Guidelines for a life of joy and creativity

Transforming trauma into inner peace

This manifesto is about taking life into my own hands. The Art of living my own best life. In connection with who I truly am. Freeing my Self is a lifelong journey of deprogramming my mind of our cultural, societal, and familial conditioning, purifying my body of toxins and re-connecting with my inner child. I have fallen into patterns. And mistaken it for my identity.

I am. My life is… the work of art

Practising life art means being radically aware of your power to shape your experiences, relationships, and aspirations. Like an artist, we select our colors of emotions, draw lines of purpose, and blend shades of growth.

Be you!

To realize its nature, the acorn becomes an oak tree. It grows into the majestic tree already contained within it. According to Aristotle, man’s goal is to realize himself, to unfold his potential and bring his virtues to full bloom. Every human being has within him/her/them the seed of something great, a potentiality that can be brought into reality through effort, reflection and experience. For the acorn, it is the right conditions that bring about growth. For man, it is a conscious choice: it takes courage and commitment to find his/her/their path, to develop him/herself/themselves and realize his/her/them full potential. Do you choose to consciously be and get down to business?

Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.

pablo picasso

El genio maltratador

How to live your best life

Decide what you want
Feel the energy of your desire
Visualize your desire… in a work of art (write, draw, paint, collage…)
Be aware of your limiting beliefs
Break through the fear
Believe in your ability to manifest
Take inspired action
Allow the process to unfold – trust the process and divine timing

I am art, you are art, we are art

I love these words by Marianne Williamson:

You have witin you the seed of perfection. You have within you a divine blueprint. By which you are lifted up above and beyond any lack in the world. You are already programmed to achieve, to do something of genious.

What are we waiting for to express our authentic selves?

Art as therapy

Selfportrait without face – 1994

Body image disturbance

I have never lived in my own body. Since my early childhood, I have been inhabiting my body like a cheap motel on my way somewhere else. My spaceship never really landed on planet Earth. By the age of 17, I was convinced I had saggy breasts and a disproportionately fat belly and fat ass. Body image disturbance (BID) is a common symptom in patients with eating disorders and is characterized by an altered perception of one’s body. In retrospect, I was never really overweight. Not as a child, not as a teenager. I was depressed, and I had a distorted self-image. I drew my discomfort in this body (see Selfportrait without face – 1994). Be careful what you wish for: in 2016, I actually had the body that I drew in 1994! And then, I decided to fully own my creation.

Muriel Van Peteghem at DUS in Doka Volkshotel Amsterdam 2016 © Ernst van Deursen

Occupying space

For the first time, I talked about these experiences on a stage. And how art kept me going. To express myself and to transform the pain and bad memories into healing. It was both an indictment and an ode to the body.

“In an artistic ego document, Muriel Van Peteghem reflects on ‘la condition humaine’. How does our body limit us or, on the contrary, give us freedom? Can we occupy more space on Earth and conquer the universe?”

This is my church. This is where I heal my hurts

Faithless

God is a DJ

Art and activism

Dam Square Amsterdam, 8 March 2022

I am angry. I have no words. I am a woman. I stand in solidarity.Every 8 days, a (trans) woman is murdered in The Netherlands. Worldwide, 137 women and girls are killed by a family member or intimate partner every single day, according to UN statistics (2021). What the f*** is wrong with us, humankind?

My manifesto