The first snow of the winter fell here this morning, covering the garden and making life harder for the birds as they search for feed. It will accelerate the movement towards Nature’s resting and waiting, which this year has been postponed due to the mild autumn. We can learn from this cyclical process, which reminds us of necessary elements in our lives also, especially when we pass through moments of difficulty or transition. Sometimes resting and not knowing is natural and waiting is the wisest thing we can do.
I am a book of snow,
a spacious hand, an open meadow,
a circle that waits,
I belong to the earth and its winter.
Paolo Neruda
When we seek happiness through accumulation, either outside of ourselves–from other people, relationships, or material goods – or from our own self-development – we are missing the essential point. In either case we are trying to find completion. But ……completion comes not from adding another piece to ourselves but from surrendering our ideas of perfection.
Accepting the conditions of existence means first of all admitting our vulnerability to them. When we realize that the givens of life – no matter how ferocious – are not penalties, but ingredients of depth, lovability and character, we can let go of the belief that we are immune (or need to be). “That can’t happen to me” or “How dare they do that to me” changes to “Anything human can happen to me and I will do my best to handle it”. The strength to handle challenges, in fact, is directly proportional to how much we let go of entitlement. 
The arrogant mind never stops searching for identity, and this identity always defines itself through attributes: “the beautiful one,” “the smart one,” “the creative one,” “the successful one.” We can hold on to these labels on a “good” day. But when we feel insecure about our attributes, or our lack thereof, we start to wonder how to define ourselves; we wonder who it is we really are. Regardless of whether we’re having a good day or a low-self-esteem day, the points is, we haven’t found a way to relax, to be natural, to be unself-conscious. We don’t know how to take our seat in ordinariness and feel comfortable in our own skin. We are always searching for something to be. It’s like having an ongoing identity crisis.
Emotional turmoil begins with an initial perception — a sight, sound, thought — which gives rise to a feeling of comfort or discomfort. This is the subtlest stage of getting hooked. Energetically there is a perceptible pull; it’s like wanting to scratch an itch. We don’t have to be advanced meditators to catch this. 
Mindfulbalance 