Trust and respect. Easy job.

Beginning of April I wanted to rest at our poolside to read a book for a couple of hours. I did not succeed. Normally it’s always quiet around the pool with people relaxing during their health programs. This time there were 6 Americans, partners in business (three men and three women) working in the same company on a project. One of them seemed to be the project leader. The other five were team leaders in the same project.

Particularly their speech was loud. In my opinion nobody was listening. It was good to see that when one of the group was telling something, the others were touched by a single word of their speech and started to make up their mind to share their thoughts immediately after the former one stopped it’s talk. Adding or taking away things or bringing in even better thoughts. Unrest and struggle. Not a single dialogue, only debate to find out who was right or maybe even more… the strongest. Trying to find the winner of the game that did not show up the period I stayed at the pool. I walked back home and even there I could hear the loud voices blaring over the water. They stayed, only the six of them, for a longer period. All the other guests left step by step.

The team has to trust and respect me...???
One of the team leaders dropped the theme he did not get any trust and respect from the team members. For him it was a struggle to manage the team this way and he asked his colleagues for counsel and advice. If necessary even to enforce.

After his request a kind of drama worked out. All kind of answers and skills mentioned in management books came up. One solution showed up even better and more suitable than another. And when this solutions should not work it was all about the team members and you had to work on the individual members. A girl named Bianca in his team, for instance, did not show respect or trust to any of the other team leaders in the same organization. They all agreed. This had nothing to do with the team leader itself but with this girl. Better if she should leave the organization. So they started to talk about how to do that the most easiest and cheapest way. A real and meaningful solution – but who am I? - that could help did not show up for me.

Trust and respect? An easy job. It is what you get!

Sometimes you hear the story you have to earn it. I only partly connect with that thought. When this is true, you have to work for it. Trust and respect have nothing to do with that. It is all about the energy people give / send to attract and make them enthusiastic and to lead by example. You have to show your purity in who you are and in what you are doing. It’s not working with a box full of tips and tricks.

You do good and you do not feel concerned, you are concerned and available. With that what’s going on in the project, with the team (well-being and growth) and the surroundings of the project. It is all about the purpose of the overall thing. Everybody need to get a chance to grow by sharing their individual unique contribution. The value is more than the sum of the individual parts. Narcissistic and dominant behavior do not fit in and are killing in that what we call "team spirit". 

Ever thought about the meaning of the word respect? It's build up out of two parts "re" (again) and "spect" (watching, in relation to the ongoing good things a person shows). 

If you have to build up trust, you can ask yourself when trust is 100%. If you can only reach 98% - I do not know actually how to measure – then trust still is 0. Trust is about only 100% or nothing. It is there or it is not there. And if trust in employees or in managers is damaged, or in general a relation is damaged, then there is no trust. There is nothing in between.

This does not say you always have to agree. If the boss, who has and need to be boss (just out of trust), makes another decision than thought or personally wanted this does not say there is a loss in trust. It is about the connection and the explanation (if possible before) about the decision.

You show respect to somebody else. If this respect is sincere, so no show in the game we call networking to get ‘friends’, then three main things are involved. Respect in relation to the other persons wisdom (more than knowledge), his/her compassion and his/her purity in thought and action.

To the group of Americans… good luck with trying to build or maybe even force it the way you suggest… Show your true and pure self in connection to get it. If you do not get it most of the time it has nothing to do with the other team members and maybe not even with you. There is also something that’s called ‘Click’. Trying to force is as already signing your own dismissal. Maybe, to grow again and give you new opportunities, better for you and for the team. 

Frans Captijn
Host / Catalyst / Talenteer at Captijn Insight

Captijn Insight: “Catalyst in your process to new sustainable flow in life and work. Whether you are an individual, couple, team or an organization.” 

www.captijninsight.com

captijninsight@gmail.com

Join the “Purpose Economy”. The harvest? Bigger, durable and much more valuable.

Triggered by a Dutch television program last week I feel inspired to write this week blog. 

End of 2009, at that moment as "Villa-Asia", we started to organize work- and retreat-programs being a catalyst in developing tranquility & insight to get well-being, purpose and new sustainable flow. This to help individuals, couples, groups and organizations to live or work happier, engaged and out of inner (latent) strength. 

By sharing their new energy, in my opinion, they step by step create a happier world and less misery. In Thailand we will go on with our programs. Nowadays I think our approach should totally fit in the “Actions for Happiness” organization methodology.  

The economic crises, in my opinion, for sure brought something good. More and more people and organizations started to discover that 'profit' is more than just only a financial thing. Profit is more and more connected with well-being, purpose, contribution and social significance. Happily an ongoing and spreading theme of and in the new Millennium generation now a days. Finally a new course to sail because the thought of becoming financial richer does not say also becoming happier. Actually it works out to be an old and ridiculous thought.

Think and do different. What is life all about? What is the deeper meaning? What shows your 'underwater profile'? What does the world need? These are all things that are not on the table leaf but are more or less hidden underneath and not always visible. Those things that inspire you from within to serve the world outside.

When you are more engaged with your job, with your uniqueness to contribute, to share and to grow in a natural way, you will feel well more and more. When you build purpose in the things you do it excites, engages, stimulates and connect people because of your unique contribution. Actually you create sustainable social progress. Things start to have real and valuable social impact.

Purpose economy is more and more about the theme; “How to improve our lives together in a more valuable way” (social progress) and not only about how our economy financially is rising or falling.

Sustainable success does not come because of more money, it arises out of happiness. Social significance makes persons and organizations sustainable more valuable. The change from welfare thinking to well-being feeling. Be aware economic prosperity is linked with happiness. Something you do not find in much study-books yet.

Start to make your life and work meaning-ful. What is your life all about? Make the difference as well and join the group who wants to create a more and more beautiful and happier world.

Be a member of the Purpose Economy and make the change.
You are worth is and the world already is waiting for you a long time.

Interested in one of our programs about this subject we periodically organize in Thailand? Click here.

Frans Captijn
Host / Catalyst / Talenteer at Captijn Insight

Captijn Insight: “Catalyst in your process to new sustainable flow in life and work. Whether you are an individual, couple, team or an organization.” 

www.captijninsight.com

captijninsight@gmail.com

Want to feel more comfortable and energetic? Be two times home.

This week I worked with an American couple who for five years lived and worked in Shanghai. Passionate people with a young child. They are in for a transition in life because life and lifestyle do not ‘fit’ them anymore. They go back to an area in America, a small town with a nice small stream in nature, where tourists - most of them American as well - come to breath again and recharge. They did not feel home any longer.

What is this? This “home” feeling?

Actually it is the most easiest thing to create and we are not even aware of it.

The environment you live in, your habitat, without even knowing is an energy giver or energy drainer. Every person has his or her own specific habitat. Colors, use of materials, space, design, light, air, temperature, smell, maybe even arts are elements creating that specific personal habitat.

When you do not have influence on your habitat, as examples your workplace or the waiting room in a hospital, this makes you feel more or less comfortable. And here it starts.

When I talk about myself, for the first time I really felt ‘home’ was when I visited a house (I think I lived there maybe earlier) in Vietnam during one of my travels. At June 12th 2015 I wrote a blog about that.

When you are not comfortable at the place you live or work actually it can and will make you sick. And, forget about your general excuses, it is easier than you think to make a change or shift in that environment. It is just bringing in some elements (maybe even a change of the color of the light-bulbs from white into warm white light for instance) that creates an atmosphere (energy) that serves you much better so you are more at ease and living in a for you higher energetic environment. And yes, I know, that’s hard to do in a waiting room of a hospital but happy enough you stay there not for too long.

There is another element that needs to be done to feel comfortable. Essentially it is the basic thing in being ‘home’. A pré-home feeling. And most of the time we do not take care of that feeling as well. We always run away because we are afraid to come home.

It is the coming home in and feeling comfortable with ourselves.

Do you feel comfortable with yourself? You are the one who spend 24-hours a day with yourself. Do you know yourself? Do you know that inner silent place within where you feel comfortable?

And again, it is easy to find. There is only one thing that sometimes is a hindrance. To find that place, to find that inner home, we have to face the war that’s going on in ourselves. The war between (heart) feeling and thoughts.

Feeling home with yourself. Think about a vagabond. A vagabond, without having a destination, always reaches a destination. A place to survive and for a while stay safe. When he or she does not trust him/herself, does not feel home with him/herself it is not even possible to survive any longer. Lots of people, luckily, have a vagabond inside.

Do you want to feel more comfortable and energetic (again)? First feel at home with yourself (Possibly meditation can be a helping hand). Connect with yourself, skip desires only created for you in the outside world and make you just temporary happy. You cannot find yourself in the outside world full of show and judgement. Find yourself, be yourself (on the outside ánd on the inside). Do not try to show a different personality at home and at work.

Make your own change. Create your specific comfort zone on the outside and start on the inside.

Frans Captijn
Host / Catalyst / Talenteer at Captijn Insight

Captijn Insight: “Catalyst in your process to new sustainable flow in life and work. Whether you are an individual, couple, team or an organization.” 

www.captijninsight.com 
captijninsight@gmail.com

Right speech? What is it and how to do?

A couple of weeks ago, from one of our former participants of a program, I got a story about right speech. Right speech? Isn’t that what we already learned? Don’t you think we know how tos peak? What to learn…?

Maybe much more than you are aware of right now. Triggered by her story I want to give some more background information about this ‘right speech’.

Right speech is one of the 8 guidelines the Buddha gave in his teachings called the “Noble Eightfold Path” or “Middle Path” which he himself discovered and which forms the essence of his teachings.

The Buddha encourages people to style their life according to this Middle Path. Following this eight guidelines opens sustainable freedom, peace and happiness.

Speech is ‘right’ when it can pass three sieves or filters.

The first sieve is connected with the personal question:

Are you for 100% sure that it is true what you want to tell?

Lots of times we only know parts of a story, hear only one side or half of it and create our own thoughts. To howl together with the wolves in the forest is not what is mend by right speech.
The size of the maze of the sieve also express; Do not make the story bigger than it is. It can only pass in its original true way without things added out of your thoughts or already a given direction to your personal understanding or wanted outcome. 

The second sieve is connected with the personal question:

Do you have a positive intention with your speech? Does it support a person, thing or situation in a positive way?

Without even knowing sometimes we hurt other people or situations on behalf of ourselves or our friends being afraid to lose them.  Gossip or slander for instance has nothing to do with right speech.

The third sieve is connected with the personal question:

Is it necessary to tell the story?

Is there any profit in it?

The story lines that pass all three sieves you can see as right speech.

To be honest, several times I did not succeed and still do not succeed this sieve test. Sometimes I missed a sieve but…

To help me telling this background and spreading this news as a metaphor I bought three sieves. A great and easy way for guests and myself to understand and be more aware of this guideline in the Noble Eightfold Path. The power is in repeating and explaining.

This way I try to share instead of hold the news for myself and learn from it.

Feel invited to do as well. 

Frans Captijn
Host / Catalyst / Talenteer at Captijn Insight

Captijn Insight: “Catalyst in your process to new sustainable flow in life and work. Whether you are an individual, couple, team or an organization.” 

www.captijninsight.com

captijninsight@gmail.com

Letting go of good things. Accept the emotion, avoid the pain.

Lots of people have big problems with letting go.  I already (May 22nd 2015) wrote a blog about this. About one month ago I learned even more during a Buddhist teaching. An insight I really want to share.

To let go, first of all means that you got something. It can be a fulfilled desire, love, a thing, work or what else. So to say… it came on your life path. In the beginning it made you very happy and excited. Lots of time you accepted it as ‘normal’ during the time together temporary ‘having’ it. When you miss it this makes you feel sad and can sting or hurt you.

When it is something ‘bad’ in your life – most of the times – you do not have a single problem with the process of letting go. It even can make you happy. When it was something good you experience a problem.

There is a wonderful saying: “Pain is inevitable suffering is optional”.

During this teaching I got a different insight. Even pain in most cases is optional.

The Buddhist philosophy learns everything in life has a meaning. It is connected with Karma (action). And the Karma is there for us to let us learn and to build up our inner wisdom. When we do good things we get good things in return. Most of the times not the things we want but always and just at the right time the thing we need most to learn and grow to fulfil our mission in life.

So the first step, before we can talk later about letting go, is you got something. During the teaching we got the metaphor of you are a piece of floating wood in a river (your life stream). The wood does not make any effort to swim back but is floating and on its way floating it meets other pieces of wood. You can see them as things or people to connect. You cannot be for yourself alone. You are always connected with things.

It is quite natural that for a while, longer or shorter, pieces of wood stay together. At a certain, expected or unexpected, moment there is a time to say goodbye. Even the wood itself passes away sometime. The pieces of wood and the river do not make a real problem of that. When you observe this process you can see it as a period of learning and enjoying together and sharing the same stream (life path).

As human beings we make the problems about this letting go ourselves. We keep going on with longing for the past (that does not exist or comes back any more). We do not open for the future because we are not willing to understand that new challenges are waiting for us to grow.

We got a metaphor for this as well. You can see it as broken glass laying in your hand. You can be sad about it that it is broken, you can try to repair it but… you already know. You will never get it back in the same state it ever was.

In our process of not letting go we try to hold it stronger and stronger. And here the pain starts coming. We are not only sad but we ruin ourselves by hurt and pain because the broken glass parts work as knifes. Nobody ask us to hurt ourselves.

The Buddhism leans, accept the emotion so if you want to cry, cry. The emotion need only time to fade away and you cannot force that process. The emotion is caused by your subconscious and the only thing to help to change this feeling is to focus and imagine on for you positive things.

Turn your hand palms down and drop the pieces of glass. After that turn the hand palms up again. See that you are open and willing to receive something new to grow and start flourishing again.


Frans Captijn
Host / Catalyst / Talenteer at Captijn Insight

Captijn Insight: “Catalyst in your process to new sustainable flow in life and work. Whether you are an individual, couple, team or an organization.” 

www.captijninsight.com

captijninsight@gmail.com

The wise lesson of a coin during a cremation

It is quite usual in Thailand and in Buddhist culture that people, after passing away, will be cremated instead of buried within three days. In the countryside nearly every village has its own open air cremation area.

Sometimes, as a wise lesson, family members put a coin under the tongue of the dead person. Just to give more attention and awareness of the reason of life.

Most cultures do not speak to much about death. In Buddhism it is accepted as quite a natural part of life. It is connected with the inner believe in destiny, an over and over again being. The ongoing cycle of birth, living, leaning, sharing and building up wisdom and passing away to give space to rebirth and so on. The Dharma cycle or cycle of Samsara.

You enter the world alone and you leave the world alone. Most of the time we are not even aware of this principle. You cannot take anything with you when your time to go, expected or unexpected, is there.

We go on making ourselves sick to fulfill our desires. Nothing wrong to have desires but lots of time we go too far. It seems there is never an end. We are running into the future where we think some happiness is waiting for us, not even knowing that we are standing right on top of our happiness. We join the ongoing rat-race to earn more and more money sometimes not even enjoying living anymore because of this desire.

The wise lesson of the coin under the tongue of a dead person during the cremation shows two things. After the cremation only ashes and dust remains (and off course remembrances for the people who stay a little bit longer till their time is there). The other thing that remains is still this coin. It shows it did not support you passing away this life.

The second thing is that the coin, after the cremation process, turned black and dirty. It does not support you or the good things you could have done with it any more.

The underlying meaning? LIVE life. Know in the understanding that you are here to do good things, to grow and share and to leave a mark. Money, till a certain amount, is necessary. Do not go too far and use it to LIVE NOW and to do good things. Enough is enough. Do not spend your time building up more than you need to live and to fulfill your mission in life.

You come alone (naked) and you will leave alone (without a single coin). 



Frans Captijn
Host / Catalyst / Talenteer at Captijn Insight

Captijn Insight: “Catalyst in your process to new sustainable flow in life and work. Whether you are an individual, couple, team or an organization.” 

www.captijninsight.com

captijninsight@gmail.com

Stay for ever young? (Not) possible

The cosmetic industry, medical/plastic surgery, marketing and all kind of 'health' products and treatments help you to believe you can stay young forever. The outside show must go on and billions are earned on outside changes to show people are younger than they really are. 

It is our always opposite thinking (when we are young we want to be older, when we are older we want to be younger), that makes us easy 'preys' for the most of the times expensive 'solutions' to show ourselves younger.

At least every 7 years, just a biological and scientifically proven fact, all of the cells of our human body are renewed. And still... this does not make us younger. Taking care of the physical body, by staying fit, being aware of our diet, keep the body clean, etc., keeps us healthy. But we cannot stop or slow down the ongoing natural process of getting older. 

We can cover our body by nice and looking clothes and modern fashion but all this does not help us against getting older.

Actually and in general we take very good care of our physical body. But what about our mind? Buddhism compares our mind sometimes with a garden. This garden is full of rubbish and are not even able to find the really useful things for us into this mountain of rubbish. We drop all litter from the outside world in this garden and toxify it. 
A care taking gardener, who organizes and maintain, and a guard who is guarding what is coming in and what is going out of our mind most of the time is not available. 

We can stay forever young. The mistake we make is we are looking for it on the outside because our senses and desires are outward bound. When we give more attention to the inside you will be surprised. That's where we lost our youth and that's the only place it can be found. 

Do not believe marketing and industry. You cannot stay for ever young on the outside. Embrace and celebrate your age. Stay forever young on the inside. Then, you are not getting older with the years, but more and more new by the days. 

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.” 

www.captijninsight.com

captijninsight@gmail.com

Who do you propose? What space do you only take. So diminish suffering and LIVE more.

Last week I was in Chiang Mai city centre again. The city as usual was full of swarming tourists who, even often with long faces, were "exploring" the city. For me every time again it is unique to see all the different faces and cultures. Everyone another face in the world. What a miracle!

Wondering and watching the teeming crowd of people running and searching like ants in all directions and busy doing their own 'thing', I thought back to a lecture I attended a while ago.

Back home I searched and found some notes that, in my opinion, can annotate all the too much suffering most people swarming in our world do. The words of the lecturer;

“You only take just a tiny little piece of space on this great big planet. A planet that is part of an infinite universe full of other planets. So who do you propose? What is your influence? What are the things you are all suffering about and why are you suffering of all kind of things you cannot even change? Most people suffer far too much.

You cannot take the whole world on your shoulders. It is not possible to change or influence the whole world. And… nobody asks this from you. It’s just an outside voice inside your head.

Many people are at war with themselves. An inner battle to be “the best” in and for the outside world. They do not even realize that they are already the best for a very long time. They are suffering of fulfilling their own created expectations which they say and think of the outside world are requesting them. It is a form of inner struggle to show up as a copy of somebody else, not accepting and showing their own uniqueness. They seek in the outer world and never took the time to find out their own natural 'best’. You make yourself and the world around you really happy when you share your specific abundance. It is natural to fulfil your own mission and not try to enforce yourself a mission.

You are unique and, if you find your specific habitat in the world,  can serve and affect the world with your specific talents and abilities the best way. If you radiate happiness you do not only influence yourself but also the world around you in the best and most easy way.

Rank, status or position, income or possessions do not really matter to be more happy in a sustainable way. The stock markets for example have shown that shares sometimes are more a burden on the back then that they make happy.

Without even being aware of it lots of people only participate in the outside show that’s going on, being an actor, and try to build up (seeming) personal security.

And within that actor in the outward show is always a very ordinary person, with his or her own concerns and problems or perhaps - by the avowed wealth - still much more worries and problems. Like everyone else, they just take a tiny piece of space and on this great big planet.

When you pass away the world does not stop. Billions of ancestors showed us already. What were your priorities in life? Only a couple of names still show up in history books. Did you really live life?

You pollute your mind wanting to know and follow everything in and around the world. Most of these things you cannot change. You can change yourself and try to share the best of you with your surrounding close environment so because of this it gets the opportunity to change and grow. Nobody asks more of you. So be happy and make happy.

You're on top of your own success and happiness and usually you do not even see it, always longing for happiness you think is waiting for you in the future. 
What is your life worth? Suffer less and LIVE more."

Just a fragment from a lesson that I could attend at the Buddhist university. Something to consider to ponder.

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.” 

www.captijninsight.com

captijninsight@gmail.com

When you die you do not pass away. No faith required.

No faith or life philosophy is needed to trust – and that is more than believing – that when you die you do not pass away. Believe it or not. The only thing you have to do is to give it some time for yourself to think this over.

When faith/religion, like me, is part of your life this thought will be even more supported.

Why am I so firmly in this conviction?

As you sow you will reap.

Everything you do in life will leave a mark. You are not on this world to only survive. With your unique set of talents and gifts you are here to do something. With your contribution you leave a mark.

Nature teaches that just one seed of a tree contains a whole forest. And yes, for this the seed needs the most wonderful habitat. For a seed in nature this is just a matter of chance, getting the opportunity and best living conditions.

As human beings we have a choice. Just ask yourself, what is your most stimulating and/or inspiring living environment to flourish and to share what you all have to share, in the best way, with the world around. And a question, closely related to this; Do you really respond to that answer or your inner call? And when it is really not possible to live at that place – so skip any General Excuse and be creative – what is the second best place?

Living your mission, you always, young or older, leave something for this generation or a next one. Being more aware of this, you serve the world around you in a more conscious way. This has nothing to do with your place, rank or position in society. Give what you have inside, your uniqueness, to share. Let the best environment for you stimulate you. Your harvest will go on spreading.

Memories remain.

All your actions in life, no matter if they are big or small, leave a memory. Good examples or ideas you made,  automatically will get a follow-up by others. The things you brought in are working on. You never will and never have lived 'for nothing'. Memories are and remain the bright spots that give others strength to continue living. And you are able to support this. After all, nothing disappears forever if you keep the memory.

If you have kids, for 50% they come through you. 

Did you ever thought about the idea you came for 50% out of your father and for 50% out of your mother? Does not matter if you are happy with this or not. And your father and mother came for 50% out of their father and their mother and so forth. So even your grandparents and grand grandparents continue their life contribution in you. Just in the same way you will go on in your children, when you have them or will get them. 

One of my cousins once checked our family genealogy.

Amazing to see how former family generations go on in and with yourself. Where the family has its worldwide roots. It is not only fun to see where you come from but also gives hereditary influences that perhaps still you may or may not have inside. Great to explore and to experience from these discoveries. How easy can it be.

As an addition life philosophy and/or belief/religion.

The life philosophy, Buddhism, teaches that you can see your physical body as the temporary temple of your soul. The soul wants to grow and to reach that goal (fulfil its life- or soul mission) what it has to reach. A different word for dead is exanimate (without a soul). Actually you can see a dead person as ‘only’ the physical body without the soul. The soul has left. It is free again to use the opportunity – after a period of rest/recharge, making up its balance sheet, and build up wisdom – to make a next step in development. The Buddhism calls this ‘again being’. That’s more than reincarnation. It’s a going on of the lifecycle of the soul. And everything you learned in ‘former lives’, nothing to do with study, you take with you (build up wisdom).

All kind of religions / believes pretend there is more after dead. It is a kind of letting go of the physical body and a form of resurrection. So also here the soul leaves the body. A movement or journey as so nicely said an ‘earthly’ to an I call it 'spiritual' place.

Just think of the idea, after all - sitting in silence, in thoughts connected and with your eyes closed – you still can have a conversation with your loved ones and masters in life who are no longer physically present on this earth.

If you are a religious person you may wonder how it would be possible that if God, who out of his love puts you on this earth for a reason, could go on with his work into eternity without you? There is more between heaven and earth ...

Do the things you have to do in life. Be aware this has a general supporting meaning to the world around you. Doing this you will never pass away. Try to be conscious of that in your every action.

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.” 

www.captijninsight.com

captijninsight@gmail.com

When the boy or the girl is happy… more happiness!

“When the boy in a man is happy, the man is happy.”

“When the girl in a woman is happy, the woman is happy.”

Just a statement, made by a CEO of an international organization in Hong Kong, I heard during one of my Hikes.

When we grow up in life we start to ‘behave’. We conduct ourselves towards others in accordance with the accepted norms of a society or a group. We lose - but more and more long to - our childhood. 
Childhood. The time of discovering, exploring, the guts to pass thresholds, playing (some the jester), touching and learning life, of being curious in connecting. No to much worried of adapting to culture, sometimes religion and/or environment.

Because of things that have hurt us or are not acceptable in our society or group, we start to learn how to deal with a couple of main primary life issues; How to stay safe and how to survive? So without even being aware of this, we cover ourselves with protection veils or in some cases even harnesses. Without even knowing we tie the child in us and try not to listen to the boy or girl inside any more.

Growing older and older there can be a period we more and more long to listen to our inner boy, or girl, the child inside. Getting children can be such a period. Because of them we grant ourselves sometimes to behave as a child. And be aware what it, most of the times, brings. Big smiles, lots of energy, real connection, living (again for a short while?).

There is nothing wrong with listening more and more to your boy and girl inside. Listen to them. You know how to deal with the signals they give. Follow them. Be playful, laugh, smile, explore. You do not only make yourself more happy. Your different energy also will influence the world around you in a positive way. 
See situations and the world around not always as serious. It is only YOU who create your world.

Listen to your inner boy or girl and make them happy.

“When the boy in a man is happy, the man is happy.”

“When the girl in a woman is happy, the woman is happy.”

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.” 

www.captijninsight.com

captijninsight@gmail.com

Your life as a tree…

In my neighbours garden is a huge tree. Several guests who already visited me for sure remember this tree. As you can see on the picture, my neighbours in the evening switch on a floodlight to lighten it. Every day I pass this tree walking up to my work place. Several times I just stand still for a while. There is a lot to discover watching this tree. What a wonderful word ‘dis-cover’. You take the cover of something to make something visible for you that was already waiting there for you. Just only by standing still.

When I work with guests about challenging their talents and gifts part of the sessions is making their own tree of life. All the locations of this tree have something to tell. The tree has an underlying archetype of the Kabbala[1]. You get information about your growth point, your connection with the earth, connections with your environment, connection with yourself, with passion and compassion and with your mission in life.

My neighbours tree shows it all (I think like all trees do but this one is inviting me).

It is a robust, playful tree. Sometimes, during a storm or heavy rain showers, braches just break down and fall down. They are not able to show resilience or to carry the weight/load any longer. Time to let go. Leaves drop and create space for new leaves to come the next season. There is a time to recharge, to flourish, to grow… And yes, all together we call it LIVING. The tree is just a mirror to show us how life is supposed to be. Hours and hours you can philosophize about it.

The tree itself does not make a single effort to look nice or to be attractive. It just is. A way of being. Being there, being available. Attracting to only some people, for this tree most children. Some people do not even notice. They are too busy with other things. It does not upset the tree.

A ‘simpel’ tree. Mirror of the meaning of life. Just be who you are and do not upset yourself of what other people think of that. Some like you and really want to stand still to connect with you, others don’t. Who cares? Be like a tree.

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.” 

www.captijninsight.com

captijninsight@gmail.com

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[1] Kabbala is a Hebrew word meaning 'acknowledgment' or 'revelation'. Kabbalah, under other things, seeks to define the nature of the universe and the human being, the nature and purpose of existence. 

Emptiness...there is something in.

Start this new year with emptiness.

When my children where young we played a lot together in the garden, in nature or at the camping place during holidays. I remember us playing in the garden catching my daughters cat named ‘Poelie’. We took an empty cardboard box. Lifted it on one side with a small branch. Connected a thin piece of rope to the branch and put some cat-food under the box. Poelie smelled the food, went underneath the ‘roof’ formed by the cardboard box and then one of my children pulled the rope so the cat was caught in the box. Only for a short time because it jumped and ran away to repeat this play over and over again. Funny to do and see. The cat enjoyed the attention and finding freedom every time again.

Just playing with an empty box. It connects me with the wonderful thing called emptiness. Emptiness is a great source of creativity. Emptiness does not at all means nothingness.

Think about this;

• Because drums, bells, etc., are empty on the inside they produce their unique sound when we hit it.
• Because guitars, violins, etc. are empty on the inside they produce their unique sounds when we touch the strings.
• Because trumpets, flutes, etc., are empty on the inside the produce their unique sounds when we blow them.
• Because the mirror is empty, it mirrors.

Nothing is added and nothing is taken away. Any judgments are only made by yourself or by the audience listening or watching.

Thinking of the box, as I described before, my idea came to thinking out of the box. Thinking out of the box is a main thing in creativity. Why ‘out of the box’? Because in our daily life our personal ‘box’ is overloaded full. There is no emptiness left.

Wikipedia: “Creativity is the phenomenon whereby something new and somehow valuable is formed. The created item may be intangible (such as an idea, a scientific theory, a musical composition or a joke) or an original physical object (such as an invention, a literary work, or a painting).”

Emptiness you can see as the cradle of creativity. Emptiness is a well.

You can create emptiness to stop looking for things outside and to find the silence to connect and search inside. Silence is not the absence of something but the emptiness to be aware of the presence of everything.

You only have to create and then touch your emptiness to discover the uniqueness in creativity you have inside.

Emptiness, there is something in it.

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.” 

www.captijninsight.com

captijninsight@gmail.com