Only Different Kinds of Good Weather

A retired weatherman was once questioned by a friend, “What kind of weather is it going to be tomorrow?”

“The kind of weather I am going to love,” was the instant response with a gentle smile on his wrinkled face. “How do you know that it will be the weather you will love?” the friend was curious.

The weatherman went on to explain, my years in weather department has taught me just one thing:

Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.
— John Ruskin, Victorian art critic and big time weather optimist

To make the most of everything that doesn’t go as planned is an attitude thing.

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Rule Number 6 – The Practice of Lightening Up

“Life is too important to be taken seriously.”  – Oscar Wilde

Two prime ministers sitting in a room, and suddenly the door bursts open, and a man came in and he was extremely upset and shouting and carrying on. The resident prime minister said, “Peter, Peter, please remember Rule #6.” And immediately Peter was restored to complete calm.

And a young woman came in. She was hysterical. Hair was flying all over the place.

Shouting and carrying on. He said, “Maria, please remember Rule #6!” And immediately

Maria said, “Oh, I’m so sorry,” and she apologized and walked out.

And then it happened a third time. You know how it always happens a third time.

And the visiting prime minister said, “My dear colleague, I’ve seen three people come into the room in a state of uncontrollable fury, and they walked out completely calmly. Would you be willing to share this Rule #6, what that is?”

And he said, “Oh yes, Rule #6, very simple. Don’t take yourself so damned seriously.”

And so he said, “Oh, that’s a wonderful rule. What may I ask are the other rules?”

And he says, “There aren’t any.”

A simple shift in the way we think can help us distinguish the part of ourselves that is forced to live in the competitive business world obsessed with measurement. When we practice Rule Number 6, we help our “calculating self” to lighten up. By doing so, we break its hold on us.

You can read more about Rule Number 6 in Zander’s book, The Art of Possibility.