Being in love wearing a paper face mask. (Corona) Flu madness and panic.

Last weekend, with my girlfriend, I was in Bangkok. I don’t follow the news but I noticed that almost everyone was wearing a mask. Finally they start to understand how to protect a bit against the raising air pollution I thought.

Well, that was a wrong idea. It seems that although air pollution increases with the year here, most people are no longer bothering about protecting against it. It’s all about earning money and what about your health?

No, it seemed there was a "Corona" virus outbreak in Wuhan in China and the virus was spreading. Where…? I had never heard of that place. Still a place where around 11 million people live close to each other. I blamed myself that I should have paid more attention to geography lessons in the past.

People were a bit in panic because in Thailand at that time some persons had already become sick and I was told that they kept them in quarantine.

In the subway, more than crowded, I was nearly the only one without a mask. A couple in love protected themselves against kissing and many people were afraid to stand close to Chinese persons. As if 1.4 billion people were sick.

My girlfriend told me that many people avoid shopping centers where many Chinese people are to keep the risk of getting infected by the virus as low as possible. The next day we went to Chinatown. Crowded most with Chinese people and us (not wearing a mask).

Do people still think or just only follow the crowd? Close borders? Avoid the Chinese? Wear a paper mouth cap against this virus? Who brings all those scary stories that make people mad and in panic in the world?

A wonderful thing I saw was a man who lowered his cap to smoke a cigarette. Really something to laugh.

Good times for the industry that produces these masks. They had just finished their work for producing the new air filters for the so-called 'air purifiers'. Now this masks cannot be dragged on. There is certainly a bonus at the end of the year for all the workers.

Memories of my previous work came back. And when I experience this again, the overkill in "safety" and the attempt to control everything is plans and on paper comes back in my mind again.

Not much was known about that Corona virus. Sure is it’s a so far unknown form of flu. So, a new flu virus. And with a paper mouth cap, unfortunately, you won't stop a virus infection. If you have to cough or sneeze and you wear such a mask, you protect your neighbor a little bit. And what about eye protection? Are your eyes not a mucous membrane that could pick up this virus? Walking around with a diving mask might be better.

It is estimated that 56,000 people die every year due to flu (source Wikipedia). And you don't hear me say that's okay. But, apparently just like with the air pollution here, we hardly worry about it. Now about 200 deaths from this new species in just a few weeks. Yes, still bad and sad. You do not want it will be your child, husband, wife or family member and yet ... does it bring any change in this total amount of those 56,000 people we nearly do not bother about?

The website Worldometers.info/coronavirus mentions different numbers. They say every year an estimated 290,000 to 650,000 people die in the world due to complications from seasonal influenza (flu) viruses. This figure corresponds to 795 to 1,781 deaths per day due to the seasonal flu. So what are we talking about?

And it's nice to read and hear on the Dutch news I was watching, that up to now there are no Dutch people involved ... What a crazy comment I hear so many times. Is it less painful or worse???

Just live in a normal way and as always take care of normal hygiene. And continue to enjoy that delicious Chinese food in restaurants, Chinatown and these beautiful people. Don't keep them outside the door. And don't forget to enjoy kissing without a mask when you are in love. 

And, wonderful social media but think first and do not believe all stories. Myths and facts (if it's true: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze-33EMoaFY

And for the people in Thailand, a mouth cap against air pollution is doing much better work than against this flu virus. So, keep wearing and even better ... stop burning. Good for yourself, your children and their children who still want to enjoy this wonderful world.

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.

Raising your child from distance

Let me start by saying that I am from a previous generation. Not as an excuse but more from the point of view of wonder, the learning of new things and yet also the mirroring.

Mid-January it was again the day of the year for me. The granting of my annual visa at the Thai immigration office in Chiang Mai. Last year it took an hour to complete, but due to organizational changes and again new rules, this time it took me seven hours and the next day I also had to go back for one more hour. The great news is that I can legally stay here for another year.

During the office lunch time I visited the nearby shopping center to escape the for a while the for me negative energy of many waiting visitors at that place. I feel pity with the staff who have to work there on a daily base.

In the mall I walked past a store and I saw a nice gift for my girlfriend's birthday. I went inside the store. A neat saleswoman of around forty years showed me what I liked. An I-phone on the desk showed me an around five-year-old boy sitting on a couch in front of the television. And he pressed something there what produced a kind of mooing cow sound in the store. A call from him for his mother, the saleswoman, it turned out. She apologized for a moment and spoke to her son who after a short while went on watching TV again.

I looked at her with questioning eyes and she told him that he was already completely used to it. She had to work (be aware for 10 hours a day) and he was at home. As a joke, I told her that nowadays it's all super modern and easy and that even through Grab or the Foodpanda they have here, she could even order food online for him. She told me she did already for a long time and it made him happy many times he could choose what he wanted her to order. I looked at her in amazement and showed her my little Nokia cellphone. For me this is all new.

Not my thing, I told her. Only thinking is this how you raise your so-called "love babies" these days? It really does not match with me. And yep, I am from an earlier generation. And yep I also know you need to work to earn money but…

When I walked out of the store it said that it might be nice to have a pizza delivered to him that evening. We laughed together ...

Too sad (I think) and perhaps the boy gets a lot of personal attention just before he goes to bed so that he also learns how a short-distance relationship feels.

Plenty of wonder for me.

And not knowing the circumstances… who am I to judge?


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.

Our construction journey has begun. Building as a meditation.

On December 28 last year we made the decision to finally start our construction journey. And as a surprise, after that decision on New Year's Eve, the first electricity piles went into the ground. Construction journey? Yes.

When we tell family, friends and acquaintances about our ideas, the question is always when we have planned that it will be finished. Everyone is used to the idea that you need to know before you start building when it is finished. And if it is not ready at that time, which very often is the case, then stress will arrive and even 'penalty clauses' will regularly appear.

Not our thing at all. No end date in the picture. It's ready when it is finished. Step by step delivering quality and no (or as little as possible) stress. We have the time.

The construction of our private center with Pyramids is not a project but a process. And how blissful it is that we don't want anything to have to do with SMART management formulations or objectives. Time-bound and very specific? Don’t make me laugh. We will do building applications per part of the process and of course they must be specific. In the meantime, we have time to adjust things for the follow-up process in advance.

Realistic yes. With two feet on the ground. Measurable in retrospect when we see the quality of what we have built with full attention and with our own hands. So afterwards and not before hands. And of course, we calculated the needed budget. And yet better, we have decided that we will always only will start a new branch in process if we have the money for it beforehand. So, every part is completely finished before we take the next step on the journey. We think a nice and good feeling.

Great to be flexible with this method and specially to allow creativity during the process. This way of building feels like meditation.

A notary is currently working on all required legal papers and we are waiting for the first official building permit so that we can actually get to work ourselves.

If we tell others that it might take five or six years, or who knows maybe it will take longer, we see frowning eyebrows. Yep, it's different. We are different and we are not at all in a hurry. Whatever other people are thinking of it.

The climate here, the high temperatures, the intensity of the rainy season and the dry period, pollen (my allergy), wanting to build with your own hands and especially our health are factors that you cannot all control by yourself.

Our approach is to enjoy every day of the process as much as possible. To stop and look back at the end of each day and be proud of what we have learned and achieved together. And if that enjoyment might suddenly come to an end, for whatever reason, (it can happen after all), then we would have enjoyed quite a bit of pleasure in all those days before.

Do you want to follow our construction journey once in a while? Feel invited. Look at: https://pyramidhousethailand.blogspot.com.

We regularly publish our experiences on this blog. Successes and also our setbacks in that process. And that is for sure knowing from that SMART management tool still a bit realistic 😉

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.

How is owl Otus?

I still regularly receive this question from friends, acquaintances and former guests with whom I was allowed to work here.

I recently came across some photos of him (or her) and not just that. A few months ago I even met Otus again.

I was able to look after this special bird (Collard Scops Owl) for around four years. Kadhow, my dog, and I found him in the forest in early May 2014. Mr. or Mrs. Otus had an owl-friend who regularly came to visit him at night. On the advice of son Rik, who is an animal caretaker in a zoo in the Netherlands, I gave Otus freedom again.

During his stay here at home and at the resort where I worked, he attracted a lot of attention. He became fairly photogenic. Really, it is a special experience an owl for four years in your house.

About two weeks after I gave him back freedom, he came for his first visit and was sitting next to my bedroom on the balcony. How I know for sure it was him (or her)? He is the only "wild" owl with a special ring around his paw that I could use to attach him to a thin chain. So he could sit and watch in trees in the evening if I took him to the several campfire meetings I organized or if he was just sitting in front of the house in the tree in the front yard. Only a couple of times I saw him afterwards.

A few months ago, on the scooter I drove into the forest with Kadhow and my girlfriend to do the evening walk. We talked about Otus and if the devil played with it, when I whistled his melody, I always used to call him, he suddenly showed up and landed on the path in the front light of the scooter. Kadhow happy to see him again. Moments later he flew away again. My girlfriend didn't believe it at first and asked if he would do it again. That is just a matter of trying. And yes, he flew in again to my whistle tones.

So, at least until recently, he was still alive. Great to see.

Apparently Otus made a great impression on various people.

A young couple who worked here with me a few years ago even gave their son as his second first name the name Otus. Nice idea. Otus will go on living at least in that name so to speak.

Everyone is up to date about Otus again.

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.

What is character? A philosophy.

What is character or nature? That question recently arose after a conversation I had.

I searched Wikipedia and found:

“Character or character is the combination of fixed inner qualities or traits of a person. This combination determines how a person deals with certain things. These are relatively stable assets that are difficult to change, often only after intensive and sustained training or therapy. As a result, the trait distinguishes itself from habit, which is more a learned way of responding to one's environment that one can unlearn. Gained experience influences the character. "

Wikipedia also writes:

“Presumably part of the character is fixed in hereditary characteristics, but it is certain that the environment has a major influence on the character. So, upbringing also has an important influence.

The expression ‘having no character’ means that someone has no will of their own or does not carry it through. "

And yes, in the first part of that description I can agree with what character would mean. With regard to that supplement about where it comes from and how it is influenced, I now have a slightly different philosophy.

The fixation of character and character traits, in my opinion, goes much further than hereditary traits. For me, the base of character is the energy of the soul. As a kind of fingerprint. The soul as a source of power to use that uniqueness that every person has in terms of talents and gifts to share with the world (the why of your life). Spiritual? Perhaps but just a philosophy.

And the environment and that upbringing naturally plays an important role. But not to give shape and direction to character traits, but rather to show to what extent the soul of a person in the performance of his or her specific task (from my training as a talent coach I call it the life mission) is stimulated or, on the contrary, opposed. And it is precisely in the event of opposition that the character shows itself to be stronger because it is a struggle to be able to maintain direction. And that is very often not experienced as positive.

You often hear the remark: "This he or she has from his father, or this from his or her mother or grandmother." That may be similarities, but that does not necessarily mean heredity.

For me, character is the energy of the soul to reach your life goal or mission. A package that you have already received with your birth, not inherited, and that expresses itself to a greater or lesser extent in how you are stimulated or opposed in your life in the performance of your task. A package that travels with lives one on one with that soul, if you look from the perspective of Buddhist philosophy.

And if the expression "Have no character" would mean that someone has no will of their own or does not carry it through, then in my opinion you can almost assume that the same environment or education cited by Wikipedia has failed in stimulating that person in his or her mission but helped to work against 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.

20 years ago. Remembrance with a smile to the expected Millennium bug.

Time flies. I still remember well the world nearly in panic facing end of 1999 the Millennium bug.

At that time, I was commander of the fire-brigade of the cities Kerkrade and Landgraaf in The Netherlands. And although there was regional and national coordination on this expected crisis, I was the executive commander and coordinator for our area in case things would go wrong.

World- and nation-wide people came up with the in my opinion most crazy ideas of all that could go wrong and we, with our full-time and part-time professional staff, were prepared to ‘solve the problems’ that could exist. I still do not know what we were prepared for although we got several regional exercises to deal with all the problems. In my eyes it was all a big show.

That New Years eve we had a special crisis team at the city hall. Our mayor, Thijs Wöltgens, and municipal secretary, Chris Kuikman, the chief of police, etc.. were in charge as well as the main spokespeople. And many government staff were available that night, sad not with their families, to organize things nobody could ever organize. Actually, it was a big joke and, looking back now, in my opinion again a kind of multi marketing campaign. Tremendous amounts of money were earned by the IT-industry. It must have offered lots of bonusses for people working in that sector in 2000.

The remembrance with a smile is due to the fact that both mayors of the cities, so also at that time Bert Janssen from Landgraaf, liked a Burgundian lifestyle. So actually, our crisis and disaster team and all the people at work got lots of good food and drinks. It was a kind of party. Watching the news with a smile to the island Kiritimati (where a new day in the world starts) and Australia.

And yes, exactly at the Millennium bug moment in our country, change of the year, there was champagne as well. And… nothing happened. Not due to the fact many offices and private people got a new computer.

Good old times to remember with a smile.

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 energy of your environment and the influence on your wellbeing

In the footsteps of my mother, I followed an actor training about ten years ago. People who know me will probably get a smile on their face now and think that I didn't need it. Perhaps also because my "root talent" of my talent tree is the Jester. And for sure I received that humor from my mother. But still, as an honor to my mother who was an actress in the Dutch “Haarlem City Theater”, among other things, I obtained my certificate of being an actor.

One of the things I learned in that field was anticipating the energy of the theater hall and the audience. Another thing I learned was how you can share your energy through attitude and body language with only the stage (staying within yourself), with the first row or rows, with the auditorium, or with the entire theater including the balconies. It was an interesting experience and... a feast of recognition. I am an emotional person and pick up energy around me, say the atmosphere, quickly. And I know what an impact that has on me. It even made me sick in 2010.

The basic energy of the audience that comes to a show is completely different on the Friday evening, the Saturday evening, during the matinee on Sunday and on Sunday evening. And although you yourself have the assignment to perform in the same way, you notice that it differs. One of the major factors of influence is the energy of the audience.

In my former job as a director I had to perform on stage often and addressed groups of people of all levels. Naturally feeling free, a gift that I got from my father. I always enjoyed speaking in public about matters I knew about or was responsible for.

People who regularly read my blogs know that I am active here in Chiang Mai on Sundays in the cathedral. Almost every week I am there "on stage". One time I read the scriptures, the other time I am a cantor and I sing psalms.

And last Sunday, the third Sunday of Advent, I was again confronted with that energy feeling of my theater education. That Sunday I was in the schedule for singing the psalm. Nice to do.

And when I stood in front of the microphone, I felt the community of around 300 visitors, in one word "flat." Totally different than 'normal'. Perhaps, as a comparison, a bit like the picture on the right, although the energy there could be very good. It felt like there was nobody there at all. A feeling that did not encourage or invite you to sing. Not singing of course was no option. So, I did it. And you know, that is really very hard working, not feeling any energetic response. As if you throw your energy in a deep well and it is gone.

When I asked a few people afterwards, they said, indeed, it was very different than usual. They were amazed I noticed it so strong.

A female colleague told me that she felt it very strongly as well, or actually felt nothing, and thought it might be because of the Christmas meeting and the buffet that we had with four hundred people the night before. Who knows?

Your environment has a huge influence on your well-being and behavior. For example, if there is enthusiasm or pleasure, it gives you energy. It is an encouragement and things flow simply out of yourself when you want to share things. In the situation that I described above or in an environment that does not allows or grant you to succeed, it’s hard working. An exhausting activity.

Be alert. Feel and try to avoid that energy drainage wherever possible. Better for your health.

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.

Mindfulness is selfish?

A short while before I got my burn-out in 2010 I was already practicing meditation and mindfulness. So far is it part of my current lifestyle. I have often written about my enormous lifestyle change. For me it is much more a move along with nature and the rhythm, often the cycle, that you encounter in it. Certainly, many times it gives a delay and you have to get used to it. The culture here in Thailand helps a bit, although I can still get a bit rebellious for all that great at ease. Anyway, just to be honest, stress for me now is something that I can only vaguely remember from the past. And with more attention, or perhaps I should say less distraction, doing things is much more satisfying and delivers higher productivity than all the former multitasking that I once did.

A few weeks ago, reading an article, the writer mentioned mindfulness actually is a very selfish activity. And when I thought about that, I didn't think that was such a strange statement at all. It's just a little too short for me. Not finished yet.

With mindfulness you try to do things in such a way that you are completely present. No skipping steps (much fewer mistakes too) and following the natural process of things and situations. It brings you closer to your own being. And with regard to meditation, the training of your mind, it is indeed all about you. For me, among other things, it makes me feel better as an individual. But to call it selfish?

During my meditation, yoga and Buddhist philosophy classes I regularly mentioned all kinds of topics. Guests also asked about all kind of life themes and backgrounds. In my blogs I often wrote about those matters.

I remember the fright that often appeared on the faces of participants when I stated that you first have to take good care of yourself and that it is not selfish. I do not mean the material matter but the healthy mind in a healthy body. Your holistic health balance (mental, physical, emotional, spiritual and causal (the contact with your environment with energy givers and energy drainers)) must be in order. And that requires attention and time. Indeed, for yourself.

Isn't that selfish, as stated in that article? Not so. The story is not finished yet.

In my lessons I always added: If you don't take good care of yourself in the first place to be in optimal condition, how can you optimally be there for other persons and the world around? And I think that completes the circle again. Yes, you start working on yourself to finally share the best of yourself with the world around you out of that firm balance. And that is a growth in relationships and a taking steps in helping each other to act together stronger than individually. Giving the best of yourself in it.

Not so selfish in my opinion.

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.

Lifelines and the future. The (your) plan becoming visible.

No don't be afraid. This is not a blog about future predictions or hand palm reading.

After a morning meditation a while ago, I wondered if 62 years ago, if I had already understood it as a just born baby, I would have believed the future prediction of my life that I have had so far. If someone, with full conviction and with the best intentions, had tried to tell me this, I think I would have laughed a lot, and in particular with disbelief, would have run away. I had a lot of fun about it but believe and trust in it, well…no way. Let’s be serious, I think my thoughts should have been that I would never survive that all.

Starting back from the now, all kinds of lifelines sprang up in my head. Nothing special of course because every person has such a set of lines. We hardly ever think about it.

To mention a few: The lines of health, education, friendships and peoples who inspired you in life changes, relationships, children, places you have lived, faith, work, career & career, fun & disappointments, creativity, talent fulfillment, money, animals in your life, encounters, opportunities, and so much more. The list and the total number of lines, for every person is the same. The courses of the individual lines are different. And that makes lives different, or life paths different.

Those lines, or life experiences, start at birth (or who knows maybe even before that, the Buddhists would say) and stop when you stop breathing (or who knows, they may be the beginning of a life cycle to start). An interesting theme but not for this blog.

Some lines are almost straight and rising. Others curvy, boisterous, sometimes falling. Every line in any case actually unpredictable. Also in the future. If, for example, there is a significant change in your health, this can cause serious effects on your life and lifestyle (as once happened with me).

Every line has a specific story. Fortunately for me personally so far almost all peppered with fun and pleasure.

It is literally incredible that with all those experiences of all those lines, now, here in Thailand, I live the life I live. Actually, a miracle. And again, I am not unique in that because it applies to everyone and has nothing to do with living in Thailand. Looking back, did you ever thought it would be like this?

And from that experience now I really believe, no even more trust (by the way nothing to do with religion although perhaps it has a spiritual touch), that there is a life path or a plan ready for you from the beginning. Step by step the plan becomes increasingly visible to you.

My sister was very sad despite the fact that her son had not been hired for a job that, she thought, was tailor made for him. He did not get it…

Sure, I can understand the feeling of disappointment at the moment you hear it is not him who got the job. On the other hand, you can see this "rejection" as a message that something else is waiting that will bring many more development and growth. By the way, for two parties, including that new employer that did not deserve him. It only needs time to discover this.

Many people strife for "security" in life. Well forget that because that does not exist or does it ...?

When I look back on all those individual lifelines in my life, I realize that there is another, main line in them. That line is my lifepath. And out of thinking and wanting I can put a lot of energy to try to influence that specific (personal) line but unfortunately ... I have to follow the plan.

This interim evaluation, as I see and call it, after that meditation, indicates that I can just trust that path and that it certainly all will be "OK". Don't worry too much if things don't work out the way you would like to (influence) them.

Just as far as possible, enjoy a good life and, above all, enjoy as much as possible and be optimistic. That’s a life attitude. Because you can be sure, at some time the end of all those lines definitely will become visible. Just a natural process.

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.

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.