Especially for you! Really for me?

Years ago, I had a BlackBerry mobile phone from work. Day and night, I received many phone calls and text messages. That telephone was filled with many contacts, many of so-called "VIPs" from government and international organizations.

Here in Thailand for years already I have had a small prepaid mobile phone without a touchscreen. That device costs me around 60 Euro cents per month. There are only a few contacts in. My daughter, son, girlfriend, brother and sisters and only a few friends. My real VIPs in life.

Usually my cell phone rests on the shelf in the kitchen and not on my belt. Maybe I get a call in three or four days. Nobody bother me with phone calls from special promotions (I hate them) but ..., with a cheap subscription, I sometimes get a text message. As a kind of rabbit that is unexpectedly pulled out of a hat. This morning I received one again. 

When I discover that I received a message, I read it. I remove messages in Thai immediately because I cannot read them. And if they are really important, I have already learned that people know where to find me. Usually it's all about money.

Text messages in English usually start with: "Especially for you!" As a first sentence.

And as everyone understands, this is not true. There is nothing special for me in these messages, so I immediately delete them too after reading that first sentence, not wasting time reading the rest of the text. It's for sure another marketing campaign that begs me to buy specifically for the company that wants me to buy something that I don't really need at all. Maybe especially for them and certainly not for me. Like I wrote, I hate all these promotions.

In the same way if I have to buy something in a store that I really need. In many stores, employees come directly to me to tell me that they have a special promotion for me. Not what I want. Sorry about that and thanks.

There is nothing special in this for me personally. It is only about increasing the degree of consumption. Yes, it has everything to do with economics, but not with me.
Christmas is on it's way. At least one month again an hysterical marketing campaign to help people to buy things they do not need. Forgetting the basic story at all... 

Great to have an almost empty cell phone and a calm mind that absolutely does not encourage me to buy things that I don't really need. No unwanted rabbits needed. Only the ones I choose myself.  

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.

Nature has a lot to tell us. But ... Ants as an example

I'm definitely not a fan of ants in the house. On the other hand, I have to be honest about that, it is not them but us who are the invaders with our houses here in the beautiful paradise where I may live. It was their place they did not have to share with us before. But still ... please stay outside.

It is November 11, full moon. Thailand is celebrating ‘Loy Krathong day’ with its wonderfully beautiful culture. Among other things, honor is given to the water spirits as thanks for the rainy season (needed to harvest the rice) that is being closed.

Everyone knows what an enormous influence the moon has on our lives. And a full moon usually gets full attention. Here in Thailand it is always a so-called Buddha day.

Almost all of the lessons from the great teacher Buddha (not a God) come from nature. It is known that nature was the main source of inspiration for the Buddha. Whether we all see what nature has to tell us and what we learn from it, is increasingly a question for me. We run our rat races. Even more than ants, incidentally, who have a fantastic rhythm of variation in their work and rest pattern and take over jobs.

Talking about those ants.

As usual, my dog ​​jumps on the step of my scooter every morning, (yes, this is Thailand) to go to a daily changing place in the area for a long morning walk. This Loy Krathong day we went to the forest behind my house to a large lake where there is a road to a temple on the hill behind us. A beautiful place and a beautiful route to listen, to stand still, to watch and to smell. Every time different. Also this Loy Krathong day again.

Ants were winding at various places along the road. Thousands in a row in fixed patterns. Really great and amazing to observe. And this time, new to me, most of them carried an ‘egg’. At least, I thought so.

It looked like a train full of white dots. Talk about team spirit, management care, leadership, and so on. It inspired me and I wondered why it was precisely today that the procession was not only black but speckled. And not in one place but on the way to that temple several of those moving long tracks with white dots.

I wondered what it meant to say and tried to discover in the encyclopedia called the internet.

Twice I got a kind of "Whooow" moment and feeling.

First of all, I learned that those ants, indeed under the influence of that full moon and the end of the rainy season, brought their eggs back to their "winter resort". In this climate, this is a space that is more comfortable for them, but runs a risk of being flooded during the rainy season. Clever!

I returned with my camera, which I had forgotten this morning, to capture it. Those ants with their "eggs."

My second Whooow moment came when I looked deeper at the pictures I took on my laptop. I hadn't noticed it on the spot itself. Those ants did not carry eggs at all but, like dogs and cats, their babies in their mouths. And the (orange) toddlers could walk themselves.

It was a huge baby transport to a better place that I had spotted. And think about it that each of these babies also have their own identity and uniqueness. Actually, bad the way I deal with the ants who enter my house…

No wonder that Buddha was so inspired by nature. Glad that I am starting to notice more and more since I live here. Great life lessons in moving with your lifestyle (actually changing it) by reading nature and learning from it. And yes, you need to stop running your rat-race to be open for that.

Incidentally, there were fewer tracks in the 12^th of November, and those that were there were "just" and “only” black again.

In this context, it is sad to see how we, and I too belong with my car and scooters belong to that we, with our ‘just throw it away if you cannot use it any more’ culture, are dealing with our magnificent nature. Just leave your rubbish for the next generations ... And yes, this can be individual change of behavior (first) and also (worldwide) cooperation. There are no curtains around countries in relation to for instance air pollution.

Walking the same Loy Krathong day another trail in the forest it made me sad to see this for instance. Not done!

Maybe an idea to enjoy nature a little more often, to be aware, and especially to learn and mirror your own lifestyle. Every season has his lessons. Certainly, again in Europe the beautiful autumn that houses many wonderful stories and lessons.

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.

People come into our lives for a time, for a reason, and we are changed for good.

Mid-October my seventy-two-year-old German neighbor moved. She lived two houses away from me for about two and a half years. We had a lot of contact. Walking in the forest with my dog, I was thinking this morning about how a huge number of people have passed by in my life. What the reasons were and what all this longer or shorter business and private relationships brought. And be sure, of course, not just only for me. All these people (and for me even animals) and contacts had an impact. They changed me for good.

If you think about it for a moment, everything has a reason and nothing is forever. For example, television series like the Flintstones or Popeye the sailor man from my youth have made way for new things now. And these new things now, are also temporary again because there will certainly be new ones.

The similarity I see in all those people I have come across at school, during internships, in the hospitality branch, during courses, in service clubs, in my work in the Netherlands and abroad, during crisis and disasters, during retreats and life-coaching, and in my private life, is that they all are or were a life development direction indicator for me. For a shorter or longer time our individual lifepaths merged.

Fortunately, I look back on many good encounters. Actually countless. If I take the time to think back I still very, very much still remember many of them.

Lesser ones of course I also had. Such as in Barneveld (The Netherlands), where I was allowed to work for a while and where our family was confronted with religious discrimination and an attempt to kidnap me. Or in the province Zeeland (The Netherlands) where, in my eyes and at least in the period that I worked there, in the so called ‘higher’ levels of decision makers, the grant factor to succeed was regularly missing, and were island culture and played ‘power games’ played an important disguised role in organization developments. But whether they were really bad encounters? From my life development direction indicator that I just mentioned, actually they were not bad.

All those people and their encounters had and have a reason. And yes, those were and are double "for good". In a way to give direction to what is good for me and on the other hand because they have changed me for good, forever. They all were bricks to build my life-path to where I am now.

They have brought a lot. New visions of life for example. They opened windows and doors of life that I might never have opened on my own.

Great to meet new people (and animals) regularly and actually to let go of old contacts as well. It indicates that you are still growing and are also available to help others in their growth.

And yes, sometimes that makes me a bit sad. Especially with those who feel good, such as this German neighbor. And yet ... not complaining, but being thankful and grateful, and trusting that new doors and windows will open not only for yourself but also for the other persons to continue each life path.

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.

Great service from my Thai dentist. That's another way to do it.

Just like in the Netherlands, also here in Thailand, every six months I go to the dentist for my, as I always call it, periodic maintenance. Already seven years I use the same clinic. (https://www.facebook.com/RROMDDENTALCLINIC). Check & Clean and most of the time the dentist will immediately do minor treatments that are needed. My daughter Carlien also goes to the same clinic here when she comes to visit me from Perth (Australia).

Last week I discovered my last periodical check was from eight months ago. Two months later than normal. I just forgot to make an appointment.

Sundaymorning, November 3, on my way to church I passed the clinic. They were open as usual on Sundays and I walked in to make an appointment. Great, they just got free space the next day at 7 pm. Very quick.

It is a modern and busy clinic where six dentists practice and orthodontics is also done.

I was early last Monday evening. Measure blood pressure and wait in the filled waiting room.

Just after seven, "Khun Frans" was picked up. Entry of the treatment room always is a bit of a party because the entire chair has to be (automatically) rebuilt. 1.91 Meters high, most Thai don't reach. Two assistants and when everything was ready I got a green surgical cloth, with a hole in it for my mouth, over my head. Spotlight switched on and… checking. Feeling, pricking, fiddling, spraying with air and water (at least that is how it feels) and after a thorough inspection the rag went off again.

I received a compliment. Everything looked perfect and even cleaning would be nonsense. “My compliments. Your teeth are in excellent condition and you take great care of them. For me you can go home again. I don't have to do anything about this. If you get complaints then you know where to find us and otherwise, I would like to see you again in six months."

Really? Can I go home again? Nothing to do? Yep!

And at a quarter past seven I got on my scooter again on my way home.

Slightly surprised, I left the clinic again and greeted the friendly receptionist in her surgical cloths.

When I got home, I thought about whether I had understood everything correctly. I did not need any dental cleaning (who knows because I have been taking almost no sugar anymore for months), but work was done on me and didn’t I see things were immediately cleaned when I left?

It actually felt nice but not quite right.

And so, I decided to go back on Tuesday afternoon at five o'clock. The same receptionist in new operating clothes. I asked my question. She laughed kindly and said: “No, you don't have to pay anything. It's fine this way. See you in half a year. "
So in fact I only had to pay my own 'call-out costs' ;). 

Look, that's what I call great service. That's another way to do it…

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.

The different approach of the home doctor. Talking about the power of positive thinking.

A hard job, nowadays, to be a home doctor I guess. It seems to me to be energy draining to get over and over again people with all kinds of smaller and bigger ailments into your practice who have already swept the entire internet before their visit to discover what is wrong with them. As a doctor you get the cause and solution already thrown on your desk and you only have to say yes or no. At least, I have such a feeling and idea. To be sure and maybe because the on internet advised treatment is not fast enough, patients still stop by. And if you need medication you will need a prescription in most cases so you have to visit your doctor.

The focus is on the treatment of complaint or disease and you also want answers and solutions. Seems logical or not ...

I was recently having a chat and drinking a cup of coffee with a good acquaintance who lives nearby. He shared with me that he once for a couple of years had a relationship with a female home doctor. Someone with great knowledge, skills and above all feeling. Many times at that time he was surprised when she was the doctor in charge during a nightshift. She sometimes advised people to take a paracetamol and to see her or their doctor the next day. In other cases, apparently for him the same situations, she jumped out of bed and hurried to the patient. In retrospect, it almost always turned out to be the right decision. When he asked her about it, she always said it was her feeling. Great and, based on his story, in my eyes really a professional.

Yet she had something negative about him and her approach of situations, he continued his story. Besides being bossy, her basic attitude was thinking from a negative approach. From pessimism, fear, threat and from what could go wrong, instead of from optimism and trust in what was good and could even become better.

From his study, experience and background in coaching, he once told her the following story as an example.

If a patient comes to you with a disease, then you usually dive into, focus on it, just out of your professionalism. What would it be like if you listened to that story and first reacted in a totally different way you are used to so far? For example, someone has an upset stomach. As a doctor you could say to the patient (and not just only think): “Your lungs are good, your heart does not show any problems at first sight. Your eyes are not only beautiful but also very clear. You can hear me very well. Your body actually looks very good for your age. The grip of your hand when you gave me a hand is firm. So, in my eyes, basically are very healthy. And what does not feel good with your stomach?

The way he told me helped me to nearly laugh out loud. And yet ... yes, trying to imagine the energy of visiting the doctor was also in a positive way already different for me. And of course, it is true that most people who go to the doctor with an ailment actually in general are healthy. A lot of our ‘not feeling well’ has to do with our mind. Be sure I do not want to play down health treatments with this blog neither I am a doctor.

My friend said that his girlfriend that time also had to laugh heartily about the story. She decided to give it a chance and started to work with it. And directly it had visible results on her patients. During her yearly ‘fresh-up’ meetings with colleagues, she shared her story and experiences.

Indeed, part of looking at your work and the world around you and how you deal with it is in your nature. Has to do with your character. Or actually… not at all.

His story that he further shared with me was that she had learned it by herself without even knowing it. In the family in which she grew up, things were always looked at out of a negative approach and fear. From threat, danger and risk. She got used to this approach and did not know other ways to deal with. So now it was a matter of unlearning. Something that is really very possible. Not easy but possible.

Fortunately, I don't know many days in my life with negative thinking so far.

And in the land of the smile in which I can live here, in my eyes that is an extra profit.

There is (almost) always something positive, another possible turn you sometimes not immediately see, on the road that currently seems negative.

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.