Spending as much time as I do walking in mountains I have developed an interest in the weather and particularly in clouds. From Eric Langmuir’s Mountaincraft and Leadership, to The Cloudspotter’s Guide I have read about the different cloud formations umpteen times and, apart from when they are really obvious, can spend ages staring at the sky trying to work out what is going on.
I sort of kid myself that I am understanding what is happening. I try to pin down the complexity and randomness with words and definitions, rules and principles. My inability to do so with any reliable accuracy becomes a source of anxiety. I wish I was better at it, I wish I’d read more and better books on it.
Aren’t we the same with so much about ourselves and the world around us? Trying to label, to pin down, to make clear and understandable. It is the source of much of the busyness of the world of work – and the cause of much of our stress in that environment. I remember watching senior managers move into post and earn more brownie points by screwing things up than by leaving things alone because at least they were seen to have done something.
Maybe we’d get on better if we just relaxed, lay down in the metaphorical grass, put our hands behind our heads, looked up and enjoyed the show…
The Obvious? 