Episode 401 – Inspired by Rilke’s poetry A Walk My eyes already touch the sunny hill. going far beyond the road I have begun, So we are grasped by what we cannot grasp; it has an inner light, even from a distance- and changes us, even if we do not reach it, into something else, which, hardly sensing it, we already are; a gesture waves us on answering our own wave… but what we feel is the wind in our faces. – What a fascinating poem, my friends – Welcome back – We are starting out our 400 series of episode and I am excited – When I look though my episodes, I always look at them in the series of 100 – Each series has something unique going on and I shared a lot of that with you in episode 400 – So I cannot wait what this series will bring – My hope is always that I get better – that my content becomes more valuable for you o Easier to understand o More relatable o And most of all – applicable o Ideas you can use and motivation that can help you become better – And this is why I decided to make a change – Over the last few weeks I have realized that 5 episodes are tough for me to do o 5 good episodes o With content that is high quality – I can do 5 episodes – But they are not always the best of what I am capable of doing because often I am in a time crunch – So – I decided to cut down – This is not easy for me – I am really tied to my 5 episodes because I want to be there with you every day and inspire you – But I realized that quality is more important than quantity – 5 episodes a week is tough – Even when I have them all written, I cannot always get them all out in time – And I also know that you have busy lives and are not always able to listen to all 5 every single day – So – I made the decision – with some input from fellow podcasters – to cut down to 3 episodes a week – o Monday, Wednesday and Friday you will have a new episode in your podcast app or your inbox if you subscribe to my RSS feed – Nothing else will change – These episodes may now be a slightly longer because I will have a bit more time to dig deeper into subjects that require it – But not always and not by a lot – And here is the good part: – I have recorded 400 episodes – They are all out there and available for you – So if you are ever in need for more of QFY – and I would love if you are – then you have hours and hours of inspiration and motivation waiting for you – You can go to my website and click on the podcast page – And in the search box you can type any topic that interests you and the episodes related to it will come up – With 2 fewer episodes to record per week I hope to have some time to make a few changes that have been on my mind for a while – I will share them with you o One – I want to group episodes by subject on my website better so you can find them easier o Two – I would really like to start interviewing people  As my network of amazing human beings grow, its my deep wish to bring their voices out and share their stories with you o And Three – I need to promote my podcast to a wider group of people  I have been talking about this since I started QFY and have done very little  Mostly due to time – So – there you go – There are more things I want to do but these are probably the most important ones – – – Today’s poem has been on my mind for a few days now – Let me read it again – Its not the easiest to understand so I want to take it apart: o Just a little bit o Normally I don’t like to add my interpretation to poetry o Poetry to me is art and that makes it subjective o I want everyone to take away from it what they need most for their life – So keep in it in mind o I am sharing my inspiration with you o Yours might be different and that is completely acceptable – When it comes to poetry from a German-speaking author, I always make sure I read the poem in German – Poetry is hard to understand as it is, so its important for me to read the original – Sometimes this helps me, sometimes it doesn’t – For this poem, I think the translation was done well – There is a rhythm and word play that Rilke has going on in the German version that doesn’t come across – But that’s understandable because the words translated don’t rhyme anymore – Its more important to get the gist of the poem across – The title – the walk is to me is symbolic for our life – A life in which we look forward – And where the imagination of the unknown pulls us o So we are grasped by what we cannot grasp; – I love this line – I have to say it in German o So fasst uns das, was wir nicht fassen konnten, – This rings so true – We are all walking towards something we cannot yet quite see – yet we are gripped by it o We work so hard for it o We sacrifice o We dream and aspire – With the hope to reach it one day – But even if we do not reach it, as Rilke says o and changes us, o into something else, which, hardly sensing it, o we already are; – i love this so much – to me – what he is saying here is that everything we dream about and wish for is already there – within us o not noticeable to us o a gesture waves us on o answering our own wave… – I would replace the word gesture with the word sign – It’s the word that Rilke uses in German – Meaning – we are think we follow signs in the distance, outside of us, when they are actually within us o We can follow our own signs o Everything is already there o We don’t need to look for it – And the key to the poem is in the last line o but what we feel is the wind in our faces. – Gegenwind – is the German word for a wind that comes against us – It literally means against wind – Going against the wind is difficult – And that is how we experience life o As a struggle, as difficult – When the hill ahead of us is sunny – When what we should be doing is enjoying our walk of life o We only feel how hard it is – – I adore this poem – So few words – Yet so much wisdom – Everything is already there my friends – All the guidance we need for our life is within us – If we take your eyes of the problems and the difficulties, our walk may become more enjoyable – This is what I take away from this – In this is what I am inspired to do more of Much love