Paulien Rijkhoek is my name. Piodoor is the name of my (one woman) company, set up to make my work known to the world. Piodoor.nl is my website in Dutch.

I was born in 1968. I have an older sister, an older brother who had profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) and a younger twin brother who died in the womb. Since the autumn of 2009 I’ve been living in Oldenzaal, The Netherlands.

I love simplicity, depth and exploration in my life – and it is a nice challenge to brew something constructive and fruitful out of that mixture. With dreams and ambitions galore, I consider ‘the art of living’ to be (first of all) deeply satisfied with life as it is, and subsequently take the next step in the direction of new goals.

I enjoy looking at and experiencing all facets of life.
Well, to be honest, I do not enjoy feeling miserable – until I recognise what the internal issue is I’m being asked to look at. Then the joy of transformation is added to the experience.

So in essence, I enjoy both the bright and the shady areas, both love and fear, both light and darkness; because when we are willing to look at them and own all aspects of them, we evolve into the unity that lies within all apparent differences and polarities (see Leslie Temple Thurston and Lucia René on my Inspirations post for Woman & Earth).

Once I’m fully aware of what is going on, I can live and enjoy both the beginning and the end, experience both the joy of welcoming and the sadness of saying goodbye. Without the one, the other would not exist and vice versa: every aspect nourishes and enriches the following one, and all of it is flowing, circling, spiralling through our lives.

Whoever dares to flow along and change herself whenever it is called for, whoever dares to look inside herself to see what hinders flowing along and is ready to clear away the debris of living life from the unconscious, makes living easier on herself. After a while it becomes clear that all experiences and all changes, even the very painful ones, were worth living through.

Transmutation is a subject that has always interested me, and it is the shining thread through all the different things I love doing.