Thank god for the here and now

I was driving home tonight and a song came on the radio that caught my attention.  One of the main lines of it was "Thank god for the here and now".  I have no idea who it is by or if it's new or old or what, but it caught me in the midst of being grumpy about how everyone (school, work, friends, etc.) is just asking way too much of me right now.  It brought me back to the fact that in that moment there was nothing I could do for any of those people, but how nice was it to be relaxing in my air conditioned car, by myself where no one could ask anything of me, and just enjoying the music.  That moment was a gift...a reprieve from the stress of the day...and I'd almost missed it entirely.  The one time I got to spend without having to stress and I nearly spent it all stressing!

So I have a challenge to put out there for anyone who happens to be reading this.  When you find yourself getting stressed (or even when you're not stressed), take a deep breath and see if you can find something to be grateful for in the here and now.  I'm not a religious person...I don't call my higher power god, so I don't think the "thank god" part is important.  The focus is just being thankful.  If you've read this blog for any length of time you know that my life hasn't always been sunshine and roses.  But I struggle to think of a situation so bad I wouldn't be able to find a little piece of gratitude in it.  (I'm sure such situations exist but I'm choosing not to try too terribly hard to find them because it would just make me depressed).  Really though, with so many of our day to day stresses, there's so much to be thankful for within them.  School is putting so much pressure on me because I nearly have a degree.  Friends are asking for my attention because I've become a person that people want to be around, rely on, and get advice from.  That's definitely not somewhere I ever thought I'd be.  I never even thought I'd have friends!  It doesn't mean I can't also be frustrated/stressed/upset/whatever else, but acknowledging the good parts in there helps sooooo much.  It's amazing how much just taking the moment to appreciate being in the car rather than griping to myself about the price of gas and everything else just calmed my heart and made me feel ok again.  We're just so lucky to have the opportunity to be here and get to live....to experience the world...  I usually hate saying this, but I bet if I can find gratitude in my world that you can too.

In semi-related news, I've had a lot of very hectic here and nows.  As you may have gathered, there is a lot going on in my life.  I'd hoped to get to the "Ask River" question a lot sooner but life has been in the way.  I hope that the person who wrote it sees this and can understand. :)  I am still taking questions too and I promise I will get to them.  (And it hasn't all been bad either...I've had a friend visiting, which was great, and even the things that have really been stressing me out have had good experiences attached too).  

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Need I add more gratitude?  I'm grateful for the here and now!  That I have a computer and a blog and a moment to write in it, though I really should be getting ready for bed!