This learner has completed ID verification. Find out more.
Mike Brouwer
I am a Psychologist (MSc) with an international MBA and a high level of coaching experience as a PCC-accredited Coach within the ICF (and a 2nd grade black belt in karate).
Location Netherlands
Activity
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
In my opinion, the psychological contract is always present. From the very beginning of a relationship, there are unspoken expectations. Some expectations come from basic human needs, some from experimental experiences, some also from identity. The latter means that the group to which you belong, or to which you think the other person belongs, carries certain...
-
We can see our consciousness as the ability to interpret everything that comes to us through our senses. However, we can also see our consciousness as a constant predictor. A kind of permanent “if this… then that” machine.
Our predictions are based on what we have learned. Trust plays a very important role. Because not everything is laid down in advance in... -
Mike Brouwer made a comment
I'm a psychologist with an MBA. Most of my clients come from the work environment. I see many suffering from lack of decency and dignity at the work-place. I'd hope to find/develop tools for them to get a better grip on the situation.
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
I would have loved to see an example of a sleeping diary
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
The regular advice in The Netherlands is to not take a nap longer than 30 minutes as it will diminish your adenosine level, which take away some of your sleep-pressure at the evening. The advice is to take a nap between 15 and 20 minutes, preferably at a fixed hour of the day in order to prevent your brain from seeking a reward in the form of a nap.
I like... -
Mike Brouwer made a comment
The main question for me would be: could it be used as treatment? Both voluntarily e.g. with clients who want to learn how to avoid addictive behavior or unvoluntarily with people e.g. in jail. Ethical questions immediately pop up
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
Most important are the theories around the way the brain sort of reorganizes itself to make sense and learn from the input while being awake
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
Sleep is about recovery. We notice more and more that power naps (15-20 minutes) contribute to recovery. E.g. treating post-covid clients. Sleeping during daytime should be no longer than 30 minutes though.
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
Lack of sleep increases the hunger hormone ghrelin and decreases the satiety hormone leptin, which explains the link between too little sleep and obesity.
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
I'm a psychologist and have some knowledge of sleep, but always curious to learn more
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
No certificate?
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
Grains, milk and olive oil
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
Very simple pasta
Cook the pasta, e.g. spaghetti
Prepare the vongole by cooking them until they open.
Meanwhile stir fry a large amount of garlic with some chili flakes and large amount of dried parsley in ample olive oil. Make sure it's not too hot.
Put the cooked pasta with the stir fried garlic en let in simmer for a minute or two. Meanwhile chop fresh... -
Mike Brouwer made a comment
Eggs (since we have our own chickens) and yoghurt (taken after almost daily work-out)
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
Mostly MED but with too much red meat and some focus on prebiotics.
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
I find myself probably eating too much red meat, because we use e.g. chorizo in small amounts to flavor paella or small slices of crisp fried bacon in a vegetable soup.
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
I take fruit with yoghurt and coffee each morning. Bread with some cheese or eggs (from our own chickens) for lunch and diner is (almost) always special. My favorite at this moment is to grill vegetables (onions, carrots, pimientos, fennel, etc.) and combine that with pasta and sometime fish or meat. We like to eat in at least two courses, and use homegrown...
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
The relationship is not only about physical health. Diet has a very strong effect on mental health too. Even more if you include social behavior liking eating together or preparing food together as part of a diet.
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
In the Netherlands we have around 2200 people of 100 years or above, which seems to be rather stable now, but is double the amount compared to 20 years ago. Around 85% are women. Most of them seem to live close to the sea. There are a number of research projects, most of them by The Alzheimer Foundation.
Holstege, H., Beker, N., Dijkstra, T., Pieterse, K.,...
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
In the Netherlands we are an aged society. At 16%, the proportion of people aged 65 and older in the Netherlands is lower than the European average (17%) and the German and Italian average (both 21%).
The average life expectancy (ALE) in the Netherlands for males is 80,5 and 83,6 for females.For HALE we have a number of sub-categories which makes it...
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
Very boring to listen to someone so privileged.
And she get's to learn lot's of stuff each day. Wow! That's really amazing. Right?
I think about 0,01% of the earth's population is this privileged. I'd rather have someone talk about their career who really worried about making ends meet. -
Mike Brouwer made a comment
I completed an MBA, have a MSc in Psychology (Industrial and Organizational) and specialize in career guidance and sustainable labor participation.
Please enjoy finalizing the following Life Portrait for yourself:
In facing this transition, my underlying concern is ............. It reminds me of my feelings of .................. To solve my problems in...
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
Realistic?
Dream! Reality comes later.
The R should stands for Resonant. For what really resonates for you.
And the T for Thrilling. Something that is a bit frightening, but creates enough arousal to motivate. (realistic and timelines don't motivate) -
Mike Brouwer made a comment
The value proposition is mainly about the added value you can deliver to others
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
I discovered that I need to take more time to reflect and plan. And just jump into anything
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
Karl Inkson offered a view of nine key metaphors that are fun te explore. One way of using them is to put them on a sheet of paper on the floor. Stand on it at look at your career from the perspective of that metaphor and what info that bring. Try to find 2-3 that resonate for you.
Inkson, K. (2004). Images of career: Nine key metaphors. Journal of...
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
The goals are clearer than the path. So it is a bit trial and error, with a lot of error. Yet effort has always been the path to mastery. And like Sisyphus, at some point you have start loving the road and enjoying the scenery.
-
In the original meaning of "passion", the meaning of Christ, it was something to die for, something you would sacrifice for. Maybe you have to sacrifice one career to discover the next.
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
My ideal job is a portfolio of engagements with different organizations. The path is reasonably clear, but not simple. Networking is very important and fast action when things start to move. The most compelling is still developing my own company.
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
Jobs used to fixed, with life-time employment and protected by labor unions. Adaptability is the key word now, like in permanent education. Testing people to see if there's a match between person and environment is much less common, because a current match does no longer guarantee a future match.
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
Hi,
I started the course because I want an update on my skills in career guidance. I have a MSc in organizational psychology and an international MBA, and I am certified as a coach at PCC level with the ICF. I have a lot of clients in career guidance, but to stay true to my own challenges, I try to constantly learn. In memory of Anthony Bourdain, this...
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
My answer hasn’t changed. The question is too anthropocentric. The ethical domain used to be limited to men only, slaves and women excluded. We’re evolving to include other species as well. With the exception of mosquitos and some viruses (to name just a few)
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
The doomsday scenario and climate change are not comparable. In the latter there is choice and action possible. The doomsday scenario is motivating in the sense that it reminds us that we can do something.
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
A mix is needed. E.g. in dealing with a large pension fund in one country that invested largely in polluting practices in another country, and because multinationals might have their ownership registered in a country that, on a global scale, can hardly be held responsible, like Caymen Islands
-
No, it’s not convincing. It’s too anthropocentric and it’s about the act, not about who suffers the consequences.
-
As in the page before this one: the question is very limited.
The ethical domain includes more than just humans. We also have a duty towards other species, some with far longer life spans. (Some philosopher - forgot his name - even wanted us to include aliens in ethical domain.) -
Even if I only have a moral obligation to people that currently exist, I also have the obligation to stick with the human rights that says that they can have a family. Current duties automatically include future generations.
-
The question is very limiting because it only includes humans as part of the ethical domain. We also have ethical obligations to future generations of non humans.
Richard Sylvan had a nice though experiment which challenges you to consider whether it would be wrong for the last living man/woman on earth to destroy all other remaining species. if you...
-
I can see a good example of the tragedy of the commons in the UN Human Rights Council. The present composition of the Advisory Committee has (among others) members from Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Algeria, Russian Federation, China, India en Egypt. Because of shared ownership its function is hollowed out. Even in a body that is supposed to advocate global ethical...
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
We have solar cells on our roof and a fully electric car. Our energy consumption is less than our energy production. We limit our meat consumption to a maximum of twice a week. We go to an open food market by bike and come back with bags full of greens and fruits for the week. Both our businesses are in services and education with low footprints.
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
I'd say: we have more bacteria in our gut than bodily cells. Why not blame them? Who's controlling our minds, telling us we are hungry for steak?
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
For me the most striking part of her speech is her appeal to leaders to look at the science. The recent Covid-19 developments in Brazil and the US have shown us what happens to a country when leaders are unwilling or incapable to let in science, be it Covid-19 or climate change.
Maybe they believe that real power lies in the amount things they are capable of... -
But even with Covid-19 some leaders simply choose to ignore the threats and disinform their population.
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
Yes, it is ethical. In fact it is a duty to preserve what is of value, like democracy or sufficient access to education, heath care, etc.
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
The UNHCR has a special program for people living in refugee camps. They can apply for migration to a host country. Of course there are more applicants than places. My country yearly has 500 places available. The (ethical) question is: who do you invite? People with health problems? People who have been to jail? Because of their writings? I know that the...
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
No.
Culture is the on-top-of mechanism of evolution to adapt to circumstances where evolution in itself is too slow. A small set of vertebrates is able to develop a culture to adapt to circumstances and pass that culture on.
So culture in itself is about being able to adapt. Preservation of a culture would therefore only be necessary in the light of the... -
Mike Brouwer made a comment
According to the argument from cultural preservation they would also have the right to oust any foreigner that poses a threat to that culture. But this would be very difficult to assess as the deeper layers of culture, such as worldview, are not so visible. Next to that cultures need to evolve; they are not static. New influences are needed.
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
The basic question is: are open borders good?
The traditional utilitarian argument doesn't help much. Covid-19 has shown us that, with a sudden shift in circumstances, the traditional utilitarian argument would point to closing all the borders. We would need a more stable ethical argument, less depending on circumstances. -
Mike Brouwer made a comment
The ultimate result of the utilitarian argument would be that there is an optimal location for each of us that would maximize personal and total well-being (in that order).
So looking at my current situation and my prospects I might have to relocate based on a calculation that would include all of us. And of course including the costs of migration in it... -
In this argument, well-being is limited to economics. Social factors are not included. Most people opposing migration are afraid of identity issues, not economics. They feel their well-being is decreasing when they can no longer identify with what used to be.
-
Mike Brouwer replied to Mic Laird
You might want to start reading German newspapers to see where these racial tensions are actually manifesting. The German integration program is one of the most successful in the world. Many refugees are participating in society and their language acquisition is far better than in my country.
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
There’s a positive duty to protect what is of value in a country, like democracy, freedom of speech, mainly what is laid down in constitutional rights. In my view it is ethical both from a utilitarian and a deontological standpoint to protect the citizens of a country and their values. It would be unethical to let people, like terrorists, in who have the...
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
Carens assumes that in an affluent country people are less aware of borders. A silly assumption when affluence is a direct function of having open borders.
The moral right to point a gun at someone trying to cross a border that he/she is not allowed to cross, is derived from the positive duty of the guard to protect his/her country and the negative duty of... -
Mike Brouwer made a comment
It’s funny how Britons are willing to limit their freedom of crossing borders with the EU in order to gain the ability to limit the freedom of people entering the UK. From a utilitarian perspective this makes no sense.
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
I already give 1% for a long period and still don't see any progress. I even work pro bono for a UN institution. In order to be an effective altruist I would like to get more feedback about what works.
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
My country spends more than 1% of BNP on aid and refugee support and integration. As long as we maintain a strong tax morality we would be in the clear?
Though it seems there's a whole new area when we look at the (im)morality of tax avoidance in relation to supporting the poorer nations. I could e.g. avoid tax and send the money to the poor in order to feel... -
Mike Brouwer made a comment
It's not that we are without influence. We can protest, convince others, form groups. I think we can broaden our responsibility and take action against things in which we are not the agent.
Should we remain silent when people who are protesting against a new controversial national security law are being arrested? Should we just sit and watch lawyers and... -
Mike Brouwer made a comment
Yes. In general it's easier to not do something than to do something. The first requires less energy.
-
Mike Brouwer replied to Margaret S
@InaaraAlikhan You mean like nowadays in Qatar where a nation became rich from oil and decided to import and enslave (not pay) people from poorer nations to build the football stadions?
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
Interesting last question.
The US seems to be quite able to leave its own population to die without using all its resources elsewhere. The question would be, should we allow US citizens to seek refuge in our lifeboat? Or should we test them first? -
Mike Brouwer made a comment
Would someone be morally right if they gave a little to just a single aid agency? Would I be in the clear then?
Can you buy moral rectitude? Can someone be more morally right than others? Does my level of moral righteousness increase with the sacrifice I make? -
Mike Brouwer made a comment
The first premise could also be: "suffering and death from lack of food, shelter, and medical care have always been part of the human condition". "Bad" would be our label of things to be avoided or countered.
The second premise is about preventing only. Not about repair, as thus incomplete.The conclusion is not correct because reversing the logic does...
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
The problem with the argument is that the drowning child evokes our care system, because we see it happening. It is close by. This is ingrained in our biology. We will feel a moral injury if we don't.
The coffee - malaria-net consideration is more distant.There's another consideration when looking at exchange. I could give in order to get something in...
-
and made work circumstances worse in his organization; people working in diapers...
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
I have been working in support of refugees and the reason was that I thought I could make a difference and out of curiosity.
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
In a world of misinformation and fake news, I would hope directors of news agencies would be interested. God might also want to know how we're going to figure this one out.
Global ethics would also be around having the same kind of sound scientific information and no information gaps.
The principles of equal rights / chances to distribution of natural... -
Mike Brouwer made a comment
Assessing actions on a utilitarian basis would mean to compare actions with alternative actions (like doing nothing) and then calculating the difference in outcomes between these two (or more) alternatives.
However, we can not foresee all outcomes... leaving us with a lot a guess work or probabilities.
Suppose you would grant Covid-19 treatment to a person... -
Mike Brouwer made a comment
Almost every article starts with "Everybody" or "No one", which means there are no exceptions to the rule that humans by nature have these rights. Non-humans would not have these rights. (Aliens might be a different category, but then we enter the realm of universal ethics, I suppose).
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
It's a very ambiguous statement. Everyone has these rights, but not everyone can draw on these rights.
-
Mike Brouwer replied to Ruth Peacegood
Would the cause-effect relationship between poverty and different views on individual rights not be the other way around?
Once we, in the Western world, started giving women equal rights, poverty started to decline. -
Mike Brouwer made a comment
Justice is divers around the world. Some nations include human rights in their systems, others don't. Some nations think that their predominant religion should be the basis of their justice system. Others have evolved.
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
Justice evolved out of habits, out of the way things were traditionally done, and keeps evolving as we start to adopt more universal human rights laws. The general idea of justice would be to have an instrument to correct misbehavior. i.e. deviation from the norm. In the end this would minimize conflict and create more stability, predictability and trust.
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
A planetary diet.
A way of food production and consumption that is both healthy for the individual and sustainable for the planet (and next generations).
Ethical considerations are in the norms for the amount of food waste and for food consumption. Is it globally ethical to eat meat each day?
Right is e.g. when people stop eating large amounts of meat and... -
Mike Brouwer made a comment
Global ethics is a theoretical approach to solving world problems, which can manifest differently in different area's of the world, which is one of the main problems: unfair distribution of all layers of basic human needs.
-
Agree. Thinking is for doing. Understanding operates in service of interaction. Our thinking strategies are linked to our goals. There's no clear unbiased understanding, we make meaning along the way through our actions and reflection. We experience a "self" on which we can reflect, but it's in service of regulating ourselves, taking action, making...
-
...and in no way should you experiment, learn, prototype?
-
I would fully agree. The conversation started with "doing" global ethics, which translated into inquiry, theory and setting norms.
The "doing" did not yet materialize. -
Mike Brouwer made a comment
Racism, fair distribution of ownership, freedom of thought and religion
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
It looks like the ethical domain has expanded to cover the whole world and future generations
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
I've taken a couple of courses on food on future learn. Australian courses (Monash and Daekin) are the best so far.
As for diet, I know what I should do, and I do. Except that I only start taking breakfast when I feel hungry, not just because I woke up. But I might change that too. -
Mike Brouwer made a comment
I am very in favor of a planetary health diet in which both humans and other species on the planet can remain within healthy boundaries. But I am not really optimistic. I don't the US will change, not in CO2-reduction or in food consumption.
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
Mindful eating is self-centered (as most mindful practices are) compared with the original buddhist ideas.
Mindful cooking is a different arena of including the joy that someone else will experience from what you're cooking. Besides it normally takes more time to cook than to eat. So you get a longer period of trying to stay mindful. -
Mike Brouwer made a comment
Very interesting to compare. Some include guidelines for activity or for food waste, or breastfeeding, or boiled water in stead of just water. Some put in recipes, some the recommended amount. I somehow expected guidelines on alcohol usage but didn't find any. But on average there are more similarities than differences.
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
We have our "Schijf van Vijf"
https://i2.wp.com/www.optimavita.nl/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Collage-schijf-van-vijf.jpg
And we wouldn't be Dutch if we did not have an alternative five of "spuiten, snuiven, zuipen, slikken en roken". -
Mike Brouwer made a comment
Somewhere in this course it says that canned salmon/tuna is healthy. Yet all cans are laced with plastics, adding to microplastic consumption.
This is of course not the same as misinformation. It's just not the whole picture -
Mike Brouwer made a comment
I use mynetdiary as an app to register my food intake and exercise. It works well for me when I save some calories for the end of the day
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
I know from my own weight how difficult it is just to lose a kilo in two weeks.
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
The muscle to fat ration looks a lot better on the first woman. The second woman would be more at risk
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
Haven't done a test, didn't know they existed, would be curious to find out more
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
I think sugar addiction is real. I think sugar is even more addictive than alcohol or tobacco, or coffee.
The word addiction is translated as "verslaving" in Dutch, which refers to being a "slave" to a substance. Remember that slavery was introduced to produce these highly "enslaving" products (sugar, coffee, tobacco). It has always stricken me how the two... -
Mike Brouwer made a comment
I assume inflammation would need a pathogen. Could it be that diet affects the composition of gut bacteria and thus would introduce or reduce the amount of pathogens (assuming not all bacteria are "good")?
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
If the general effect of labelling something as superfood is that more people eat a healthy diet, than why not. If it's just a marketing campaign, than not. I think the label "superfood" is now forbidden in my country.
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
It should be no supplements if you take a healthy diet. Supplements contain more additives than actual vitamines or minerals and there is a risk of pollution which we saw in vitamine C pills coming from China.
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
Flavanoids in black berries, strawberries, apples, green tea and chocolate have an effect on neurothrofines which helps neurogenese in the hippocampus and they help reduce antioxidative stress.
They are the stuff that give the rich color to fruit, which is a function to protect the fruit against the sun and sometimes against frost -
Mike Brouwer made a comment
I am confused about about of calories in protein versus carbohydrates. They might be the same, but doesn't it take more energy to break down the protein to be used as a source of energy? So not really comparable in terms of net energy gain?
I am also confused about fibers. Are they considered a macronutrient or not? What about soluble fibers? -
Mike Brouwer made a comment
This is really a good reminder when cooking; how much do we change the matrix and how much would still be OK. I think we are the only species to do this
-
Mike Brouwer made a comment
I don't do breakfast, only starting to eat when I am getting hungry which is around 11:00 and the take a least two pieces of fruit with a variety of seeds and some yoghurt.
We but large amounts of vegetables at the Saturday market, so there is ample supply for our evening meal. I particularly favor grilling paprika, eggplant, zucchini, onions, green... -
Mike Brouwer made a comment
I think beef was used for people who lost a lot of blood. It was recommended by my father in law (who was a GP) to women after giving birth. I suppose there's some evidence in it because it contains high amounts of iron and blood specific proteins
-
I kinda expected the whole list of aphrodisiacs to be mentioned here, as they also played a large part in (recent) history :)
Chocolate would be my favorite comfort food, although I know my mood really improves when eating raw food like carrots, or taking time for a really good green tea. Some foods seem to offer instant gratification but don't really work,... -
Mike Brouwer made a comment
I eat / ate the shells of shellfish like shrimps and gambas for glucosamine to beat artrosis. Did not work.
Regularly take turmeric (with black pepper) to prevent cancer. Seems to work (N=1)
