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Video: From the JCI World Congress 2009

Submitted by kairoer on Wed, 12/30/2009 - 12:24.

I made a short film from the JCI World Congress 2009, showcasing a few of the highlights. 

I believe the holidays are perfect to review these happy moments! Please enjoy!

 

 

ITF 132! That is me!

Submitted by kairoer on Sun, 12/27/2009 - 20:59.
After 3 years and six months, I have reached one of my larger goals in life. I have reached the highest level of trainers in Junior Chamber International, ITF (International Training Fellow). 
 
My ITF Satus 
The number 132 means I am the 132th person in the world to reach this level. Only 131 other persons have this rank as per December 2009. And that in an organization of 200 000 members worldwide. 
This is a great honor to me. I set out to reach this goal in June 2006. The journey have taken me to many fantastic places, many places I had no idea existed before I went there, and places I have enjoyed very much. 
The tour has introduced me to cultures and food, drinks and language. I have eaten pigs ears, and salted cucumbers. Black bread with fat and salami one day, and couscous the next. I have drinked Vodka in many flavours and of many brands and origins. I have tried even more beer, and the best of wine. 
I have met people in all flavors and types. Business owners, employees, Presidents of local organizations, national organizations and the world organization. I have made friends in places I never thought I´d ever visit. I have seen bad, and I have seen good. Most importantly, I have seen people grow to their fullest potential. And I was granted the honor to facilitate a part of that growth. 
To be allowed to facilitate growth in other people is a very humbling experience. And a great learning experience too. I would not have reached this far, the top of the training ladder in JCI, without all of you! If you did not allow me to experiment on you, if you had not showed up, if you had not accept the ideas I had. Well, without you, I would have had a life without purpose, and I would not be the one I am today. 
I would not have reached my goal without you. So being ITF #132 - that is me, thanks to you!

Kill me, my faithful friends

Submitted by kairoer on Thu, 12/17/2009 - 23:29.

Kill me, my faithful friends
For in my being killed is my life.

Love is that you remain standing 
in front of your Beloved
when you are stripped of all of your attributes,
the His attributes becomes your qualities.

Between me and You, there is only me.
Take away the me, so only You remain.

Hallaj

 

Nightmares - keeping me alive!

Submitted by kairoer on Fri, 12/11/2009 - 04:35.
I woke up at 4:34AM this morning. And this is how I felt.
..
My body trembling, my mouth dry, and with this taste of metal that goes with dry mouth. My body hurts, especially my calves. I don´t know why my calves hurt, it makes no sense. 
The panic has stuck as a physical tension in my belly. I am really hot, but not sweat. I am dry. I find myself laying on top of the cover on my bed, something that is a strange thing to do in Norway in December, especially when you sleep with your window open as I do.
I recall my nightmare. 
...
 

Mobile Crane

The mobile crane is the biggest I ever saw. It comes driving slowly down hill. The truck itself is dark violet, and the crane and all the crane parts are in bright yellow, almost like a lemon. I point towards it, showing it to my brothers, who seems busy reading. The crane comes closer, and I notice asking myself why it is moving while the lifter and weights and all the other parts of it is in place. Now, this may seem like a non-logical question to you, unless you know how these huge mobile cranes are moved. 
Due to their masses, and weight, these cranes are transported in pieces. They lift off the counterweights, as well as the rig. And more or less everything else, leaving only the truck itself. 
Not so in my dream. As I showed it to my son (my brothers had left at this stage), I could explain to him in detail all the different parts, and how they would normally have transported this crane using at least twelve semi trucks. To him, eight years old, the number really did not make any sense, but to you it may. This was not only a dreamt up number, this is the number of trucks used when I was lucky enough to take part in such a moving last year. 
Suddenly the air is filled with noise. Noise of heavy engines, metal screaming and people yelling. I am on the working lot where the mobile crane is to be mounted for work. The crane operator is there too, running around, and so is someone I recognize as someone I like very much, still I am not able to fix his face nor remember his name. Could be an old, lost friend. My son is no longer around, and I am dressed in working habit.
One of the support legs are moving in place, far above my head. It seems to be working all by itself, knowing what to do, and where to push it´s leg into the dirt. 
My long lost friend (in lack of a better name) knows exactly what to do too, and seems very knowledgeable when he takes off a huge, black and bended tube from it´s storage on the body of the truck and move away with it. The piece he lifts is bigger than him, and I see he is really working with it. 
I move along the crane, walking in full height underneath it. In the dream, this was natural, just like the huge pipe of exhaust my friend was carrying in the previous paragraph. 
At this point, the sound is really high. The sound is like a machine, possibly a steam punk machine, making hammering noise in perfect rhythm. A hard hit and then a soft hit. A small break, then a hard hit and a soft hit. The sound reassemble the sound of hoisting a big metal chain through a metal hole - just like the chain holding the anchor of a ship. I am still underneath the mobile crane, the sound comes from right above my head. 
In front of me, I watch this black part moving. It could be a support for balance, except this one is much smaller than the one previously mentioned. This one is not bigger than I am. The leg is vertical, tubular and with a circular plate welded horizontally at the bottom. As the leg moves downwards towards the ground, I realize that it is pinning me down. I more feel than see the extended leg above myself, pushing down on my back. I must be laying on the ground at this point. 
The hydraulic system don´t even seem to notice the slightly higher pressure needed to pin me down, as it forces the leg to touch the ground. 
...
This is when I wake up. Warm and dry. Frightened. A normal morning I would not have remembered the dream, and just noticed that I had yet another bad night before rolling over and trying to get some more sleep. 
Not so today. My body is still filled with the immense fright caused by being pressed to death. I am still scared, the tension in my belly is still as strong as when I woke up. And that is 40 minutes ago as I write this.
I know. This is my mind, and possibly my body, dealing with my accident. Showing me that things may not be so easily digested, even though it have seemed fine so far. 
I have slept badly since the accident. Usually waking up (more or less) around four, and not being able to sleep again until around six. I do not know why it is like this, but it certainly drains me. Sometimes I am forced to sleep a in the afternoon, especially when my day has been rough. And rough may be normal things like a meeting. Attending meetings where I have to focus is bound to re-bounce as headache and exhaustion in the afternoon. Giving a training still requires me to take the day off afterwords, so I can recharge and grow my energy back. 
People around me tell me that it has only been a little longer than three months now. And I cannot argue that. Still, I am impatient. I want my old self back. I want to be able to focus, concentrate, be energetic and caring, and to do the things I love doing. Without the need of a day or two of rest every time. 
And I am scared. What if I have to relive the accident every night? What if I will never again sleep one full night without waking up? Me, the guy who needed a minimum of eight hours sleep every night if I was to be able to do anything at all. 
I embrace life. I love every second of it. I enjoy every second too. I feel love, I feel life, and I feel like I am on the right track. The funniest thing is that I know that I will be perfectly capable of living my life to the fullest - even if I am to live the rest of my days waking up in fear, waking up dying as I did today. Despite of my fear, and my body filled with post traumatic stress and pain, I am happy. 
Scared or not - I am happy to live. I´ll go downstairs and have a cup of tea now. 

What will you be doing on the JCI day?

Submitted by kairoer on Wed, 12/09/2009 - 11:46.

JCI

How will you celebrate JCI Day this year? Commemorate the founding of JCI this December 11 with the rest of the leading global network of young active citizens. 

December 11, 1944, 30 young, enthusiastic active citizens from eight countries — Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and the United States — met in Mexico City to sign a declaration that led to the establishment of Junior Chamber International (JCI). 

“A good citizen a better citizen …”
In St. Louis, Missouri, USA, a young man name Henry Giessenbier was inspired by Colonel H.N. Morgan, a prominent St. Louis citizen, who asked for help to improve the city. Giessenbier came up with the idea of “bringing the young men of our great city together into one grand body with that great purpose of fellowship, advancement and everything which would make a good boy a better boy, a good student a more proficient scholar and a good citizen a better citizen.” 

To achieve that objective, on October 13, 1915, Giessenbier and 32 other young men formed the Young Men's Progressive Civic Association (YMPCA), which became the St. Louis Junior Chamber of Commerce.

After World War I, Giessenbier contacted similar groups of young active citizens in other cities, and, subsequently, 29 clubs from around the nation formed the United States Junior Chamber of Commerce. Henry Giessenbier was elected the first President of the National Organization.

Going International
The organization extended to other countries in 1923 with the establishment of the Winnipeg Board of Trade in Canada as the first Junior Chamber outside the United States. By 1928, the idea of an international organization crossed the Atlantic Ocean to England.

In 1940, the United States Junior Chamber passed a resolution approving a program to further mutual interests with other young people in countries in Central and South America. 

In 1943, J. Allyn Taylor of Canada and Vance Graham of the United States took a tour to seven Latin American countries. Much of the material explaining the movement was translated into Spanish by a Mexican schoolteacher from El Paso, Texas.

Despite war-time travel complications and border-crossing problems, the trip was successful. The Junior Chamber representatives found young people in Central America quite receptive to the formation of Junior Chambers in their countries. 

The Inter-American Conference
Taylor and Graham established Junior Chambers in Mexico City, Guatemala City, San Salvador, Tegucigalpa (Honduras), Managua (Nicaragua), San Jose (Costa Rica), and Panama. The next step was the all-important Inter-American Conference in Mexico City in 1944.

Excitement ran high in 1944 as young people in Mexico, the United States and Canada worked out the details for the first Inter-American Conference. Taylor and Graham's trip convinced enough young men of the value of Junior Chamber involvement. They all agreed the time had come to form the international organization of Junior Chambers of Commerce. 

The Inter-American Conference was held in Mexico City from December 7 until December 11, 1944. On December 11, 1944, the declaration that led to the establishment of Junior Chamber International (JCI) was signed and Raul Garcia Vidal of Mexico was elected as the first president of the new international organization. 

The First World Congress
In February of 1946, the first World Congress was held in Panama City, Panama and was attended by 44 delegates from 16 countries. The international organization was formally constituted on the premise that young people working for mutual understanding could prevent another holocaust like World War II. A temporary constitution was approved, and the word "Commerce" was omitted from the official name.

Erasmo Chambonnet of Panama was elected the second JCI President at that Congress, and Australia and Canada were officially affiliated.

December 11, 2009 
Every year, JCI Members worldwide celebrate the birth of JCI as an international organization that has developed millions of young active citizens throughout the years in various creative ways. 

How will you and your JCI Local and National Organizations commemorate JCI Day in 2009? 

Original article from www.jci.cc . 

How giving is recieving

Submitted by kairoer on Tue, 12/08/2009 - 07:12.
For many years, people told me that I would need to give in order to receive. Heck, even one of the great books (Bible) says so. And it found it really hard to grasp the idea, and how that would apply to me, to my life. 
 

Giving

I thought that hard work, dedication to my tasks, and following the mainstream idea having a house, car, wife, kids and perhaps a dog or two would make me happy. I did not give a nickel about giving anything, it was more important to me to get. To receive. To make my own fortune, to get the fame I new I deserved. 
 
 
I set down this path with all my vigor, all my power, all my passion. I expected to be happy. Perhaps not right away, but at least the moment money and fame started to appear. I did receive. I did get money, and I did get some fame. What I never got, was to be happy. And to me, being happy is what this life is all about. After all, what is the purpose of making an effort if you do not feel good? What good does it make you if you do not get rewarded in a way that makes sense to you? 
 
 
Over the years, I learned a couple of things about myself. The first, the hardest one, was simply that I do not get motivated about money. If someone would offer you 10 million US$, would you turn them down? Even in Norway, this kind of money amounts to something. Add to the fact that all you had to do to get this amount was to sell a part of your company, and split it 50% with your business partner? What would you have done? How far would you be willing to stretch yourself and your values to get 10 million US$? 
 
It was hard to accept that in my society, where money matters so much, I just don’t give a darned thing about it. 
 
The other thing I have learned is how I receive when I give. The things that give me the most pleasure in life is to give something meaningful to someone else. It does not really matter if it is someone totally unknown to me, or someone I love dearly. What does matter is that giving them something that is of true value, preferably what I call Life Changing value; then I feel alive. The ability, gift, of making such an impact on other people is what makes my life give sense to me. 
 
And the gift is not material. Everyone can buy his wife a car or a house. But how many of you spend time understanding what your wife really wants? And then give it to her? Those little things that means so much – a heartily caress, listening to what she is saying, caring about how she is pursuing her own life goals. 
 
It does not have to be your spouse. You can easily give something of great value to a stranger on the street; to your boss; to your colleagues; and to friends. It is as easy as giving a smile, offering a service or giving them true attention. 
 
I promise you that this kind of attention to other people will help you get more and better attention from others. And as you give this kind of attention, people will start caring more about you. They perceive you as someone how cares, as someone who want them to succeed and to have a great life. The amazing thing is that when they perceive you like that, that is also the image they project back to you. And you grow your own success! 
 
I am not saying this is any easy, nor that it makes any sense to you. What I am saying is that to me, these are the things that are important. And to me, they make perfect sense. This is what creates value in my life. This is how I choose to live my life, and live good. 

The 5 steps that gives you control of your life!

Submitted by kairoer on Sat, 12/05/2009 - 11:31.

I have a dream!

Motivation is a funny thing. Sometimes you have plenty, other times it seems to evaporate and evade you totally. I am just like anybody else, sometimes I am full of it (motivation, that is), other times I am drained and have to force myself to do even the simplest things.
Over the years, I have found that there are several things I can do to regain my motivation, and an equal number of things I can do to loose it. One of my biggest motivators is people. Those around me that make me crack out and laugh, those who challenge me intellectually, those who dare to disagree – because they have a different opinion. Those who push me around and make sure I reach the goals I set for myself and others. 
And one of the biggest drains to my motivation is people too. Some people are so self-absorbed they do not realize they live in a world surrounded by others. Some are so picky nothing is ever good enough. Some are so filled with negativity that they create a spiral of anti-joy, a black whole of bad feelings. 
The art of staying motivated is to control your environment as much as possible. Sometimes that does not seem really possible – you may have a great job with some sour colleagues, or a boss with total lack of people skills. Still, this is only an excuse. It is always your own responsibility to control your own life. No-one else can do that, no-one else are responsible. 
I know it may seem really hard to change your environment – being it workplace, your colleagues, friends or place you live. Trust me with this. I have done it. You can too. This list will help you believe, and act!
1. It is possible. Always. 
You can do anything you want, if you want it enough. I have a set of questions I use when I consider a change. The first is:
- Do I want it? If yes, then then next question:
- Do I really want it? This is the hard one. Because if I really want it, I need to commit to it, and start acting. Try it, it works wonders. And as a great bonus – if you cannot say yes to both, you should not do it at all. So you end up freeing a lot of time and efforts you waste on non-important tasks. 
 
2. The decision is the hardest step.
To actually make up your mind, and start doing something about your life is the most important, yet the toughest step. 
When you say yes twice above, you need to act. And you need to do it quickly, so you do not forget, or let something else “stop” you from doing what you want. 
 
3. If you do nothing, nothing will ever change. 
Many of us become accustomed to the things we do, how we live and start fearing change. We may spend every day in a monotone habit, sleeping, eating, working, watching TV, sleeping again. We may know we are not happy. We may feel we need the change. But unless you start changing, you continue the monotone life until you die, and then it is too late. 
 
4. It is only you who can change you. 
Some people go around thinking they can change others. Worse, some people go around believing others are the only ones that can change them. The truth is that only you can change your own behaviors. Others may tell you what to do, reason with you, even teach you how to do it, but only you and your actions can do the change. 
 
5. Dare to live your dreams! 
All of us (at least everyone I have ever met) have dreams, visions and hope. Most of us don’t pursue them. As we grow up, we are told that dreams are worthless, that we have to get a job, to make a family, buy a house and a car, and all of a sudden we end up living someone else’s dream. I dare you – dig down deep inside and find your dreams. They are the power of your life; some may even be a clue to the purpose of your life. Stop caring about what others may think – pursue your dream! Whatever makes you happy – really happy – must be right. 
I follow these rules myself. I teach these rules. I live the change, I live my dream, I live my life purpose. It wasn’t always easy, it still isn’t easy at all times. Rewarding on the other hand, my life really is. I get to live my life to the fullest, I get to enjoy every moment – because I know that I can change everything I want to change. 
Do you dare to live your dreams? What are the steps you take to ensure you reach your life goal? 

Go on! Dig deeper!