Back in time. Picked up my former profession again. Inspiring and super fun to do.

In my youth I have had many opportunities and many I picked up. One of them was my study as a constructional engineer. I passed for the degrees of constructor as well as architect. Until 1982 I worked for a company building a huge housing project in Noordwijkerhout (The Netherlands) and for Ballast Nedam in Saudi Arabia. After that I went to the Fire Service College and I worked for over 30 years in the (inter) national world of safety, crisis and disasters.

After more than 7 years in Thailand it started to ‘itch’ again. Fortunately, I have two right hands. I am grateful that I am still strong and healthy to this day.

I just wanted to build something again here in Thailand. A small private project that is certainly not common for Thailand. My two children reacted spontaneously and my girlfriend no less. So… I started.

It is actually very inspiring to see your mind suddenly starts to think in a different, former, direction again. And the experience that everything, really everything, is still stored in that mind and that it is not even a matter of blowing off the dust, surprised me the most. Structures, construction types, details, possibilities and impossibilities. They all come back in detail. The experiences from Saudi Arabia, especially in relation to the climate, are doing well here.

It actually all works a little bit addicting. Your mind keeps thinking and looking for, sometimes even very creative, solutions. By the way, absolutely not under any pressure. It is now a professional hobby and for my/our own use. Really super fun to do.

I still remember how during my studies my father sometimes in the middle of the night came to my room after he visited the bathroom. Light in my room was still on and he asked me if I still did not sleep. No, I was drawing.

Sometimes I suddenly got inspiration or an idea in relation to my graduation project and with the large drawing table in my room I worked that out that night. It gave me energy and after I finished, I could sleep. I now have those experiences and that feeling again.

And yes, that is the only thing I have encountered so far. Drawing with the Rotring pen on a so-called "Chalk” nowadays is almost impossible. And with more than 37 years out of this profession, I have to refresh my former drawing skills. Making drawings now on the computer with a so-called CAD program.

YouTube, where would we be without YouTube, offered and offers advice. And that too is a super fun experience. To learn by doing. And old-fashioned scratching a wrong line of your paper with a razor blade now is a piece of cake.

Sitting still? No, not for me. It is great to fresh up my old profession and to do something with it again in practice. This former study pays back double.

The prospect of start building myself and with my own hands in a while, and all the preparations for this right now, give a blissful energy and keep my mind creative and young.

Do you want to follow this process?

Feel free, now and then, to visit: https://pyramidhousethailand.blogspot.com

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 growth of individualization

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gangey Gruma (Frans Captijn)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Are you looking for a golden profession with future?

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

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

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

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

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

Gangey Gruma (Frans Captijn)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And it also even brings you many times some money.

Gangey Gruma (Frans Captijn)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1. Feel at home in yourself

2. Feel at home in your house or room

3. Feel at home in your living and working environment

Feel at home in yourself

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

Feel at home in your house or room

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

Feel at home in your living and working environment

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

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

Your own alignment and attitude towards moving and your new environment

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

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

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

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

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

Gangey Gruma (Frans Captijn)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gangey Gruma (Frans Captijn)

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

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

A world deadly sick of sugar. Rehab from my addiction.

Four weeks ago, my girlfriend sent me an already dated video of a live interview with the Medical Doctor Raymond Francis from Florida, USA. In 2002 he published his book "Never be sick again".

To be honest I am not a person who like all this kind of ‘how to get a better health’ movies, most of the time actually promoting a product or supplement. But it was short, I got it from my girlfriend so I watched and listened to it.

Clearly a man with a mission this Mr. Francis. A person who inspires and knows what he is talking about. Someone who for me shows many similarities with the passion, engagement and optimism my father always had and showed. Personalities with the gift to appeal to people out of their best intentions and from their own experiences to encourage others to live healthy or even more healthy and support them to enjoy that healthy lifestyle.

Yes, sure, Raymond Francis is kicking a kind of open door for many people, including me. I had heard something before but never really thought about how I, unconsciously and unintentionally, risked and played a game with my health. And he published this book already in 2002…? Well, better late than never so to say. Happy now I heard from it and being aware now, take things seriously.

I just did not pay attention and thought to myself that it was not so bad with my health. After all, I never took sugar in my coffee or tea, for example, and drank a lot of fruit juice with no added sugars, etc .. Enough rest and no stress anymore for about seven years already. Well done, at least I thought so.

And yes, due to my accident in 2010, I radically changed my lifestyle. On a daily basis I practice meditation, I exercise a lot by walking firmly with my dog for a few hours and doing yoga for about one hour. Up to now, never really sick. Still…

Francis' story woke me up more than I thought. I found some of his statements astonishing. For example, how only one teaspoon of sugar within two hours for a period of six to eight hours completely destroys the human body’s natural immune balance. Reduces it by 50% as he explains. Or that sugar has a much more harmful influence on your body than alcohol, drugs or smoking. Then the connections he makes with the influence, just say wide open the door, to a wide range of sicknesses and their symptoms.

After hearing his short story, I thought to myself that it was time to really start to pay attention to this. And starting my regular six-week alcohol-free fast again last July 1, I thought that was a good time to acutely stop with regard to sugar too. Something, at the moment, I can say I want to continue.

Indeed, maybe a simple decision but not yet done so easily. I really never thought to discover that I was more than super addicted to sugar. It was not just easy stopping as I without much problems regularly do with alcohol but worked out more to be a rehab. So yes maybe Francis also in this for me is right, to stop consuming sugar for me is much harder and more difficult than to stop drinking alcohol.

It’s easy to tell yourself I am the boss of my body but my body was just trying for a long time to trick me and get what it wanted (so far without success).

I have often written in my blogs that everything you give attention grows. To be honest I don't think it is even possible altogether to stop with sugar (on a zero percent level). It is really everywhere, yes nearly in every product you buy to consume, and not in the least quantities. My experience now is that the world simply is deadly sick with sugar. It is a more than bad poison.

Why it was an addiction to me (I can say now) became clear from the following personal experiences.

For a period of almost two weeks I felt more than tired. My desire for something with sugar (my children often call me a cookie monster) increased and I almost turned my house around to find something that contained sugar. A kind of playing tricky games between body and mind. Fortunately the games were unsuccessful and I stayed on track. But not so easily. Looking for sugar substitutes too. Well, I left that behind me very quickly. That literally "junk" is much more harmful and ... it doesn't solve anything to get rid of that sugar addiction.

Good that my girlfriend could not come to me for two weeks because of her work. My mood, normally always stable and good, changed drastically and I was a bit bad tempered on Skype and short in words and expressions. Happy for me my girlfriend saw and understood all of what happened to me. After all, she too had stepped into the sugar fast only a little less abruptly than me.

Nagging headaches, looked like the same I had during my burn-out period. And sometimes even chills. Extremely strange in the very warm climate here. Still, apparently my body had to get used to how to turn on the internal heater in a different way.

These phenomena are now almost over. Never thought that it would take so long for only ‘some’ sugar. I just gave away my stock, yes, I really had a lot of different juices, of packed fruit juices. The kind that show on the package to distract ‘no sugar added’ but who actually are full of this harmful stuff.

I have bought a blender and am now making my own juices from the very large and affordable range of fruit and vegetables that we find here on the local markets. It takes some time to get used to the new, actually real, taste again. Whoow, what a great difference. You literally taste nature again.

I feel good, even better, and have enough energy again.

And yes, I am not totally used yet. Sugar keeps ogling and saying 'NO' to that longing feeling is not always easy although it has been successful so far. And whether I will (still) never get sick? I'll just wait and see. That is actually not the main reason for me to skip sugar in my food. Also, not to lose weight.

It is more an ode to my temporary temple, my body, to be able to make optimal use of it for as long as possible. And for me, being sick once in a while is no more than a signal from my body that it still can compete with what made me unhealthy to become healthy again on its own. But if that fight isn't even necessary because of getting rid of this addiction... then I think you enjoy living life maybe even so much more.

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.

Show your difference by being your true Self.

Every person in the world is unique. Many times already I wrote about this phenomena. Every person has been born with a unique set of talents and gifts that makes him or her different. The meaning of truly living life is to share this uniqueness. You came to this world for a reason. Sharing your uniqueness is something else than what we call working. It is going with your flow. Something that makes the world and yourself finally the happiest.

For many of us it is hard to show their difference. All the systems we live in do not encourage us to show our difference. In society it looks to be better to be ‘invisible’ organized in booths, cupboards and drawers. Culture, religion, family expectations, education and so on, are some examples of how ‘locked up’ you can feel in making your own choices. They can be restrictive in sharing your true self.  

It is appreciated being part of a group. Following the, sometimes unwritten, rules. Not bothering around too much because that can be disturbing.

Being aware of being unique is an invitation to show and share that uniqueness. To show your difference. The only thing to do is feeling free to be your true Self. Isn’t that in fact your calling since birth?

Growing up every person has to deal with the adolescence period. Being a bit rebellious to find your personal way. Sometimes it is hard to go your own way and follow that calling if it is even possible in the circumstances you were born in.

Still, being an adult, it is a matter of listening to that inner child always available in yourself. Giving response to that inner call and, yes, maybe to be a rebellion again. Not following the patterns made for you to behave. This can be hard, maybe not even a struggle but sometimes a fight.

If you think of it, isn’t it worth to fight for your own identity?

Free yourself, trust yourself. Show your difference by being your true Self.

It makes the world, who is waiting for it, more colorful.

And if people around you start thinking, or even better start telling you, you act a bit differently or even strange... please think you are on the right 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.

Employers should be less concerned about diplomas and certificates

Recently, a couple of times, I have been in contact with people who wanted to make a career move. A combination of contributing to an organization in their change, growth and or development, and at the same time an impulse for their own personal growth and development. A process, or rather a project, that in my opinion should always go hand in hand for the best results.

Why I call it a project is because it is good for people and organizations to say goodbye to each other after a while. That keeps both fresh.

Now that I write this, I remember a conversation with a trainee in communication sciences who once wanted to work for our organization. As a boss I told her at her introduction just before she got her job, that I hoped that she would work somewhere else within five years as a business card for our organization. At first sight she turned to be a bit surprised to hear that from me, and… she followed it. Now I dare to say that both she and the organization had positive effects of it.

Many people fall into the routine of continuing to do things they once liked doing (and not really like anymore because the impulse for wanted growth is over already for a long time). They earn their money with it as an encouragement to continue the work they are doing. No longer getting any satisfaction and challenge out of it any more. That’s unfortunate for two sides. Have the guts to change. Understand that change is growth.

Back to my topic for this week. The people I talked about in the beginning saw it as a problem to serve an organization (and themselves) because they did not have all the required papers and diplomas mentioned in the job description. And that experience this week was the trigger for my blog. The frustration of bureaucracy.

What about required certificates and diplomas? Employers, in many situations, should have the guts and courage to deal with that a little more lightly. Guts? Yes. As a boss you may have to explain something to your Works Council and / or Labor Union. And still ... can’t you do that if you believe in the quality of people, their passion and mission?

Many organizations feel so bound to all kinds of rules (or find it easy that there are) that the flexibility to attract outstanding people without all the required papers and diplomas has gone. Afraid to be addressed or, for good reason, to deviate from the fixed pattern.

In various organizations in which I worked as an end responsible manager I took all those set diploma and certificate requirements sometimes not too literally.

The Polish poet and noble prize winner Wislawa Szymborska (1923-2012) once wrote a surprising poem about writing apparently in bureaucracy in relation to applying for a job: “Writing a Curriculum Vita”.

Be honest. In a new job, isn't it much and much more about the match between the deeper mission of the company and the personal mission of a candidate? About inspiration, talents, connection, affection, personal background, enthusiasm, resilience, life experiences and thus already acquired life wisdom and genuinely desired growth?

Indeed, as Szymborska says so nicely, CVs are requested that are written as if the applicant has never talked to him- or herself and has always looked and stayed far away from him- or herself. Are this the kind of persons you are really looking for?

A good diploma does not say anything about how valuable a (new) employee really is or can be for your organization. You can often get so much more for the same money (or even at the start a little less). And, because of the inner motivation of this type of candidate’s management is less needed. This people are of the type learning by doing and are in the mood of exploring on their own.

As a company or organization, don’t you get much more sustainability and motivation if your diploma requirements were not taken too literally? I have great experiences with it.

After all, as a manager aren’t you responsible for the quality of your staff? If you have the courage and especially feeling and engagement with your business, you dare to deviate. In addition, if you believe in your own qualities, it is also easy to explain your different choice to the outside 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.

It is not even possible to unfriend somebody. Ever thought about this?

A few weeks ago, my daughter told me that she just discovered a Dutch lady who is living in my neighborhood here in Thailand "unfriend" her. What even a crazy word if you think about it.

Because I had a small collision with that woman’s female partner, now she has broken the "friendship" with my daughter. How social, "social" media can be that you can do this invisibly.

My daughter was a bit surprised about it. I do not know the phenomenon "unfriend" because I have said goodbye to all those "social" media for years already. So whatever happens there does not bother me anymore. It supports me in keeping peace of mind.

The question occurred to me if it is really possible to unfriend someone. Of course, I know that that is just a matter of easy and without even notifying the other person pushing a button. And yet ... do you really say “Goodbye, you are not my friend anymore” to someone?

I have had more than a thousand "friends" on every individual social media that I was once connected to. A few weeks before I said goodbye to all this social media like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, I posted a few times that I was going to stop with them. Actually, that decision was not easy to fulfill. It seems to me that all this social media likes to see you coming, but I don't like you to go at all.

I didn't get many responses from all my "friends". Indeed, a number but not of the whole large group of so-called friends. Incidentally, that also applies to all kinds of groups and clubs of which I was a part of during my business- and private life. A handful, and I literally mean that, real friends are still left. "Out of sight, out of the heart," my mother sometimes said. And I discovered it is really true. Mind you, this of course has also to do with me.

And from that experience back to that to “unfriend” again in this blog. Were or are those people who "unfriend" you really your friend? What is actually a friend? What is friendship? 

Wikipedia states:

“Friendship is a relationship of mutual (generally non-sexual) affection between people. Friendship is a stronger form of interpersonal bond than association.

Although there are many forms of friendship, some of which may vary from place to place, certain characteristics are present in many types of such bonds. Such characteristics include affection; kindness, (love), virtue, sympathy, empathy, honesty, altruism, loyalty, generosity, forgiveness, mutual understanding and compassion, enjoyment of each other’s company, trust and the ability to be oneself, express one's feelings to others, and make mistakes without fear of judgment from the friend. Friendship is an essential aspect of relationship building skills.”

And if you take a moment to look at these beautiful sentences, you can conclude that unfriending is not possible at all. A person who “Unfriend” you after all never had a real friendship with you. It was often only about ‘what can or will be in it for me?’ and/or wanting to belong to something or a group that no longer fits. Unconditional? All these wonderful words mentioned under the meaning of friendship by Wikipedia? Not true! This ‘friendship’ was just a sham, fake. Be happy the person who unfriend you secretly let you know now because he or she looked in his or her mirror. The friendship is not over. There never was any friendship at all.

And if someone’s opinion or attitude to life does not appeal any longer to you, or the other person lives too far away from you… by unfriending you show the other person this friendship from the start actually always had nil value for you.

Suffering about this or this kind of thoughts that will keep you from sleeping? Don’t be stupid. Let it go. And ... well as the passed away French-Dutch singer and actorRamses Shaffy sang so beautifully ... Let me! Let me go my own way. 

Note: Interested to listen to this song? The link to You Tube offers you the song with English subtitles.

I am going my own way for years now. And if "friends" no longer appreciate this om me…? Take the chance to unfriend a friendship to show this friendship for you actually never was really there. It doesn't even have to be in a sneaky way.

My neighbor often talks about her Facebook 'friends'. I sometimes have to laugh a bit about this. In practice it worked out at the time she really needed them, they were not available for her to help...

Be proud and happy with that handful of people that you can really regard as friends.

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.