{"id":5350,"date":"2026-06-25T13:21:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T11:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/martinthoolen.com\/?p=5350"},"modified":"2026-06-25T13:42:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T11:42:21","slug":"natuurlijke-keerpunten-in-je-leven-en-werk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/martinthoolen.com\/en\/natuurlijke-keerpunten-in-je-leven-en-werk\/","title":{"rendered":"Natural Turning Points in Your Life and Work"},"content":{"rendered":"

During my voyages of discovery around the world, I received inspiration from unexpected encounters that I would like to share with you. Sometimes you have to go far away to get closer. This time: \u2018Turning Points\u2019 in Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some times and places are a natural turning point. Just as the earth rotates so that we experience the longest or shortest day leading to less or more light, there are also natural turning points in your life or in your work.

I am standing here beneath a solstice monument in Rockhampton in Central Queensland, Australia, through which the Tropic of Capricorn literally runs. On the day of the solstice, at exactly noon, sunlight shines straight through the spiral onto a marker on the ground without any shadow, proving that the sun is directly overhead the city.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n


I realized once again that we all experience natural highs and lows in life and in our careers. I wondered: \u2018but why, and what does each of us do with turning points in our lives or careers? How can they help us instead of fighting against them?\u2019 Here you\u2019ll find a few answers:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Highs and Lows<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Here on Earth, with one sun and one moon and our atmosphere, we deal with polarities, namely: day and night, ebb and flow, inhalation and exhalation, tension and relaxation, windfalls and setbacks, light and shadow sides outside and within us. These are laws of nature to which we are all subject. And they are there\u2026 to learn from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, whether we like it or not, both windfalls and setbacks simply come our way. Apparently, we all experience them from cradle to grave. On the one hand: successes, winning, happiness, and highlights that show what we are capable of and sometimes have the wind in our sails. They unveil our talents and potential. How<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But why, then, must we also experience failures, setbacks, bad luck, loss, and lows here? Simply to learn in a \u2018different\u2019 way as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some cultures cultivate the idea that you only must win, or have, pursue, or chase success and happiness. I recall one of the training sessions on job loss that I had developed and conducted in Den Bosch for the national government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During a break at the bar, I run into another training group from the United Kingdom receiving international training on \u2018winning\u2019. I strike up a brief conversation with my neighbor, who is participating in that training and has a book lying in front of him with a large photo of the author on the cover\u2014a sort of Dr. Phil wearing suspenders\u2014with the title \u2018Winning\u2019 in large letters. I ask my neighbor: \u201cHow do you deal with loss?\u201d He is stunned and gives no answer. As if loss is not allowed to exist. Because in some cultures, that brings less money, profit, status, success, recognition, and appreciation. And is therefor excluded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A turning point to temporary loss, bad luck, and setbacks<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes the wind turns against you. And suddenly there is car trouble, or someone close to you falls seriously ill, or you are unjustly denied a promotion or kicked out. Or you unintentionally end up in lawsuits that get under your skin. \u2018Shit Happens\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The more you think it shouldn\u2019t exist and try to push it away, the harder it comes back at you sooner or later like a cosmic boomerang. Why? To learn from life in a different way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The moment you accept that it is there, even if what happens is unpleasant or terrible, a new opportunity to learn arises. Namely, how you deal with it and which insights move you forward to being a sincere, peaceful, and authentic human being for yourself, others, and your natural environment. Then the unpleasant experience becomes healing and beneficial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like with my own mother, who had dementia for 10 years and at a certain point no longer recognized me. It brought me vulnerability, greater love, and gratitude that I hadn't felt so strongly before. Car trouble on the first Christmas Eve of last year, with minus four degrees on the side of the road, showed me how to do crisis management. A former manager who tried to blacken my name decades ago and was building a distorted file when I was still employed there taught me to protect myself better afterwards and not to trust everyone blindly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And how often do you actually hear it: when my heart broke, my heart opened up more. Or, I learned the most from my mistakes, not so much from everything I did well. Or, the thing that shook me awake the most was when I was at rock bottom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And after a period of dealing with loss, bad luck, or setbacks, sooner or later there comes a turning point towards more profit, happiness, and success. At least, if you let nature take its course. If you cling to how something ought to be, but isn't reality, you are fooling yourself. Then bitterness takes over. And then you actually prolong the setback. And you can keep that up even until your death here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, if you let inner nature do its work, spring, summer, autumn, winter, spring, summer, etc. will come. Then, after rain, there will be sunshine, and rain again, and sunshine again, etc. Cyclically. Incessantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As soon as we accept natural turning points and know that we sometimes experience light and sometimes darkness, and can learn from this in different ways, there is actually nothing wrong. Then an inner peace and acceptance emerge that makes life and your career a lot lighter and more relative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For everything is temporary. For everything comes and goes. And turning points mark new opportunities to learn from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wish that you embrace all natural turning points and give yourself opportunities to continue growing into a beautiful person for yourself and those around you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martin<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a9 2026: Martin Thoolen<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#wereldinspiraties #worldinspirations #reisverhalenmartinthoolen #travelstoriesmartinthoolen #spirit #synchroniciteit #synchronicity #firstnations #persoonlijkinspirerendleiderschap #persoonlijkleiderschap #leadership #leadershipdevelopment #personalleadership #leiderschap #spiritueelleiderschap #spiritedleadership #executivecoaching #leiderschap #leiderschapsontwikkeling #teamcoaching #collectiefleiderschap #professionalcoaching #coaching #businesscoaching #psychologyofselves #voicedialogue #egozielspirit #egosoulspirit #ego #ziel #awarenessatwork #martinthoolen<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tijdens mijn ontdekkingsreizen over de wereld ontving ik inspiratie uit onverwachte ontmoetingen die ik graag met je deel. Soms moet je (ver) weggaan om dichterbij te komen. Deze keer: \u2018Keerpunten\u2019 in Rockhampton, Queensland, Australi\u00eb. Sommige tijden en plekken zijn een natuurlijk keerpunt. Zoals dat de aarde zo draait dat we de langste of de kortste […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5351,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19,10,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wereldinspiraties","category-blog","category-nieuws"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinthoolen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinthoolen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinthoolen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinthoolen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinthoolen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5350"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/martinthoolen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5350\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5356,"href":"https:\/\/martinthoolen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5350\/revisions\/5356"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinthoolen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinthoolen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinthoolen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinthoolen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}