Winter trees near to us at Cringle Park Manchester, warmed by the sun on a cold February morning.

Moods can change with the weather, but are also like the weather. The cultivation of mindfulness helps us to appreciate their changeable nature.

Mindfulness teaches us to observe our moods rather than get too caught up in them – or at least to recognize that the way we are feeling now is not the way we will always be feeling.

This of course goes for good as well as bad moods – for excitement and joy as well as for sadness and depression. But to be aware that even a good mood won’t last for ever perhaps allows us to appreciate that mood a little more, and tempers any dip in that mood which might follow.

By being more mindful we can watch our moods in the same way that we might observe changes in the weather. We may even come to appreciate both the cloudy and the sunny day.

And in this way we can in time achieve a greater degree of equilibrium and calm.