Being Grateful for the Present

It was an ethereal experience waking up to that song the other morning - a song that has since then become muffled in my memory.  It was like waking up to a dream, if you can imagine the irony.  A couple of men have been remodeling in the apartment directly below mine and every morning for weeks now they've disturbed me with their buzz sawing and banging and loud music.  As irritating as it has been, I was grateful to wake up to that particular song, a song I had never heard before and have never heard again since.  I like to think of each moment like that song - rare and beautiful.

Times are tough.  Financially speaking, I'm worse off than I've ever been.  I have a little notebook filled with 75+ jobs I've applied to since about February and only 4 of them have actually called me in for an interview.  Not only can this be disheartening, you'd think that the longer I go without work the more worried I'd get about running out of money and although I do occasionally go through stretches of feeling that way, life will soon enough lift me up.  For instance, although I'm still trying to get consistent work, I did land a temp job at a water park and have gotten the occasional weekend promo job.  Nothing to be able to live off of for very long, but I am grateful of the opportunities that I have received.  Unemployment has also given me the time to discover and work at the things that bring me joy (writing this blog for instance).  They say that, "Good things come to those who wait," but if I were to revise that quote it would say something like, "Good things come to those who wait patiently but set goals and work diligently on those goals in the meantime."  So maybe it doesn't roll off the tongue, but my point is that if we're focused on what we can do here, right now, we will be doing so much more for our future than if we were always so results oriented.

I thought it was important to reflect on what I'm grateful for today during a time when I'm struggling because it's so much easier to be grateful when you just get a promotion, a bonus, an award, a new car or house, you know, the milestones that people typically celebrate and acknowledge.  If you don't learn to be grateful for the little victories along the way of your journey, what makes you think you'll appreciate the "big" ones?  You'd probably just keep looking for the next thing because you've conditioned yourself to always look ahead instead of what's in front of you.

We stop living in regret from the past and longing for the future when we begin to appreciate the here and now.  Be present in your life and aware of the gifts it gives you.  When you're along for the ride, instead of asking, "are we there yet?" just try being grateful of where you are now.