Friday, October 31, 2014

The inspiration of a mountain



I remember my dad as always inspired by mountains. During the summer holidays we often went to a place, Oud Valkenburg - part of Schin op Geul municipality- in the south part of The Netherlands. He felt home walking alone daily for a couple of hours in the forest and on the top of the hills. When I was older, together with him, I went to Austria, his favorite country because of again… the mountains.

Living here in Thailand already for a while, every day I work and live with nature. Nature for me is inspiring, a new bond. And, learning more about Buddhism, also the Buddha got a lot of his teachings out of the connection with nature. The only thing was that he took his time to watch, feel, smell, taste and hear nature and to be aware of the energy of nature. When you are inspired by nature, nature is an easy example and mirror of how to live life.

With some guests we took the time to enjoy a mountain / hill (see the picture) and waited till inspiration touched us. A wonderful experience I want to share with the help of a so called ‘Dhama talk’ we used.

We mentioned that mountains are still, stead-fast and durable. They are solid and reliable.

From moment to moment mountains are expressing through nature. They are connected with the earth. They are stable. They are going on with lives. They are an expression of nature marching on. And also they are from one day to the next continuing the presence. And from one season to the next their appearance changes in the same way that the appearance of somebody taking one step after another is changing. The clouds which role over the mountain tops interact in harmony. Just like the footsteps when we walk on the path.

Mountains are present in the landscape. They accept everything. Mountains don’t hide when snow and ice comes. When it rains or when the baking sun beats down. And when people trample all over them, or drop litter on them, the mountain just accepts that. This does not say you do not have to pay respect to nature. But the mountain, without complaint, accepts life completely as it is.

We got the in-sight for ourselves; Don’t try and hide from the truth of situations. Respond appropriately. Accept the fact that you are free to do whatever is right and good. And you should be fearless in doing of what is right or good. Just as a mountain is fearless. Become mountains for each other. Be solid, pleasant, trusted and reliable for each other.

And yes. There are always two sights. There is light and dark in all things. Mountains are not all fluffy. They are not all love and light. There can be dangerous places. There can be avalanches and mud slides and temperatures going very low. And in a way it’s the same with life too. Life can have dangers. And we need to respect that fact.

So, maybe, next time you see a mountain or hill… take some time to stand still and be inspired. 

Frans Captijn
Host / Catalyst / Talenteer at Captijn Insight

Captijn Insight“Catalyst in your process to new sustainable flow. Whether you are an individual, couple, team or an organization.” 
captijninsight@gmail.com



Friday, September 19, 2014

What do you desire? Be the change - as a student, young potential, young professional - you want to see in this world. Discoveries in a Boot Camp Thailand.

What do you desire? What makes you itch? Hold for a while!

Lots of people do things they do not like doing in order to go on living that is to go on doing the things they do not like doing… Isn’t this stupid?

Do not spend your life in a miserable and most of the time unengaged way. A waste of (life)time. Use your intelligence and be the change you want to see in this world.



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"Praiseworthy you work with mouth to mouth recommendation but you are not at all serving the (academic) world with this policy. 
Please spread and share the news of these enriching and inspiring opportunities you give in Thailand now. 
Promote these Boot Camps to Mastery programs as longing goals/awards - or just as an excellent challenge - to universities, colleges, students & young potentials and, maybe in a slight different way, to young professionals. 
Lend your hand, experience and inspiration to them to host them. 
Motivate and help them to be much more prepared and anticipated to take responsible (further) steps in their career and life and to stay true to themselves.”

Words from a University professor. What to say when you are not a screaming salesperson? So why not use, for one time, my blog for this and try to give a helping hand with our Boot Camps to Mastery? Addressed? Feel invited to read on.


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Take a seat, hold for a while and be honest to yourself.
Ask yourself the, maybe on first sight strange, question: “What do I want to do when money was no object? How do I really want to spend my life? Stop the immediately appearing ‘But…’ in your mind for a while, Imagine yourself spending your life in a free and happy way, after all, earning enough money to really live your life.
After all… if, with all your (latent) talents and gifts, you do really like what you are doing you can eventually become a master in it. The only way to become a master first is getting to know yourself better. For sure there is much more value hiding in you. With this insight find and stay really with what you want. Be engaged and follow your mission. Then you are able to get a good payment for whatever it is.

As a (nearly) graduated student or young potential you, build up knowledge and first expertise, life experience and competence. You are ready for the first steps to take in a career you think.
As a young professional you already took the first steps into a career. Now you came to a natural point to start asking yourself; “This is it...?, What’s next...?”.
All natural moments to stop for a while, sit still, make up your balance sheet, and to discover what you really want to do. For sure you want to share the best, your full potential, with the world, continue growing and live a joyful life. Did you already find the way to your Mastery to make this process easier and sustainable?

Mastery, for us, is a loose and involved form of competence out of inner wisdom. Mastery goes beyond 'expertise', 'life experience', ´knowledge´ and ´competence´. It is an attitude of personal freedom. One of 'you are who you are' in an environment that allows and appreciate you to be exactly that way. It would be regrettable for yourself and those around you not sharing your full potential. 

Open your doors and take steps to mastery! A call to adventure and discovery to create the situation you like.

Want to know more? 
Feel free to contact (also if you do not identify yourself with the mentioned group) and/or download one of our brochures:

Frans Captijn
Host / Catalyst / Talenteer at Captijn Insight

Captijn Insight“Catalyst in your process to new sustainable flow. Whether you are an individual, couple, team or an organization.” 
captijninsight@gmail.com



Friday, August 15, 2014

Buddhism is no religion. Do not believe it. Find out yourself and trust.



I think it’s a pity a lot of people still think Buddhism is a religion and because of this do not want to make any connection with it. A lot of times during our programs guests show their amazement when I tell about this life-philosophy or way of life and tell them that Buddhism has nothing to do with a God or a believe. Buddhism has to do with the understanding of our mind. So in that way you can understand it's not a religion.

The English version of Wikipedia says it is a nontheistic religion. Does this mean a kind of religion that has nothing to do with religion? I don’t know. But it is no religion. From the outside it maybe seems to be a religion because of the way how monks an laymen praise their teacher, the Lord Buddha. But the Buddha was a prince (Siddhartha Gautama) and his father a king, so not a God. You do not pray to the Buddha in the way “Please Buddha give me this or that...”, asking for something. The teaching of the Buddha is to be creative and find yourself a way to solve the problem and make it an opportunity. Life is about doing good things and not to do bad things. 

You honour the Buddha and thank him for his wise life teachings he gave to help us to stop suffering or to suffer less. The Buddha did not give strong rules but a lot of guide lines with the freedom of your own choice to follow them. You can see them as an advise. It gives you the possibility to find out yourself. So you do not have to believe any longer but you can fully trust. When you do not trust yourself, who can you trust? Isn’t it?

Following a class at the Buddhist University the teacher (Monk) gave an explanation about the Buddha image. He told the meaning of the big ears is just to remember you to be much more aware with all your senses. To be much more connected to the present moment and take the time to discover the truth of situations instead of only your truth. The ears show not to believe but to find out yourself. When you follow the guide lines you are free of suffering and will be happy. But, do not believe, find out yourself.

The Buddha was not a Buddhist (as Jesus wasn’t a Christian). They both were / are big life teachers. A kind of role model how to live a good (not only I, I, I, me, me, me,...) life.

Buddha was inspired by nature. And being in nature myself and taking the time to work with my senses even more, I cannot even imagine but I totally understand. Life is nature and knows for instance the rhythm of the seasons. Nature shows how easy it can be to let go and to invite new things to come (a leaf falling down during autumn and the new bud already appearing for spring next year).
Mountains, for instance, you can see as an example to be stable, stead fast and reliable. A mirror to accept life as it is. Storm on a lake can show you that even the hardest wind, to compare with twist and turns in your life, only touches the surface of the lake. When you go a little bit deeper it’s motionless silent. So it’s an invitation to find your inner silent and peaceful place. The characteristic of water can be a parallel to stay unchanged yourself. Water has never been broken when it falls down into a waterfall. And so forth... 

The teaching of the Buddha (in my own words) is: “The past is history, the future a mystery and the present moment can be a present when you are aware.” Working as a professional fire chief I met a lot of (passed away) people on the spot of a fire or accident who left their houses before saying “See you...!” But unfortunately this became not to be the truth. What’s the worth of your life when you have only 20 minutes to live? What do (did) you really possess / have? Did you really live life?

Thich Nhat Hahn, a Vietnamese Monk (for me a master) uses great words. He says: “You have an appointment with life and the only moment you can touch life is here and now in the present moment. When you are not aware of the present moment, you miss your appointment with life.”

The ‘Western world’ is a world of ‘doing’, the ‘Eastern world’, among other things with the Buddhism as an assistance, a world of ‘being’. I do not romanticise the Eastern or Western world. But in my opinion it’s good to also know, and especially to experience, the Eastern World (and the Buddhist ethics) as an option to have to live life in a different, more engaged way. For me a way of experiencing free choices and freedom of living.

Not having a single insight in Eastern culture and wisdom? No problem. Do not believe me. Just wait and I hope sometime, like me, you will get the chance to discover and start living instead of only running again.

Because I am bold a lot of people think I am a Buddhist, but I am not. For me it’s a relief to find out more about Buddhism to have a choice, to encounter there is more to live a free life and to use in my role as a Catalyst and Talenteer to serve the people who join my classes and our programs 

Frans Captijn
Host / Catalyst / Talenteer at Captijn Insight

Captijn Insight“Catalyst in your process to new sustainable flow. Whether you are an individual, couple, team or an organization.” 
captijninsight@gmail.com



Friday, July 11, 2014

Young people already suffering from a burn-out. What went wrong and also the good news.


In a short period of time I have met three people, under 30, who were suffering from a burnout for at least one year. None the less remarkable and alarming. Not only because of the personal misery but also because of the economical loss.

A man from Europe, a young woman from America and another from Vietnam. In my opinion no exceptions that proves the rules. People I meet here from Singapore and Hongkong also know about this kind of suffering. When I listen to their stories I ask myself 'do these people know what living and life is all about'?

In a situation of a burnout, without even knowing or realizing, you enter a situation step by step that you aren't in control anymore. You have lost yourself. You are 'living' almost entirely out of your head. You are, in a holistic way (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and causal (your relation with your environment)) out of balance. The mind can try to force you to do all kind of things but the physical body will call that to a stop. There is no more energy. You gave too long too much without recharging. Your battery is low and damaged and it doesn't recharge sufficient any more.

What went wrong? 
Anyway what I found out, with my guests, was that they (slowly) didn't do the things they liked and loved anymore. They left their talents and gifts and missed the real engagement with work. Without even noticing they lost sight of their own dreams and started to serve the ideas of what they thought the needs and desires of their environment were. To determine these desires and ambitions. On competition, their interpretation of responsibility and care, their ego (not to fail) and wanting too much (sometimes even being greedy).

In addition, the practice of the interpretation, of the definition of the first so inviting job, was different than they had imagined. The environment (habitat) was energy draining them. 
They had to work more and more in their perception, and made more ​​hours to get the work done. Time to recharge by choosing for themselves and to just breathe again, vanished. Life priorities were pushed into the background. Boon-factors missing. There was a downward spiral in which they all put everything they had just to prove themselves. They came in a state of "live to work" rather than "work to live".

In short, they got themselves lost, without noticing. The final result ... both in private and business a lot of negativity, a total disturbed balance, a waste of time, energy, and in a business perspective also a big destruction of capital.

The good news. 
During our conversations we discovered that health, from an holistic approach, is a fabulous thing. When one of the elements does not get enough attention, automatically one of the other elements will jump in and tries to regain the optimal balance again. That’s, although you went on with taking too much of your energy for a protracted time, the good news. So, you get the opportunity to learn!



You should however open up to it. And thereto it just fails. You suppress or simply forget to feel in the 'rat race' that you are in. You need to be aware of your feelings. Finally the situation drains all your energy away and brings you in a state of ´out of order´.

And if you are lucky enough to get 'stopped' in a natural way – even if you don't accept it at first as naturally- (instead of being part of a fatal situation),then there is no other choice than to stand still. It is no longer your decision.
However.....it is your choice how to deal, with the now existing situation.

How do you use this time of being ‘on hold’. There is no escape. The only way is to start accepting the situation and to open up for experiencing the things that arise and learn. You could compare this situation with the metaphor of the seasons. See the autumn as a period to prepare for the new spring.

Often it seems you have to accept the circumstances as inevitable and uncontrollable. You feel unable to change the situation. But you can ‘turn around’ a situation. A lot is tantamount to your own convictions, faith in yourself and anything that gives you inspiration and you put in your energy (again). Perhaps the only thing that happened is that your stage of growth and development is no longer bound by the stages in your work or personal life. And, in retrospect, you had a lot to do with it but only were not aware of the changing situation. Now another bit of good news. From now on you can build wisdom and build up a more sensitive intuition. You can find the things that really matter in your life again. You can learn to be proactive so you can anticipate to a changing situation in a much earlier stage, and stay in charge.

It is like dealing with loss. Not time or acceptation give the primary positive effects but, on the contrary, the way you can adapt to the changing circumstances (sooner).

If you can welcome, with understanding and desire to learn from it, the period of long-term absence of yourself properly, you may discover the treasure that is hidden in it. Once you have a new, fresh, perspective, you can see the complicated interrelationship within the big picture. Your, perhaps new, added value for both yourself and to others.

Don't lose yourself again. The ultimate damage can be much bigger or even irreparable. 

Frans Captijn
Host / Catalyst / Talenteer at Captijn Insight

Captijn Insight“Catalyst in your process to new sustainable flow. Whether you are an individual, couple, team or an organization.” 
captijninsight@gmail.com