I make the weather

“I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration, I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or de-humanized. If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.”

~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I do not recall when or how I first came in contact with the quote from Goethe. However, it had a pretty immediate effect on me. In fact, “I make the weather” has been an absurd little reminder to myself that no matter what happens the way I view something is within my control.

Another wonderful quote along these lines comes from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Hamlet bemoans the prison that is Denmark while Rosencrantz disagrees with Hamlet’s conclusion. Hamlet astutely says, “Why, then, ’tis none to you, for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. To me it is a prison.” In essence, Hamlet’s thinking had made Denmark a prison. I think that we can often be prisoners to our own thinking. We label something “awful” or “a disaster” and at that point that is all it can be. We have made the weather, and the weather is bad.

But, what if we rejected “bad weather” thinking? What if we eschewed “mental prisons?” Is it possible? Can we make the weather? Or is this both literal and figurative delusion? Clearly it would be deluded to think we can literally change the weather, but figuratively, I believe we can. I recall a handful of times when I have decided to see the positive in “bad” things and to de-emphasize the negative. These instances took an exercise of will. Further, it seems clear to me that it takes awareness and practice. First, we need to be aware of when we have just condemned ourselves to a mental prison. Second, we have to practice rejecting that in favor of something more positive, like what we will learn from this tough circumstance. As with all things in life, that which comes naturally is not always best. Practicing creating “good weather” thinking will take dedication.

To this point, I have focused on thinking that affects one’s own self. However, Goethe speaks to an idea of seeing and treating others differently. In particular, I find this notion of treating people as they “ought to be” genuinely intriguing. Perhaps it is a bit subjective to say what someone “ought to be” or possibly outside our province. That said, however, we could simply have as a goal to help people along in some opportune moments. For example, maybe you are the recipient of some unkind words and your first thought is to give a little of the same in return. I have been there! However, what if we were to think, “I’ll bet that person would like to have those words back because they were unbecoming; I will respond with kindness.” Crisis de-escalated. Person humanized. The world is a little better for it.

To close, I want to reaffirm that I make the weather! Not in deluded sort of way, but in an expanding my sphere of influence, positive thinking sort of way. I will further assert that you too make the weather! So, here is to fabulous weather that together we will make in this world as we continually practice this way of thinking and seeing the world!