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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gangey Gruma (Frans Captijn)
email: captijninsight@gmail.com 

Foto blog: http://franscaptijnhisworld.blogspot.com

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It actually felt nice but not quite right.

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

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

Gangey Gruma (Frans Captijn)
email: captijninsight@gmail.com 

Foto blog: http://franscaptijnhisworld.blogspot.com

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gangey Gruma (Frans Captijn)
email: captijninsight@gmail.com 

Foto blog: http://franscaptijnhisworld.blogspot.com

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

My best friend keeps me mentally and physically in a healthy condition and makes me laugh regularly.

On November 2, 2012, almost seven years ago, for the first time I wrote about a new addition to my life. I wrote in that blog "to be continued". And a few times before I mentioned my best friend in my blogs. Kadhow, my "wolf". Then a puppy and now, seven years later, still actually a puppy. Wonderful to live with.

And yes, of course, having such a friend gives you limitations, but for me it still doesn't outweigh so much that you receive.

Here in Thailand they sometimes must think this man is crazy. A country with an overkill of dogs and then this, "Royal" temple dog touring this beautiful country on the scooter and in the car. Walks along on a leash with a collar with a bell on it. Actually, more than crazy with all those dogs here that roam free and mostly are wild.

My girlfriend regularly tells me that I have changed myself. First, I was "boss" and I regularly had a car with driver. Now I am my dog's private driver. Yep, it can be. I think Kadhow, that is his name, is now one of the most traveled dogs in Thailand. He loves the car and when we travel we only visit and spend money on places where he is 'accepted'. That number of places indeed limits us. It's just the way it is.

He is used to visiting a restaurant and staying a or some nights elsewhere in a hotel and behaves more than neatly. Great to see the wondering faces of the Thai.

A while ago I picked up my girlfriend from her work in Bangkok. A tough journey with quite a bit of delay due to heavy weather conditions during the trip. Still ... the Mazda braved deep water and Kadhow, just like me, must have felt in a boat from time to time.

We were on our way to the Thai province of Nakhon Ratchasima and after the long drive I was pretty tired I can tell you. I just wanted to relax. First out of this metropolis. That worked out only slowly.

Yes, a hotel. Pffff. I wanted to stop there. My girlfriend thought that was a good decision in itself, but she said: "I think this is a sex hotel". Very common here.

It didn't bother me, I just wanted to stop driving because it was no longer safe and my girlfriend, after a long day of working, didn't really like to drive in the late evening as well. Kadhow was not an option of course, but also wanted to stop and leave the car after the long ride.

So, we tried to go there. My girlfriend, in perfect Thai of course, asked the guard/receptionist if there was a room available for one night. No problem. And yes it was a sex hotel.

But…"Can we also take the dog?" I believe that the man almost fell off his chair. He never got this question before I guess. And as far as he was concerned, eventually everything need to have a first time experience. So, he agreed. We laughed a lot.

And what about that physical and mental condition and that best friend?

He delivers it all with a big happy curl in his tail. My son, Rik, once brought me a booklet about the behavioral characteristics of a dog and how you can notice his communication with you and vice versa. Well, I think Kadhow has only one attitude and that is "happy".

He gives me physical and mental fitness every day. Active hiking in the forest for a few hours a day, enjoying what nature has to offer. A form of meditation. Awareness with a nice word.

And indeed, as Rik as animal specialist and caretaker regularly says, you can often rely more on animals than on people because they are always "real". Yep, indeed a more than very special friend.

It is still a puppy after seven years. And maybe my girlfriend is right that he is now my "boss". Fun! I feel more than fine with this healthy friend.


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.

Daddy, I look more and more like you.

Recently I heard the Dutch song "Papa, ik lijk steeds meer op jou” (Daddy, I look more and more like you) by the Dutch singer Stef Bos once again. And damn, the more I think about it, it is indeed true. I look more and more like my dad. And although the lyrics say that we will never meet again after death, that does not apply to my dad and me. Although he passed away many years ago already, we meet each other every day.

I never thought that because we were so different, and I also experience on a daily base a huge influence in my life from the person I am named after.

And how does it show itself that I feel more and more like my dad?

Without ever thinking about it, I took over a daily ritual from my father. His winged quote; "A healthy mind in a healthy body". I live. At least I try to live. Daily one hour of yoga for example. And what a surprise, writing this blog, I find this picture of him. Even doing one of the same exercises.

No, I don't need to go to a fitness center. I don't call it discipline either. It is not like many a kind of temporary fitness overkill. A normal ritual indeed. And that mind too, certainly here in Thailand, receives sufficient training in rest and awareness through daily meditation and practicing the art of stopping on a regular base and not allowing myself to be influenced by all kinds of negativity. “Pick the day!” By the way, a statement from my mother.

Sayings from my dad as:

"Clean up your mess", "Boy, just do normal", "Switch off the light if you are not in your room", "Keep moving if you have an injury", "Be optimistic till the coffin and enthusiast till your last breath" and so much more. I hear them really daily and often I get a smile on my face. Certainly, with that "just behave, do normal". Sign that I still regularly release the puppy within myself. How easy it is to make some fun and get fun in return.
More and more I live his rituals.

His two wines a day are two beers a day with me, the only difference I take twice a year for six weeks an alcohol fast.

Active. I really don't have to think about a (in my opinion) useless hanging around life or sitting behind the geraniums wasting my lifetime. There is still too much to do, to experience and to share in my life.

And in the church as well. I may fulfill the role of Eucharistic Minister and Cantor here in the Cathedral of Chiang Mai, I see his rituals, as a still young boy I witnessed every Sunday at my hometown, pass by every week. It makes me grateful and happy.

And so, there is more and more. I copy behavior? I don't know, it feels like my own, although biological 50% originated from my father, of course. I feel great about it all.

My dad was and stayed very healthy with his active lifestyle, being optimistic and enthusiast for more than 93 years of life, as he always called it.

At least I hope to look like him with that number as well. Staying healthy is a great asset for that. Who knows that one of my slogans: "There is only one goal in life and that is to LIVE" can add even a little extra.

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.

'Dangerous' and 'terrifying' dog gets retirement

Maybe a slightly different blog this time. It's about a change in our street.

As long as I live in Thailand, which has been around for seven and a half years now, there is a white dog at our residences on the neighboring resort. All so-called "Farang" (foreigners) who live here call that dog Whitey. The Thai staff calls him Kaow (the Thai word for rice).

A former gardener who was always drunk once was the owner of the dog. The gardener was fired, so left, and the dog ... he stayed. His health declined when no one really cared about him. One of the former fitness program instructors here began to take care of Whitey and his health was getting much better. He started protecting everyone here who was nice to him. People who did not like him, who treated him badly (or whom he just did not like) were literally barked.

Once a staff member from here shot a stone at him with his catapult. That caused partial blindness in one of the dog's eyes. This man, who still works here, simply cannot enter our street anymore for years. If he has to be there for work, then he waits at the end of the street until one of the homeowners goes crazy about the barking of Whitey and temporarily secures the dog to a leash. Whitey will never forget the sad and terrible incident.

The fitness instructor left to start his own business and ... the dog stayed again. My American neighbor then started to take more and more care of the dog, which made them become best friends together. My German neighbor became a sort of first deputy and I also took care of the dog when they were both unavailable for a short time. Whitey and my dog ​​Kadhow have been soul mates since they know each other. For over seven years. Nice to see "the gang" together.

This Whitey is a special dog with a lot of inner human knowledge. As long as I live here, we as neighbors often talk about how he "feels" the character, the "Jai dee" (Thai for good heart) and the inner genuine friendliness of people. It was always great to see how he reacted and reflected on our visitors and new guests from the resort who were walking down our street. We ourselves often needed a little longer to experience that what Whitey knew in a fraction of a second to discover what kind of people we had to deal with.

Various guest reviews about the resort on Trip Advisor, for example, but also various other websites speak of the presence of a "dangerous" and "terrifying" white dog. I think reviews from people Whitey had estimated right from the first time he ‘met’. All of those complaining types.

As a sort of chief dog, he regularly protected our street against negative influences, you could say, together with my own dog. And ... he warned of snakes and kept other wild dogs away by protecting the territory we are living. Because of this behavior some time ago we as neighbors gave our street the nickname "Whitey Boulevard". Good to be warned in time, right?

Whitey is now around 13 years old. My American neighbor will spend more time in Tak province. Although still Thailand not close to this place. My German neighbor is also leaving for another district of our province next week.

Time for Whitey to retire, his main care taker decided. As neighbors, we think it is the best decision and solution and we grant it to this great dog.

And so, last Tuesday Whitey also left for Tak province to live close to my American neighbor on a beautiful farm (retire place) with a good new caretaker. Hopefully with a nice retirement in sight.

Yes, we homeowners (and his friend Kadhow) will miss him and his "warning and alarm signals" here. We had a good time with him and good protection from him.

Kadhow has since taken over, after he has learned a lot from his friend.

Who knows that the guest reviews of the resort will soon state on the various websites that there is a "dangerous" and "frightening" brown species of wolf that you should be aware of. Thanks to Whitey. 

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.

Don't stop me being beautiful?

Today, October 4, is my mother's yearly remembrance day of her passing away. I know her always trying to be and stay beautiful. Not always fun I guess seeing her as a young boy every evening with curlers in her hair going to sleep. Preparation to be beautiful again the next day. How can you sleep on it?

My two sisters also took over the ‘gene’, and oh well, let's be honest, which of the ladies and more and more also men are also participating in this ‘beauty contest’. Living here in Thailand I think Thai men are ranking high on the world wanting to be beautiful list.

Nowadays you can hardly take a magazine in your hands anymore or it is not at least for 50% filled with how you can become even more beautiful. You only have to invest. There is no end to it.

My Chinese teacher of Buddhist philosophy once said in a lesson that it is indeed endless. There is always more beautiful, there is always better, there is always more and even in relation to the beauty of men and women.. there is always more and ‘better’ to be found.

Isn't it great what not all is invented? More beautiful! Here again such a picture that I came across last Sunday afternoon August 25^th in Chiang Mai city. Screaming on a billboard the size of a house.

Of course, you should not be stopped for the company (the name I photo-shopped out of the picture) that places these kinds of billboards or puts all those advertisements and marketing campaigns in magazines. And if you buy their products be aware you even pay for these campaigns as well. After all, that magazine would otherwise be much more expensive without that sponsor.

We can't even describe what beautiful is. Ever thought about that? And everyone has his or her own taste in it. For example, I find my partner beautiful and attractive. I like her tinted skin. Someone else might not like it at all. Nothing wrong with that. The world is full of other skin colors.

The nice thing is that the beauty industry here in Asia tells people that they should mainly be white. Having a white skin shows a kind of higher ranking. I don’t know how easy to express. Shelves full of "whitener" and you need to stay as much as possible out of the sun. Thick sweaters with long sleeves in the heat on the scooter and cover your head like a "gangster". Police in Europe or America immediately should stop you to take this balaclava off.

And about skin color? In Europe you are invited or sometimes even pushed to use the sun and gat that tinted tan. That is nice (I think so too). The same companies also sell products for this. It’s just about telling stories, help people to believe them and… sell.

What I personally like is to accentuate a tiny little bit the natural beauty you have and that makes you the unique person you are. Your distinctiveness. That is something totally different than for instance the race against aging, etc., things that cannot be stopped. Not creating unnatural walking paintings, I so many times see, where the "stucco work" breaks and almost jumps off the skin getting a natural smile.

Mirrors have been around for a long time. Many nowadays have been taken over by using the I-phone as a mirror. Walking in the city, in a shopping mall, waiting at the Yamaha maintenance shop, or wherever, I see people more and more using this function. Hanging in the ‘mirror’. Looking to everything that, according to the beauty industry, should be better, more beautiful. The campaigns and companies succeeded because people believe in it. Every hair, bump, wrinkle, eyelid, lip, and so on. The ladies and gentlemen ‘working’ in the make-up and beauty departments in the shopping malls for me are heroes in it. Not sure if they really see themselves in those mirrors or cell phones anymore.

Not to tear my mother down, but in my eyes, she often exaggerated in it. And for her profession as an actress, that was of course part of the job. But in real life she did not need it. Yet I actually saw my mother at her best when I came out of the cafe or disco at night and she was still waiting for me with a beer. With those curlers in her hair she wanted to know all her children were safe home again. Great!

Pure nature as she was. And yes, just like nature, that changes in time getting older. Not at all that it wasn't "beautiful" anymore.

What is beautiful? What the industry tells you because they want to sell?

You have been beautiful since birth! Never for everyone of course because there is always "better" as that Chinese abbot once told me in that lesson. And tastes differ. And if you realize that… then you don't have to be stopped at all to be beautiful as the billboard screams because you are satisfied with the beauty that you (every person) already have. Your specific and personal beauty in which you can be and express your true self.

And, I am still a bit Dutch, it also saves a lot of money.

Enjoy your beauty freely and free of charge.

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.

Who is the richest person you have ever met?

A while ago I was asked this question by someone. I didn't just have an answer. It became a deep thought. Actually, by the way, a very nice process.

The nicest thing about this question was it automatically started quickly to show me the movie of my life so far. All kinds of things suddenly came up and showed themselves again. Amazing to discover how much you still can remember if you take the time to watch that running movie.

My thoughts lingered for a while at the age of around fifteen. My father had his physiotherapy practice at home and he had several patients (clients) who lived far away from us and regularly came to visit him. Most of the time they had to wait for a while. And yes, his practice offered a waiting room as well but my mother always felt a bit pity on the people waiting and always offered coffee, tea and cookies in our living room for them. So, our private living room became more and more the waiting room. And her hospitality was not only there for the patients of my dad. Also, our milkman and baker, who at that time came to your house, nearly on a daily base were our visitors in mom’s ‘coffee shop’.

My father had a number of patients from a family. Father, mother and their son always came together every other week.

The son’s hobby was karting and always scored high in the national top ranking. He worked at their family business. They owned a garage and also ran an ambulance, coach and taxi services business. I was always amazed about the astonishing stories they told and especially about the wealth of jewelry that they wore around their fingers and wrists. Abundancy of money because business was running more than well and they had a lot of solid big customers including large hotel chains and Schiphol Amsterdam Airport. The wealth almost “sparkled" toward me.

And yet, when they were gone again, my mother often told me about the pity she had with them. I didn't understand that first that time. Often my mother, with her background as an actress, ‘replayed’ the stories to my sisters and me afterwards and we had to laugh a lot about it.

At some point I started to understand my mother's pity, despite the fun we sometimes had about the wonderful stories she made of it. Their life was not happy at all. Visit after visit to us was filled with a list of all sorts of problems and suffering because of their private and business life.

Now that I am writing this, I am sure they also saw (and used) the visit and therapy of my dad (and mom) as a kind of relief. Sharing their stories safely with someone who listened, did not immediately have an opinion or unsolicited advice, and who was outside their close "circuit".

Where I first saw them as super-rich, it turned out to be a great poverty with a lot of misery.

And in relation to that question from a few weeks ago, this memory shows me again that wealth is not at all in possessions and outward show. This insight began to come alive for me already at a young age through these stories from my father's customers and personal experiences.

Further on in the movie of my life, several "richest" people emerge. People I know from politics, government, the uniformed world, service clubs and so much more. The strange thing is that when I touched the situations in which I remembered them as ‘rich’ again, those thoughts immediately evaporate. This was and is no richness at all. Often simply laughable impressions and unreal life shows. I will not go into it any further.

The photo on this blog is from April this year when I was in India with my girlfriend. This poor boy, he begged in the streets, touched me deeply with his spontaneity. We only met and talked shortly. He was more than thankful after our chat and showed me his real inner richness and especially his pleasure in this photograph.

Where I am stuck for the answer to the question so far in my life, is with a person I met at the Padma Center in Middelburg-NL more than 12 years ago as my philosophy and meditation teacher. For years I attended evening classes every Thursday and also regularly weekend meetings. They were the fuel for the huge life(style) change that I was allowed to make in my life.

This man was far from rich in a financial sense and even struggled with a developmental disorder as he sometimes told. And perhaps precisely because of the latter, he was an expert in his specific interests and activities in relation to philosophy.

He possessed and possesses the wealth to encourage you to discover the richness in yourself through his stories, history, Bhagavad-Gita, personal experiences and inner wisdom.

Someone who shares his rich set of talents in a fantastic way to let others discover their personal treasures and added value.

Voila ... the answer. The richest person I have met in my life so far.


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.

Have you experienced that second most important day in your life yet?

A few weeks ago, I heard the statement by Mark Twain (American writer and humorist November 30, 1835 - April 21, 1910) as shown at the picture added to my this week blog.

Oh well, in general I do not always like quotes and not at all this I call it ‘tile wisdom’. And yet this statement came back to me several times after I heard it. Of course, mainly about the discovery of that  second most important day that he mentions.

Nowadays we can hardly get lost with all our digital devices. Where would we still be without Google Maps or Google Earth? I think that about 95% of people with an I-Phone do use that app and the pizza courier for example cannot do without it. And although I live without an I-Phone, I have to admit that I have a GPS system in my car.

Not that long ago it was different and certainly at the time that Mark Twain (his name by the way is a pseudonym for Samuel Langhome Clemens) was alive and wrote his stories and books. It is a great progress and help.

Whether with all these tools we have also made that progress in the discovery journey in relation to find the reason we are born? In my opinion not.

Although the newest generations are certainly more focused on meaningful living and working, I think that perhaps 95% of us have not yet experienced the second most important day that Twain mentions. We run around aimlessly in the "we need more" system, which is shouted to us all day long by marketing. Maybe good for the economy.

And when you are young, it is almost naturally not a theme yet to discover why you were born. Around the so-called midlife crisis, you start to think and discover a big part of your lifetime is gone already and you start asking other and deeper personal questions. And a GPS or an app., does not help you find the answers to those questions. You have to visit yourself. Go deep inside. Looking for your core, your (latent) talents in order to ultimately be able to find that important answer. Discover your life mission.

When I look at myself, I have felt deep inside for a very long time that there was more and that I was only in the practice phase of my life. Incidentally, a fantastic period in which I could and was allowed to play fully with most of my talents. I also felt a long time ago that for that deeper development and search, and actually that experience of that second most important day, Asia for me was a must. When I was still working in jobs before I started my last job in The Netherlands as a CEO, I already was open about it and talked about it with a number of people. At the time I thought I had to wait until I was 65 years old. All of a sudden that changed, which allowed it to experience Asia already eleven years earlier.

That discovery of the answer, or to me rather the answers, why I was born, makes that second most important day a new birth. A restart of your life that encourages putting things into perspective. You will see what is really important to you and gives you energy to continue your life course in flow. A course that generates energy instead of consumes energy. Almost no disturbances from the outside world anymore because I connected for the most part only with that what for me really still was important. It makes your life, at least that is my experience, much richer. No more goals to achieve just your mission to live.

And the great thing is that if you surrender to that, the nicest things will suddenly come your way. And when you look back on it after a while you also notice that, in a material way, you actually needed almost nothing. Just because it is your destination.

That Twain may be a humorist and yet ... not a bad idea to spend time on the discovery of that second most beautiful day of your 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.

Don't drown in details. Look and read the signs and create a greater picture. It makes your live lighter.

It seems, lately, that I meet more and more people who have their day spoiled by something specific, a detail. And yes, details are important.

One time the reason is a message in the (social) media. The other time the disturbance is by something someone has said to them. Another time for something that went wrong. Plenty of examples.

The focus is on details and things are literally magnified. I often have the feeling that it is a big waste of energy. Everything you give attention grows and you not only influence yourself but also your environment with the irritation that you have called upon yourself. You can even disturb your night rest with it.

It seems to be no more than human that details have a disruptive influence on how "wide" we live our lives.

As a member of a group of photographers here in Chiang Mai (Thailand), one of the things that I deal with in that photo hobby is a different, deeper and wider way of looking. And indeed, that is paying attention to detail. However, that is only possible if you first consider the whole. No detail without a big picture.

And when you look at that large whole again, you find that that too is a detail from an even larger, infinite whole. Just like we ourselves are only that very small pin, or perhaps even less, of that infinitely large whole.

By continuing to focus on details, you miss the whole picture. A whole that always has much more to offer than just that detail.

Once during a lesson at the Buddhist university, the class got a question about a similar photo as I post in this blog. The question was to take some time to discover what you could discover in the drawing.

Some saw, by connecting the black dots, an animal or an object. Still others, like me, just got stuck in the remark of some black dots.

We learned that this is our natural response. Attention to the very limited surface of some black dots. We may have seen the large sheet of white paper, but the attention was not there at all.

And so, it is with all our news that we, in a constant stream, are absorbing. It is "only" the focus of something small within something much bigger. You may wonder whether you should constantly be distracted or disrupted by these details.

Seeing the bigger picture gives distance. Literally and figuratively, to keep an overview and to keep you more stable and in balance.

Look and read the signs and create a greater picture. It keeps you more balanced and makes your life lighter for yourself and the world around you.

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.