My gratitude list for February, 2015!

This post was written for Gratitude Circle for the month of February, 2015

Thanks to vidya& corinne for the image

 There are so many things I want to be grateful for this short month, but I want specifically to be thankful for the following:

• I completed 4 years working as a psychological counselor in the University campus and am grateful for all the learning’s and every opportunity this place has offered me in the last few years. I love the ambience and the space that  I have to work; I feel good to give my best as there is so much of acknowledgement, affirmation and encouragement I get from my head and colleagues.

• I had opportunity to visit the government Integrated Counseling Testing Centre’s and the Parent to Child Transmission centre’s for HIV/AIDS as part of my supportive supervision, wherein I interacted with women who came for pre test and post test counseling, and some of their stories brought tears to my eyes. (I will share in my next post a few of the cases that I witnessed) I am grateful for these field experiences that lets me enter the lives of simple women, who suffer innocently and the courage they display is very inspiring.

• I am grateful for the opportunity to co author a Research paper on Prevention of Violence against women at an international seminar scheduled at Madurai in the coming month.  I am grateful for my companion Aparna for initiating this process to reflect back on the pilot programme implemented in our city.  I am thankful for YWCA for encouraging and supporting me to attend the seminar and represent the organization for this programme.

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• Training has always been my strength; and I am grateful to the University for sending me to take a few sessions at SICA (State Institute of Correctional Services) Telengana, on substance abuse and its impact on behavior, which made me do a lot of reading, understanding, and discuss with my team and evolve presentation to suit the target group.

• I am grateful for my good health of body and mind.  My thyroid levels have come back normal and all the symptoms that was interfering me to function normally had disappeared.  I have resumed walking, yoga stretches, counting calories, eating healthy, drinking plenty of water and practicing gratitude every day.

• I am thankful for my daughter who is full of life; and very motivating to explore new places for shopping and also helped me fight fear (I always avoided escalator due to fear and prefer to walk down the railing) this time she encouraged me to try taking the escalator, I succeeded but still have little fear, I am sure it will go, once I make it a habit. On the Valentine’s Day we went out together to Big Bazaar and picked up a few tops on discount, we enjoyed the window shopping.

  

  My daughter Maria Dorothy

• I am also grateful for meeting an 11 year old child in a social gathering, who reminded me of my son Emmanuel; I could not take my eyes of him, for he was so charming and cute, very affectionate, cheerful and innocent.

• I was very happy and felt as though I had visited my son for the second time in my life, on enquiry I found out that his name was Mahesh; he was Down syndrome kid, a year older to Emmanuel and goes to school. The rest of the day was a flash back of my son Emmanuel; its only 4 years that he is no more and I find him in all the simple things of life – smile, touch, hug, laughter, fun, togetherness, celebrations, children, flowers that I encounter almost daily reminding me that death can never be final, those we love, continue to live in us; and we can see them everywhere around us…

  

  Me and Mahesh

• I am grateful for the Lenten season for it has helped us to bond as a family, wherein we could go for mass on ash Wednesday and also fast twice a week, David and Dorothy have been my inspiration for this lent, together they have made this season meaningful by fasting and praying – for me it’s a big U turn to practice rituals with a sincere heart, bringing in changes in attitude and desiring to become a better person.

• I do appreciate the blogging community; who have been posting very motivating and inspiring post.  I am happy to read all their posts, especially the 1000 post for compassion was a good initiative, and I was glad to see so many of the bloggers coming together to share their valuable insights; I experienced a lot of positivity in the virtual space.. and I do appreciate the constant supply of energy that I get from reading these posts.

I desire to continue walking with gratitude; and spread awareness on the immense benefits of living with gratitude.

Thank you for reading this post !