Over at RevGalBlogPals the instruction is:
for this Friday Five, please list four ways you have been helped when you didn't want to ask for it and one way you had a chance to help that meant a lot to you.

I am in the middle of a time I am finding difficult at the moment. I am aware that it is possibly my perception of the circumstances rather than the circumstances themselves that is making it hard for me to cope. I am therefore looking particularly at ways I have been helped and encouraged in the current circumstances, not because they have been spectacular but because it is a time in my life when I have needed help and am probably only now waking up to that realisation!

1) unexpected thank you card from someone I listened to a few months ago when they were going through a bad time.
2) a friend who dropped everything and came to listen when I let her know I was struggling.
3) time away at a retreat - although only for 2 days it made a big difference.
4) encouraging comments from people who don't know I am struggling (although may be seeing it I suppose)
5) helping a friend and colleague who is going through a really rough time - and perhaps letting that put some of my troubles in perspective.

A self-centred post I know. But then that is how I am feeling!