Everywhere you go, Always take the weather with you!

Talks about the weather have been considered a standard opening, a polite way of starting a discussion in some countries. I still recall my early days in my first interaction with colleagues from abroad, how strange it seemed to me as an Israeli person to hear people starting almost each and every conversation with "strange" talks about the weather. Even after attending some cross cultural sessions, it still didn't make much sense to me to get such a "non relevant" opening to business discussions, especially when weather in Israel was never that interesting and on most days, all I could say about it was that it's "hot";-)

However, in recent years, even decades, weather started to be pretty bothering and for sure not just a topic for small talks. I assume all of you have been watching the troubling news from Germany and other parts in Europe last week, as well as China on the other side of the world; all facing floods that tore away people from their houses and much worse, from their loved ones... Water kept flooding over counties, cars, factories and so many people that were running for their lives, trying to get to a higher place, to safe and dry shelter.

I was looking at these pictures and videos, and like most of you I guess, was so sorry for all the ones losing so much, but a few minutes after, I came back to my normal life, switching the TV to one more silly reality series and then back to my endless mailbox, trying to catch up on my day to day routine deliveries.

However, for some reason, these sights didn't leave my mind and kept me wondering about the weather influence on our life and on the other hand, on how we can influence the weather...

• Take an active part, even if it's a small one, in protecting our planet - Recycle more, bike and hike, car pool, use less air - condition when possible, educate your kids for a better greener environment. One step for man can mean a huge difference for our globe!
• Don't let the weather take you down! - and I don't mean the recent floods of course, but day to day weather which often has an unconscious influence on our mood and behavior. Research such as for example the Hsiang et Al. (2013) indicate correlation between heat and on the other side, extreme rain with intergroup conflicts and aggressive behavior in general. There are even research that found seasonality in suicides rates (e.g. Koskinen et al., 2002), but the good news is that while we can't control whether it will be sunny or rainy tomorrow, we can control the way we deal with the weather, with our perception and acknowledgement of our ability which was so well articulated by Albert Camus, as well as in this great song - "Well, do I lie like a loungeroom lizard or do I sing like a bird released?"...

So wherever you read this in the world, whether it's sunny or rainy, whether you're freezing or sweating, keep in mind that there's always something which we can control; small action we can take to help the next generations to enjoy this planet and a big step we can take for our soul; getting inner sunshine to our hearts through staying close to the things and ones we love! Happy Tu Be'Av my friends!

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