The growth of individualization

A few weeks ago, my girlfriend sent me a photo (see opposite) how she was waiting on the subway in Bangkok after her work. She travels by public transport (train, boat, metro and scooter taxi) and be sure you are not the only user in this metropolis.

During our evening chat she shared seeing this all around made her a bit sad. No face-to-face communication anymore and everybody running for him- or herself.

You need to stay connected with the (always already old) news. Don’t miss marketing promotions. Buy, buy, buy, and get more to become and stay happy. Show the outside world how happy you are and what type of life (many times with lots of invisible debts) you can afford to live. Showing You are part of the group, the system and at least try to be the best. It is me, me, me. In fashion, in health, in behavior, in relationship, and what so ever. Not even knowing and understanding you lost management of your life and are totally depending on outside impulses and move forward and respond to the untrue show of your environment.  

Visiting the pet shop now and then, I am always intrigued by the wrappers on a cans of pet food. I have to confess that on many of those cans the food looks absolutely terrific if not delicious. And then, when you open up the can… most of the times it is not exactly appealing on the inside. Even my dog does not like and so does not eat it. The outside of the can is certainly not what the reality is on the inside of the can. That’s for sure.

The picture my girlfriend sent me, more and more helps me to believe people are addicted and willing to be indulged by systems to become to be most wonderful individual wrappers sharing the most fantastic outside shows of their lives on the internet. Knowledge and experience of any self-reliance gone.

Sharing of the inside? Even if it still is appealing there, many are not available anymore to support others unless it brings some profit for themselves.

In a part of The Netherlands we have a word called; ‘Naoberschap’. The meaning is to have the responsibility to be available for the community you live in to share or give advice. Actually, to keep the group running together in a smooth way if troubles occur. No selfishness but being strong by caring together. Also, a great thing in situations of crises and disasters where creativity in cooperation, without internet, helps (no is necessary) to succeed in surviving.  

Don’t forget to invest in ‘Naobershap’. You may need it sometime and it is really living in a more connected way.

Gangey Gruma (Frans Captijn)

email: captijninsight@gmail.com 
Foto blog: http://franscaptijnhisworld.blogspot.com

Captijn Insight. Catalyst in developing tranquility & in-sight to get in a sustainable way real connection, purpose, pleasure and flow in life, love, family, business, career and work again.

Jobs with a golden future because of the "Smart Phone Neck"

Last week I heard a story that in Singapore, by the time many students get to secondary school, they have lost one to two inches in height. All this because their neck is rounded and they cannot hold their reads up straight anymore. And I think this is not only in Singapore but more an more a kind of worldwide 'evolution.

During my training to become a yoga teacher and before that during the Mentastic lessons (from Satsavya Mertens with the Träger approach) that I once followed in The Netherlands, I learned that the average weight of our head is between six and six and a half kilos (13 – 14,5 Pounds). If that head is in balance (if we look almost straight forward and let the head rest on the Atlas vertebra) we hardly or never stretches the neck muscles. The balanced weight then is directly transported by the spine to the feet and the earth. Something that costs no energy. “How light can it be?” Was the sentence that was often asked during the practical lessons. We almost all know the images of, for example, African women carrying heavy loads on their head. Apparently without any difficulty.

Once, during a lesson, as a comparison, we were asked how it would feel if you were walking around for sixteen hours a day with a bag of potatoes or rice of six kilos in your hand. After ten minutes you would put that bag away. As if there is nothing wrong and totally used to the feeling you do that on a daily base with your head. If you were to get about eight hours of sleep a day, there would still be about sixteen hours a day on which you keep your head balanced with your muscles and tendons.

My father, who was a physiotherapist and yoga teacher up to the age of ninety-three, had a lot of experiences with neck problems and how to solve them. “Sit (or stand) straight son!” I was told quite a bit when I was sitting (better to say hanging) on the couch reading a book or watching TV. Compared to now, those were only short periods of time. People nowadays continuously train their neck muscles in stretching and tensing up with that ‘dumb-bell’ (called head) hanging without even realizing it. It seems you can get used to neck pain and headaches.

Are you looking for a golden profession with future?

Jobs as Chiropractor, Posture Alignment Therapist, or for instance Orthopedic surgeon are jobs that can only be seen as (and remain) a gold mine.

Remain? Yes, at least for the time being. Who knows, maybe the technology comes with new toys, it is almost impossible that they have not already been invented, so that you can walk upright again still dealing with your smart phone.

If these toys will be launched, what a new world of possibilities and experiences will open up for many people. I am sure it will take time to get used to that world and experiences.

People are getting longer again. They look at each other again. An invitation to communicate and to see the existing world around them. And also a relief. After all, breathing is much easier with a head that just stands upright.

It will probably take a while till these new toys are there so if you still have doubts ... Chiropractor is not a bad choice, as long as you are not addicted to your mobile devices yourself of course. After all, you have to set a good example.

Gangey Gruma (Frans Captijn)

email: captijninsight@gmail.com 
Foto blog: http://franscaptijnhisworld.blogspot.com

Captijn Insight. Catalyst in developing tranquility & in-sight to get in a sustainable way real connection, purpose, pleasure and flow in life, love, family, business, career and work again.

Change your perspective and basic attitude of thinking and there is so much more that you can achieve.

I am sure at least it is ingrained in Eastern culture!

I am convinced that the majority of people assume that changes are not possible or at least hard to do and too risky. Their basic attitude of thinking is that changes cannot be made or that things or solutions are not available. It sometimes seems to me a kind of laziness.

For example, if you go to a hardware store here, it is really teeming with staff and if you ask if they have something you're looking for, the answer is almost invariably; "My mee" (No we don't have). Two shelves further in the same store you suddenly come across the article you are looking for yourself. Or you get an answer; "My dy" (No, that is not possible).

No, it is not something typically Eastern culture. For the vast majority of people, thinking from potential threats is much more deeply built in, call it rooted, than thinking from possibilities and especially opportunities. No, of course, it is not always possible to achieve everything you want. Many underlying issues are to blame for this. But still…

Even in photography you already learn that if you take a photo from a different angle or change your own point of view, you put things in a completely different light. Sometimes a true discovery of a different picture that makes photography even an art.

My dog ​​often helps me with this because there is a 130 cm height difference in how he and I look at the same world in a different way. And now and then going down on your knees, regularly produces surprising pictures.

Sometimes you just have to dare to look beyond borders, especially your personal borders. Yes, indeed, that might need some guts. Jumping into the so-called "deep" invites you to become creative and to look for ways to at least float, doesn't it? And from time to time that requires a considerable effort. It is also a personal journey of discovery.

And now say yourself and from your own experience. In retrospect, can you not usually be proud of yourself because you have taken that leap? No regrets. It opens up new possibilities and ... change is growth (although at first glance you may not see it that way).

'It's not possible!'? Stop that saying for a moment. At least do not start with it. Take a step back and start thinking from a different angle such as: "That could be a nice adventure and ... who knows!".

And I am not referring to a form of reckless behavior. Do show courage to take steps in your further development and growth or, as in the example above, to better understand your profession and to show and feel an attitude of genuine customer loyalty and support.

And with regard to the latter, after all, aren’t it your customers who bring your monthly salary. Something, for me, that does not say you have to treat of call your customers King. Just a normal customer relation is sufficient.

What creative people who act from a basic attitude of “Yes, I can” show in practice (I recently received this photo as an example from my daughter from Australia) is that, from a different perspective and a little creativity, much and much more can be done and achieved than you ever thought possible.

And it also even brings you many times some money.

Gangey Gruma (Frans Captijn)

email: captijninsight@gmail.com 
Foto blog: http://franscaptijnhisworld.blogspot.com

Captijn Insight. Catalyst in developing tranquility & in-sight to get in a sustainable way real connection, purpose, pleasure and flow in life, love, family, business, career and work again.

For your right (new) living environment, if you want to move or emigrate, you have to feel at home three times.

A guest from Singapore with whom about 1½ year ago I worked with about discovering his talents, gifts & life mission, visited me here again. He had already taken some solid steps in his discovered purpose of life.

In "the hero’s journey - as I always express it - he had now come to the point of devoting more attention to the for him right living environment. Born in Taiwan, he had lived, studied, and worked in many places in the world. Maybe it's time to settle down now he explained to me.

In the dialogue that arose about his right living environment, we discovered that you should actually be able ‘to come home’ three times. It is very easy to make a list in which you will put pluses and minuses in relation to various places where you could or would like to live. And yet in practice it appears that that doesn't work at all. Usually that list includes rational matters and sometimes emotional matters. And although you could add a + or a - factor to that and calculate the outcome, it still doesn't work. Surprisingly, for example, you will discover that culture is not comparable. With work offerings exactly the same. And what about starting to live further away from your family if you are family oriented? Really also every different matter has a kind of quality factor and those quality factors are different for everyone. The surprise lies in the fact that if you were to look at the results of that rational list, you would start to laugh. The outcome, most times, does not at all feel good. Do you read? FEEL good?

Not surprising because the right environment for you, the older you get, increasingly has to do with feeling and not with reason. With your connection and interaction. With the energy that you experience in a new place.

The more you avoid the influence of that feeling, actually give less attention to feeling then to ratio, the sicker you make yourself. And when you are young you are often much more flexible in accepting (or how you can deal with this) than when you get older. And here too the statement gets for that everything you give attention grows. So, if you consciously want less of a specific disruption or energy draining, then those disruptions stand out much more and more often. They increasingly grow making you step by step less comfortable.

The right environment for you is all about "feeling at home". And so, that’s a feeling and not a reasoning or rational approach to what you think is best for you.

We discovered that if you really want the most optimal and fitting living environment for yourself, you have to be able to come home three times. And you can make all these three steps simple or sometimes less simple. A lot depends on yourself. Your own alignment and attitude. I will come back to this a little later.

1. Feel at home in yourself

2. Feel at home in your house or room

3. Feel at home in your living and working environment

Feel at home in yourself

Feeling at home in yourself has a lot to do with knowing who you really are and knowing yourself both inside and out. Taking time for yourself, how you feel, where that feeling comes from, standing still for a moment, taking sufficient rest, keeping yourself in mental and physical balance are important parts in this.  And you can easily work on it yourself. A matter of making choices. For example, meditation can be helpful in this.

Feel at home in your house or room

Feeling at home in your house or room has to do with your private place (at least I hope you have this privacy somewhere). How is it arranged, what kind of things in that space make you feel at home there? What gives you energy in that space, what peace or maybe even the unrest if you need it. What keeps you in balance. Is it cleaned up or just a mess (it's just what you feel most comfortable in)? And believe it or not. Your house or room and how it looks, especially from the inside, offers the mirror of who you really are. It is very easy to enrich the energy inside a house or room. You can do that with the help of light & darkness, with color, decorations, plants, furniture, even crystals, etc. It doesn't have to cost a lot and it doesn't have to be all new. Maybe, so far, you are not even aware what a tremendous influence the space in which you live has on how you feel and your wellbeing. Again, it is all about feeling, energy. Often within a few weeks you really can feel a total change...

Feel at home in your living and working environment

Feeling at home in your living and working environment is often more difficult to change. Indeed, you could change jobs or move. These are often somewhat rigorous measures. And yes, they work great. By the way, know that in a different job or residential location you will eventually find something new that may bother you and still... change on regular times does not have to be a bad thing...

You can also make better use of your living and working environment. For example, if you feel good in nature, why not go along or through that park in your town or village or go jogging in the forest instead of through the streets when you go to work?

Your own alignment and attitude towards moving and your new environment

A different living environment brings many new influences. Certainly, if you were to emigrate. Cultural competencies ‘walk in’ as well.

Cultural Competence means understanding, adapting, accepting, and appreciating the new area or maybe even country and its people.

If you resist, complain, compare, and avoid, you’ll miss your former country because you are gone, and you will miss the joy, discovery and adventure of the new place/country because you are not really there either. 

I have been able to live and work in many places. Just discovered I already six times bought a new house in my life and I am in the mood of change again. Where I live now in Thailand gives me the feeling of being at home three times. And that brings a feeling of happiness (peace of mind). I sleep well, I live and do my activities with great pleasure, I enjoy everything around me intensely and I feel especially healthy. And the latter, I know, is and always will be only a kind of snapshot. In a split-second, things can change.

And that is why I always go to sleep with a thank you and gratefulness of getting again another day. A day with again a great LIVE experience in the for me great LIVING environment here.

Gangey Gruma (Frans Captijn)

email: captijninsight@gmail.com 
Foto blog: http://franscaptijnhisworld.blogspot.com

Captijn Insight. Catalyst in developing tranquility & in-sight to get in a sustainable way real connection, purpose, pleasure and flow in life, love, family, business, career and work again.

No agenda, no watch, no smart phone, no social media and still alive

Yes, it was a tough change. My life once was ruled by my agenda, filled with appointments by my secretaries, and the clock. No, the "social media" did not really rule my life the last years in The Netherlands, and yet without being aware it consumed more and more time every day. You could often only make appointments with me six weeks ahead and thinking back of this I wonder if I really had some free time.

My neighbor came to catch up last week and we both had a coffee. He had a construction company in America. He casually remarked that he could no longer imagine how he ever could cram all his activities he had to do successfully in the time frame of one day. When I thought about that, the same feeling occurred to me. It was more than ridiculous. My agenda determined my life and step by step the 'free' and private moments were even filled in with breakfast-, lunch- and dinner meetings. Just madness I accepted!

For over seven years I don't have an agenda and do not wear a watch anymore. No "social" media for about two years now. No more so-called ‘network contacts’ that can address me directly. It created rest and peace of mind. I also no longer needed an agenda. My head is enough ‘empty’  that I can just remember myself the few appointments that I have or make. And if they are very, very far ahead ... then I have an (almost empty) calendar on which I can post something.

How could I ever live a life like I did? Being able to do so much in one day, as my neighbor commented, as I once did? 
They call it busyness here. And whether it was all really effective and efficient, solved something and served higher goals? I wonder more and more. And yes, you were known, or at least you thought so. Perhaps in your very limited environment in which you lived and worked. You fool yourself a lot only thinking how important you are.

For me it is great to have no agenda, no watch, no i-phone, no goals that should be achieved, across "social" networks. Dependence gone. Space to breathe and live life. And every day (fortunately) still goes by.

Thinking about this huge change in my life and lifestyle, maybe I fit more now in the nearly timeless culture of rural Thailand. Many people there choose not to own watches or clocks. The actions of the sun and moon dictate life much more over here, not the tick-tocking of a clock. People get up in the morning when dawn breaks, have lunch mid day when the sun is at its highest, prepare the evening meal as the sun goes down, and turn in for bed once the sun has set and darkness descended. Even in our urban areas, time keeping by the minute is not part of the culture. Maybe hard to believe and, yes, it took some time for me to get used to it. As a result of all this, there is non of hurrying around or stress of the Western way of life to get things don 'on time'.

The great thing is that in the evening, just before going to sleep, taking a moment to look back on the day ... then every time again I discover my day was simply full. I can remember what I all did. I had (or took) time for the things I did. No rush and ... those people who for whatever reason really want or wanted to connect me... they still know how to easily find me and how to connect with me.

In retrospect, it can be so free and simple when you step out of the system. In my experience it offers you more quality of living life.

Gangey Gruma (Frans Captijn)

email: captijninsight@gmail.com 
Foto blog: http://franscaptijnhisworld.blogspot.com

Captijn Insight. Catalyst in developing tranquility & in-sight to get in a sustainable way real connection, purpose, pleasure and flow in life, love, family, business, career and work again.