It snowed a few days ago, and it’s so beautiful.

We don’t have much, just a few inches, but it makes my heart feel light to look out of my window and see it.

I love the beauty of the snow, how the world looks coated in the white. I love how even when it’s dark outside, the snow lights up the world.

There’s also something about it that just puts me in the holiday spirit. I’m feeling all of the warm and fuzzy holiday feelings.

The cold air is refreshing, invigorating, enlivening; there’s something special about coming into a warm house after a run out in the cold.

I’m feeling the urge to get all warm and cozy inside, to put on scented candles and lie back with a book or a good show or curl up under blankets with a cup of tea.

I’m feeling fuzzy socks and big robes and hot drinks and relaxation and cozy, comforting time inside.

There’s something magical about snow and about this time of year.

I love the warmth and the sun of summer, the ease of running and walking outside, the ease of going out without having to put on so many layers. But I also love the beauty and magic and slowness winter. I find myself enchanted by the falling snowflakes, the beauty of nature when it looks blanketed with snow and ice.

Yesterday, I saw a father pushing his kids on a sled down a small hill, and the kids were having so much fun. Kids embrace where they are.

I’m finding myself settling into this season, this time, this weather, here, open and ready for it.

I’m not longing for something other than what is.

I know I might feel restless in a few months (after a few months of the cold and snow), ready to shed the layers and welcome in the warmth, but for this moment, it feels all magic and light.

And I know even that restlessness that may come will be an opportunity to more fully sink into the now, into what is, into accepting what is, to watch that restlessness, those feelings, and understand it’s only a tendency of the mind.

If we feel restless or uncomfortable in life, can we settle even more fully into where we are? Can we breathe more deeply and become even more present? Can we come back to this moment? Can we accept where we are?

Whatever is happening is happening. It snows, it rains, it’s summer, or it’s winter. It’s all just happening. Our perception about what’s happening determines how we feel about it, about what is and how we experience it.

How we experience the weather, our life, our moments, has to do with how we feel about it, how we perceive it. And we can always choose to shift our perspective.

We can choose to focus on the beauty, on presence, on the opportunities we have in our lives right now. We can embrace our moments, our circumstances, the things that we have in this moment.

We can feel beauty and peace and joy right now.

We can spend our lives wishing certain things were different, or we can learn to settle into where we are, embrace the moments and beauty and opportunities we have right now.

No matter how you feel about winter, can you let yourself be where you are? Settle into the moment? Embrace it? Embrace something about it?

What can you do that would bring you joy and peace right now?

Can you shift your perspective, or some part of it, so that you can shift your experience?

Our lives are meant to be lived, fully, and we can only feel the fullness of life in the present.

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