I learned about leading from: the emotional weather storm

What a glorious weekend!  I managed to get out in the garden and trim some bushes and even dig a tree out, and oh boy was it hot work!  Worth the effort in the end though, I am pleased to say. Being out in the elements gave me pause for thought about how we deal with the ’emotional weather’ of our thinking.

Changeable conditions

While this weekend the weather was kind, my last lot of gardening a couple of weeks ago was plagued by very changeable conditions!  I started in shorts and a t-shirt, then had to find a jumper and then a raincoat!  A few minutes later the sun was out again and I was stripping off as now I was too hot.  10 minutes later the raincoat was back on as the heavens opened once again.

What struck me during this episode was how my mood could change with the weather; I think the rapid changes helped to emphasise the point.  In the sun I was happy and smiling and enjoying the warmth on my back.  In the cold I was shivering and wishing I was somewhere else.  In the rain I was feeling a tad bewildered and wanting things to change quickly.  And with all this I remembered that in life, we don’t experience the weather, we only experience our thinking about the weather!  What a great metaphor meteorology can be for the emotional weather that we experience every day from our thinking.

Emotional weather blowing hot and cold

When our mood is high and we see things in a wider context, then little seems to bother us.  We take everything in our stride.  The metaphorical sun is on our backs and we smile as we enjoy the warmth and light of the experience.

But within a second our attention can focus on another thought that takes us into a low mood.  As with the rain, we focus on all the negative aspects and wish we were somewhere else and hoping that things will change quickly. Sadly, too often we forget that our experience can change in a second with a single change of thought as the next emotional weather front moves in.

Choose your reaction

The truth is that we all only ever live in the feeling of our thinking in any moment, not in the feeling of the world.  Our whole life experience is simply our reaction to our thinking of the moment, the thinking of the circumstances and the thinking of the people we are with.  We cannot change the thoughts that pop into our head, as we cannot change the weather (or emotional weather) we experience, but we can choose how much attention we give our thinking and that can literally change our world.

This summer, do enjoy the good weather and any breaks that we get from it!  If you wish to talk more about any of this then please do get in touch.  Our passion is to help everyone grow their Profit and Smiles and if you wish to do so then we would be delighted to talk.

After all, iTS Leadership!

Warmly
Antony