Stop trying to only forecast tomorrow’s weather. Observe today’s as well. Look at the sky every now and then; enjoy the breeze on a rooftop and gaze at the person you love. Why bother looking for tomorrow’s answers when you can’t even live in the present? No wonder you’re always wrong! Life is short, you fools. It’s like a cloud that’s easily swept away. From the Kdrama Forecasting Love and Weather
I’m a planner. I mean, sometimes obsessively.
When I was working full-time as a community educator and staff development specialist in a government social service agency, I was juggling multiple projects at one time. They included: organizing groups of community members, agency and provider staff, and individuals with disabilities to create educational programs and respond to state-mandated initiatives; putting together the yearly staff development program including many trainings I wrote and/or presented myself; designing, writing and distributing the agency’s newsletters, information booklets and annual report.
So, I was super organized.
Each project had its own list of tasks and a timeline to keep it on track. I complied the tasks and timelines from each project into six-month, one-month, one-week and daily to-do lists. My weekly and daily to-do lists were prioritized by using an ABC 123 method: A=Absolutely must do; B=better do it; C=could do it; and each task in each category was ranked in priority.
When I started my own training and coaching business, I continued the same method.
Now I am an about-to-be published author. I still need to be a very detailed and organized list maker. I now make monthly, weekly and daily to-do lists in my journal.
For me, it’s always been about trying to “forecast tomorrow’s weather,” both figuratively and literally. I’m constantly looking ahead, trying to “forecast” whether I can get everything accomplished. As for the weather, on Sundays I check out the week’s predictions and speculate how they align with my plans. Each morning, I read the day’s forecast, and record the current temperature, expected highs and lows, probable wind and precipitation, and sunrise and sunset times.
I’m still an obsessive planner and tracker.
In the Kdrama, Forecasting Love and Weather, Jin Ha-kyung is a newly-promoted department head at the Korean National Meteorological Administration. Naturally she’s focused on looking ahead and being right. But she never seems to accurately predict her own relationships and they’re a mess. Toward the end of the story, her mother says, Stop trying to only forecast tomorrow’s weather. Observe today’s as well. Look at the sky every now and then; enjoy the breeze on a rooftop and gaze at the person you love.
I could have used that advice years ago. I need to pay attention to it now. Though it’s so easy to feel overwhelmed—my lists give me a sense of control—I also need to look at the sky, enjoy the breeze, and look at the one I love. Not constantly have my mind on what’s next, before I even finish what I’m doing at the moment.
Jin Ha-kyung’s mother goes on to say, Why bother looking for tomorrow’s answers when you can’t even live in the present? No wonder you’re always wrong!
There’s so many cliches around “being in the now:” Today is a gift, that’s why they call it the present. But just because it’s a cliché, doesn’t mean it isn’t true. The sky, the breeze, the ones I love—are they not presents as well? I’d be insulted if I gave someone a gift and they ripped off the bow and the paper and then tossed the present aside with barely a glance.
I need to give this day, today, more than a glance.
My Friday morning yoga teacher always tells us to devote our one hour of class to being present. Not let our minds take flight into the day’s many obligations and duties, but breathe deeply and stay focused just on the current stretch, movement or position.
How can I do that practically?
Say a prayer of gratitude for hot, running water while I’m doing the dishes; sit on the porch with my morning cup of tea and watch the clouds race each other across the sky while listening to the birds twittering in the trees; choose a To Be word to help guide my emotional focus for the day such as Be Awake, Be Hospitable, Be Sympathetic; cook and enjoy dinner with my husband while sharing the highlights of our day with our phones tucked away and our attention on each other.
It’s especially good to remember the last part of Jin Ha-kyung’s mother’s sharp-edged advice: Life is short, you fools. It’s like a cloud that’s easily swept away.
I need to remember to embrace today’s weather (and gifts), whatever they may be.
Time to get philosophical. Talk about the following question with a friend or contemplate it in a journal:
How can you stay focused on the day/the moment at hand so you don’t miss the “presents” it offers?
