“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

— Theodore Roosevelt —

When will we make the same breakthroughs in the way we treat each other as we have made in technology?

Theodore Zeldin

I’m so thankful for the last 2.5 days! Yet another leap. These last 2 years together with Reinoud and Arjen have changed my life.
It is not that my environment has changed – my friends, my family, my colleagues – they are as they were. But the way I see the world – “my world” – has changed. It’s so beautiful, there is so much grace in it.
Thank you for that gift.

Yours Marc

PS The picture is taken at the grounds where it all happened…Castle Vaalsbroek, The Netherlands.

How do you explain transformation to someone? I mean plain and simple personal transformation. Not how organisations change into digital ways of doing business. No. First I did this, then I did that. First, I was like this, then like that. I felt like so, then like such about something.

The first time I took my firstborn out for a stroll in the park, he was eight days old. He was warmly tucked under my long overcoat, as it was a fresh April day. I looked him in the eye, felt his warmth and knew, or rather, realised something in my life, in me, had changed and would never be the same again. I would take care of this little one forever. My root perspective shifted from being at the center of my world to feeling responsible for others.

My first paycheck, in my first proper job. I remember looking at it for minutes. It meant not being financially dependent on my parents anymore. I was happy for them, and for me. From now on, I would stand on my own two legs and support myself. Finally, I was a true grown-up.

My father was diagnosed with cancer. We took care of him during his last weeks. I discovered a side of myself I never knew I had. So patient. He suffered from dementia and thought he had to go to the toilet every ten minutes. Sixty times a day, off we went. And back. Days on end.

Until he couldn’t anymore. His last words to me were ‘goodbye, my boy’. I cried. I transformed, in inexplicable and subtle ways. Knowing it ends, knowing my patient nature, knowing the love I felt. And later, the gratitude.

How do you explain transformation? We all transform, continuously. It’s just not so easy to explain. Today, my son turned 18.

Welcome to the new Zhimble website. Zhimble is all about Transformation.

“Transformations are growth changes that emerge from a source deep within the innate structure of an organism. – Gita Bellin”.

Zhimble facilitates transformation programs in multinationals all over the world. By doing so, we continuously evolve, expand and transform ourselves. On this website, you can read all about our own transformation, our endeavours with people and teams in organisations, inspiration articles. And, should you be willing, you can share your transformation story here.

Enjoy and be inspired!

Arjen, Reinoud and Paul

Just like the stars in the Universe, we are all unique sparks in the same Universe. Unique in who we are, how we are, why we are. As unique sparks, we are all looking for our place in the world, for meaning and purpose. We accumulate wealth, things, information, knowledge, time, etc. However, can we ever get enough of the world outside, when we ourselves are not fulfilled with a sense of purpose and meaning inside?

Unique sparks

Like stars and people, organisations are also unique sparks in the Universe. Unique in their raison d’etre, and unique in their ways. People are at the heart of this. They make every organisation truly unique. People love work because of the challenge. The money, career, good colleagues are all important qualifiers, but they are not the essence. Work that enables us to grow in who we are is meaningful. Achieving something purposeful, together with others, making a difference, is fulfilling.

And yet, in our organisations today, many people still feel their talents and potential are far from fully utilised, noticed or appreciated. These are missed opportunities for achieving high levels of engagement. But also commitment and creativity and low levels of absenteeism, burn-outs and staff turnover. In short, an area of great opportunity to improve business results AND fulfil people’s lives.
To fulfil our need for meaning, purpose and making a difference, we need to turn inwards. We need to transform. We need to introduce a continuous process of personal growth and transformation into our offices and workplaces, rather continuously changing our workplace structures.

Global Transformation drives us

Zhimble assists leaders in organisations to transform. Truly life changing. Zhimble delivers Transformation Programs to multinational corporations across the globe since 2003. Based in in Europe, Zhimble provides of a global network of experienced Transformation Experts in the America’s, EMEA and Australia.

I am a Facilitator of Transformation. After a long career in the financial services industry I decided to switch career and develop myself into a different direction.

What happened?

In the beginning of 2018 I joined the Facilitator Development Program of Gita Bellin & Associates. By the end of November 2018 I received my accreditation for this program.

What are my most important learnings?

First of all, I discovered what a paradigm is. And what it is like to discover different paradigms. Change takes place in existing paradigms and Transformation happens in different ones. I also discovered that Transformation is about growth. And the magnitude of growth opportunities presenting themselves every day. I have become more aware of my own growth potential and that of other people around me. I also found out that I am good as I am. Growing from one state of perfection to the other. From outside-in focus, towards inside-out and now rebalancing this to AND and WE. Furthermore, I found ways to be at choice. Have the freedom of choice to respond instead of react. Living Creative Cause. Besides this, I feel very grateful having been given the opportunity to practice a way to relax and reconnect to my inner self, the Dynamic Mind Practice. And to benefit from all the other collateral beauty of this beautiful practice.

What’s next?

Now I can share the wisdom of Creative Cause with others. And it is my intention to be able to do the same for the Dynamic Mind Practice soon.  And yet I feel the same way as when I first drove a car after having passed my driver’s license. I passed the test, capability check is OK, and now the driving starts. With all its challenges and opportunities for growth. And Transformation continues. And I am looking forward to the learning journey ahead.

How would it be if you could measure your own brainwaves yourself. To gain understanding what brainwave patterns mean. To change them at will? Great ! we thought, and we invited Andrea Groh from Bamberg. Andrea is a very experienced user of the Mind Mirror, a home EEG originally developed by Anna Wise, author of the book High-Performance Mind.

High Performance Mind

One of our favourite workshop topics is the Dynamic Mind Practice. The DMP teaches you to enter AT WILL the state of consciousness that is most beneficial and most desirable for any given circumstance. A high performance mind. Maybe you want your logical planning mode (beta-waves) to prevail, or single pointed focus (alpha-waves), or do you need more creativity (theta-waves) and intuition (delta-waves)? Or would you rather have them all at the same time !

Mind Mirror

This summer we decided to buy a Mind Mirror and to ask for the support of Andrea to help us have a look at our brainwave patterns in a two-day workshop. Certainly, it is a very connecting experience to share your own patterns with your team mates. To have a look at theirs and to talk about their meaning. We learned about fishing mode. About evolving mind patterns where openness and non-duality prevails. Most striking was the abundance of delta brainwaves that everybody displayed. Hence, the team came to the conclusion that we can trust that empathy and intuition are always there. That everybody has it and that gut-feeling is naturally present in every moment.

My brainwave pattern

In the figure attached to this blog you can see my brainwave pattern on a normal Tuesday morning. It is the Oneness state. A state where you create your own field where it feels safe and where you are not so much bothered by fields of others. Hence, this is ok and relaxing in some situations. However, it does not help when the situation requires intuition and picking up fields. I was very happy with the exercises of Andrea that enabled me to access other states of consciousness.

People, when true to their nature, yearn to step into their power to be creative, confident, trusting and open. We yearn to learn, grow, transform and enjoy ourselves. To be loving family members and make a positive difference at work.

Limiting patterns

However, such a grand and graceful state is not how most of us turn up for the first job in our career. Our upbringing, school, college, society, personal history, etc. has left its imprint. We are not yet privileged to be born into an enlightened society that knows how to grow their young ones into holding the full expression of their new born purity as they grow older. Instead, most of us normal healthy adults, carry dysfunctional patterns around. This keeps us from living and experiencing our full powerful creative selves.

Organizations echo individual patterns

Our personal limiting patterns show up as limiting patterns in organisations. When we have difficulty to trust, we contribute to an organisational pattern of distrust. When we have need to control, we create control structures around us. We seek to fulfill our fear-based unmet needs by changing the world around us. This is how our limiting patterns extend into the outside world. Vice versa, such organisational patterns reinforce limiting patters in individuals. Travel cost authorisations can leave people feeling small, having ‘little to say around here’. A team leader with little openness gets cautious behavior from his team.

Transforming organisations

The problem is that most of us are unconscious of our own limiting patterns. How do we let go of limitations without recognising them? What would it take for organisations to become a great place for people to grow out of their limitations and fears in an accelerated way, as a natural process?

When personal transformation becomes a continuous and normal element of daily life at work, people grow out of their limitations. The organisation benefits. All that is needed, is to help people understand and master their own transformation.

Last week Marnix and I attended the Hearts and Minds users day at the Energy Institute in London. This is the annual day where users of the Hearts and Minds Safety culture toolkit share experiences and learning. Furthermore, this is where new and updated Hearts and Minds tools are introduced. This year, a brand new version of the module Understanding your Culture was presented.

THE GREAT SOLUTION TO ALL HUMAN PROBLEMS IS INDIVIDUAL INNER TRANSFORMATION. VERNON HOWARD