YOU ARE HERE ↓

Being truly present is something I struggle with and strive for in my daily life. It’s so easy to get bogged down with thinking about what I need to do, instead of focusing on the actual doing. How many times a day do I think to myself, “As soon as I finish this I’m going to…” rather than enjoying what I’m in the middle of?

Sometimes I feel like I need a little “you are here” arrow pointing to the present moment, as a reminder. So when Stacy Julian asked me to participate in her inspiring "Be Here Now" challenge, I made this super-quick mini book of all the places I went in an average day, to remind myself that wherever I go…there I am.

 

 

In the scheme of my life, scrapbooking is kind of like that figurative arrow on the map. Even though I mostly scrapbook things from the past, it gives me a heightened awareness of where I am and what matters most to me in the present. It points out the consistencies and parallels as well as the changes, and it directs me to look around and cherish the landmark moments while they are happening.

Ferris Bueller said it best: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

I won’t always need the heavy-duty vacuum at the carwash to remove pounds of goldfish crackers from the backseat of my car. I’ve already been to Trader Joe’s twice this week for yogurt, but I wonder what will be the recurring item on my shopping list next year at this time. The bags I donated to Goodwill yesterday were full of castoffs from my 18 year old’s closet…probably the very last batch of her outgrown school clothes I will ever drop off.

If I make an effort to actively notice and appreciate the nuances of my life unfolding around me in the midst of the everyday stuff I do, I am better able to scrapbook with substance, which in turn makes me even more aware. It’s a pretty cool circle.

But enough about me. It’s time to give yourself a present – as in, the gift of RIGHT NOW.

Stacy says:

You have everything you need right now to be vibrant and fully engaged in the creative process. Sometimes you just have to slow down, look around and realize it!

• Snap ten photos of your life right now.

• Compile these photos in a mini album.

• Keep or carry this album with you (in your desk drawer or purse) for one year.

• Promise to glance through the album every time you stumble upon it or pull it from your purse.

• On October 1, 2009, create a scrapbook page about your experience. I'll be here to remind you and share my page!

If you want to join the blitz of present-moment awareness that is sweeping the blogosphere today, and commit to becoming more engaged in life as it happens, join in taking the above challenge.

Leave me a comment to let me know that you’re in, and tell me what you are doing right now (besides reading my blog, obviously). I will send an adorable, itty bitty Bazzill album to the first 25 commenters, to make it extra easy for you to play along.