The Weather Man

We watched the movie, The Weather Man last night. It stars Nicolas Cage. It was interesting, somewhat existential, and heady. A dark comedy.

There are a lot of parallels between the unpredictability of the weather and that of our complex lives. They are chaotic systems. One of the turning points in the movie occurred when the weather man was consulting with the meteorologist about the prediction he should include in his forecast. The meteorologist offered a prediction that had a 20 degree range of possible temperatures. The weather man wanted something more precise. The meteorologist said something like this:

It's wind. I blows all over the place. We can't predict it. We do the best we can.

Sounds basic, but this is really an important message. We should be focused today with an eye toward the direction of our goals. We cannot predict what will happen in the future. In fact, with each moment that goes by, the conditions and possibilities change. Our life is not linear, it is complex.

This is worth repeating. With each moment that goes by, the conditions and possibilities change.

How often do we look at our goals, our lives, evaluate them, and then move on. We can recreate and impact different possibilities every day. Think about hiking in woods where there is no set trail (you do not have a GPS, because there are no GPS's for our complex lives). In the woods, every step is a decision about whether to go to the right of left a tree. Each decision impacts the next and new possibilities are available. As you ply through the woods, your direction is determined by the small decisions you make each second. In the end, you end up in a spot you could not have predicted.

Think about exploring your life the same way. Each day there are new possibilities. Some of yesterday's possibilities will expire and no longer be available to you while other new possibilities emerge. Take an active hike everyday.

In the movie, the main character takes up archery and gets better in time. This is another metaphor for the importance on focusing. The weather man judges his success and self-worth based on how he thinks others evaluate his success and self-worth. In particular, he felt like a disappointment to his father and everything he did seemed to make matters worse. As a result, he did a lot of good things that went unnoticed or backfired because he was completely out of alignment. As the movie progressed and his arrows came closer to the bull's eye, he became more aware and at peace with his unique and special gifts. He also came to terms with the possibilities that were no longer available.

Check out the movie. If you are in a blah place in your life, it might just help. It almost makes me want to give archery a try.