast laughing brook
| | | | | |

Salto Mortale

ByPeter Müller

There is a curious thing: When I hold life very tightly, everything becomes a rather tiresome and exhausting affair. When on the other hand I hold things loosely, I may discover that things seem to come to me without me really doing a lot. This doesn’t mean I’m passive.
The way to this direction leads through most unlikely doors of which death is an essential one. The tiny deaths we have to die in our life, and sometimes ugly big ones, allow us to prepare. Facing death brings a most remarkable insight.

Thru That Darkest Door - A colorful beaming cloud over a black ocean
| | | | |

Thru That Darkest Door

ByPeter Müller

Following my inner calling can lead me down a most adventurous path, and part of that journey is death – not necessarily physical death, but the death of something in my life. J. R. R. Tolkien put those oracle words into the mouth of Gandalf, “It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”
Such a quest for your inner calling frequently leads to desperate moments in which I question everything and have a sense of being completely lost, in which I feel like a complete failure. This ”dark night of the soul”, as the Christian mystic John of the Cross has put it, seems to be a necessary passageway on this journey to that fertile land of which my longing informs me. Nothing for the faint of heart! But, oh my, how very worth it is the trip, once you’ve arrived, and how so very much worth it do those dark moments feel in hindsight. So, come on, put all your chips on the table and come on board …

New Moon – a dark landscape
| | | |

New Moon

ByPeter Müller

What carries me through a personal crisis? Those moments, in which I am loosing familiar faces, places – really, loosing my home in the world. With no idea what’s next and how to move on. Disruptive moments can be scary, gut-wrenching, heart-wrenching.
Yet hidden in them lies, albeit often invisible, already this new life of mine. While everything inside of me wants to cling to my old ways, through a personal crisis life is asking me very unapologetically to come to it differently. As I turn towards this dark that has come upon me, there is a chance to discover something in this gloomy doom, a hidden treasure. Diamonds are made in intense pressure. And this moment of dark will pass, too. After all, new moon is the beginning of a new cycle. This is what transmutation is all about.

It takes a strong I to create – a splash of paint on a wall
| | | |

It takes a strong I to create

ByPeter Müller

The ego doesn’t have a good rep in our world, and we all know why. Yet, there is a place for ego to navigate through this world. It is, so to speak, the captain who runs the ship and takes care so we do reach our destination. Any destination. When used properly it is a great servant to help us realize what’s important to us and what we want to realize.
In no field is this more important then in art. The creative act is such a deeply personal act, as in its truest form in comes from deep within me. As an artist, I make myself vulnerable when I present my art. So the temptation is great to smooth things into a palpable, nice way. But to be true to your art can require you to be without compromise, to be daring, to be extreme. A strong ego, a strong I, is needed, to stay the course.

The colours lost their meaning
| | | |

The Colours Lost Their Meaning

ByPeter Müller

A broken heart is an injury just as much as a broken leg is. The heartache of a breakup or another kind of loss can throw us back at ourselves in a way few other things do. But there is something deeply healing about feeling the pain and sadness and letting the tears and cries flow. It helps us in letting go that which we have lost, the loved person that is gone now. A poem about loss.

Autumn - Life is an Art
| | |

Autumn

ByPeter Müller

Living my life fully is key to be able and let go gracefully when that final last goodbye comes around. It’s all about beauty. Rather than postponing life, it is good to ask yourself from time to time whether the life you are living is really the one you want to live. This is your one precious moment of being alive.
Living fully is not for the faint of heart. And yet, there is nothing like knowing you have followed your heart, your calling, your passion, your intuition.

Swan Song - a breakup poem
| | | |

Swan Song

ByPeter Müller

Breaking up with a loved one is a painful tragedy. And yet, how many great stories (and heartbreak poems…) are born from tragedies. When heartbreak is on, it can feel devastating. And there’s no sugarcoating, this is so hard to be with.
But it need not be the end of the story. This breakup poem is, really, a love poem about a greater love.

Der Weg
| |

The Way

ByPeter Müller

There is a magic in letting go. Because, really, it means stepping into the unknown and to boldly go where no-one has gone before. At least, where I haven’t gone before. And in this great unknown, trust is a key to create, to open doors that may have seemed unimaginable. Here’s an invitation…