November 2015 Gratitude Link & Link Up !

GRATITUDE BRINGS BEAUTY INTO YOUR LIFE !

This list is inspired from Laurel Regan http://www.alphabetsalad.com  

I am grateful for:

The discomforts in my body for it have brought in changes in my eating habits; I have included a lot of vegetables and fruits in my diet, and have re looked at my nutritional habits to stay healthy and fit.

Friends who could listen to some of my aches, pains and complains and even helped me find alternatives.

A good friend who is gynaecologist and always ready to help and takes the extra effort to check if all is well with me through messages and calls.

My colleagues with whom I can de stress; as listening can be very tiring and there have been continuous sessions at the centre, and last week mostly there were too many students who were feeling low, unexplained sadness and too much disturbed. Listening for a long period can cause headaches and some times energy level also goes down. I am blessed to have persons with whom I can vent.

For my home where I take all the liberty to make changes; in reorganizing things from one room to another, listen to some very good music and watch channels of my choice.

For the safety of the Sunday school children; wherein there was a fire accident in our parish, no life lost, except for the furniture’s that got burnt.

My eldest brother Raj; who is safe despite having a fall on the busy road in the main street, except for some minor scratches and slight injury above the eyes. It’s a miraculous escape from a disaster on the road; also thankful for the support he got from another brother’s family who were kind and hospitable.

For a death of a church member –To be able to see death as a healing process in life; when there is so much of suffering for the person and for their family members. At the same time reminding me again that we are not permanent resident of this earth and therefore to always strive to live life to the fullest.

Beginning of a new season in the church- ADVENT, a season of hope, peace, joy, love and sharing; a time to relook at our lives and give hope to the hopeless, glad to welcome this season with gratitude.

For all ability and capacity to balance work/life/relationships coping with all the discomforts and continuing to believe and walk in faith.

Wishing Peace & Hope for the coming month !

Gratitude Circle November, 2015

This post is written for Gratitude circle

The month of November began with memories of my mother who passed away on 1^st November, 2003 and was buried on 2^nd November, in the same year which is celebrated as the All souls day. The first two days were busy days as family; as part of the tradition we went to church and then visited all the graves; which brings sadness for me, as I recall them in my life once again and with a heavy heart thank them for all that they were to me. Of all those who have died in my family.  

I find very difficult to forget two persons who were very close to me and I was very attached to them, one was my mother who always stood by me and she was my strength and I do have regrets of having lost her early in a situation, wherein I felt helpless; another is my 7 year old son who was an angel in disguise, who taught me the true meaning of unconditional love.  

So the beginning of the month was not so bright as the previous months; and I continued to be grateful for both my mom and my son as I felt that’s the best tribute I can give them, and yes I do have plans to keep them alive in my life by reaching out to women who are vulnerable and who need support and help. I am glad to do my bit; I am still exploring ways to do something for children with special needs as my son was Down syndrome child. I am sure very soon I will find ways to reach out to at least a few kids in memory of my son.

Gratitude is something that I would like to make it a 24/7 habit and I have been making sincere attempts to help myself to ensure that I am always happy and smiling away in gratitude. Despite practising gratitude every day, and all the efforts that I put to stay positive and happy,  some days are not very easy – there is stress, deadlines to meet and family commitments becomes demanding and then the toughest thing  is to keep walking with a smile, hoping and stating  that “this too shall pass ..

The beauty of having this attitude of gratitude is the joy of meeting people who are also wanting to join you in this journey and accompany you sharing their thoughts and even motivating you by initiating Gratitude Circle (wherein people regularly come over to share their gratitude with one another) and then there is “Ten things to be Thankful for” wherein there are friends who are ready to list out ten things to be thankful.

We also have persons like Laurel who come up with an idea to share the gratitude post and Link with others…. So no matter what is happening in my life... I feel blessed to see people who are constantly available on line to inspire, motivate, encourage and spread positivity.

  

We are coming close to one more month, which is the last month of the year; and it gives me great joy to welcome the coming year with much more optimism and hope. 

It also makes me happy that I have finally managed to stay grateful for complete 11 months; with ups and downs of my life; with sickness and health, good times and bad times; in all kinds of weather both rainy and stormy, gratitude was my only energy that kept me going; and still keeps me motivated and enthusiastic.

I love this quote that says “Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation.” Brian Tracy

Be Blessed & Be Happy J

Today’s Gratitude List November, 2015 + Gratitude Link Up

I am grateful for the celebration of St. Cecilia’s feast at our parish community; we had the bishop visiting our community, for the children were receiving their first holy communion. It was a grand affair with choir singing in 4 languages of Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and English. The church was packed as it was our patron saints feast; we get to meet a lot of our parishioners on occasion like this.

I am grateful to students who trust me so much and reveal sensitive and very private issues troubling them; hoping to find solutions in a counseling session, which I feel very privileged and honoured to listen, that not only evokes compassion from within, but keeps altering my perceptions helping me understand them better and be of help to them.

I am grateful to our family doctor who is very concerned and always helps us to look for alternatives, focusing more on preventive health. My daughter is down with viral fever for the last 4 days and it’s been a tight schedule for both me and my husband taking turns to be with her and help her recover.

This reminds me to be grateful to my daughter’s friends who help her update with the notes of what she has missed in the class and keep informed about day’s work, in the evenings.

I am grateful for the invitation that I received to attend a school alumni function celebrating 30 years. This celebration brought to my mind beautiful memories of my own school days where I studied, filling me with thankfulness for all the teachers, sisters, class mates, friends, games period, singing period and the small canteen wherein we soul love to eat guavas, roasted peanuts, peas and coconut sweets were some of our favourite snacks.

It’s one year since my David’s younger brother passed away; and we  celebrated with gratitude his death anniversary, offering prayers, and mass for his soul to rest in peace and praying for his family. We also invited the extended family members for a fellowship meal after the Eucharistic celebration.

 I am also grateful to join some very inspiring bloggers to write a post on gratitude -  

The Wisdom of Gratitude – #1000Speak.http://1000voicesspeak.org/2015/11/19/the-wisdom-of-gratitude 

 “Gratitude is more of a compliment to yourself than someone else” Raheel Farooq

Be Blessed & Be Happy !

 

Gratitude is a Positive Energy

This post was written in honor of thanksgiving tradition, for the theme “GRATITUDE”  The Wisdom of Gratitude – #1000Speak. http://1000voicesspeak.org/2015/11/19/the-wisdom-of-gratitude 

“Gratitude is a currency that we can mint for ourselves, and spend without fear of bankruptcy” Fred De Witt Van Amburgh

Gratitude has been one of my favourite topic.  I have always enjoyed speaking about it and also writing posts has been a pleasure. I don’t exactly remember from when I have made it a habit to remain grateful; somehow life situations has made me cling on faith and trust in the almighty, enabling me to always count the blessings in life. Now after so many years in my life, I realize the value of it and have not given up the habit of being grateful.  I have always been taught to say thank you, and acknowledge everything that I have and receive with grateful heart.

I have discovered the benefits of being grateful; as I have always been happy because of my grateful heart. Despite challenges in my life, the attitude of gratitude has kept me going and given me the courage never to give up in life. 

Being Grateful has its own advantages:

Gratitude helps me to be always happy; thus in return helping me to surround myself with happy people.

• Gratitude enables me to believe in myself and find meaning in every experience o life
• Gratitude provides me courage to look within and explore my identity and purpose in life
• Gratitude raises my energy levels, whenever I feel sad and low; it helps me shift my focus to see the blessings, thus keeping me in good health.
• Gratitude teaches me never to take anybody for granted.
• Gratitude helps me to acknowledge the contribution of every relationship in my own growth process both in the family and also with friends, colleagues, and service providers.   I can’t imagine what life would be without all these people in my life.
• Gratitude also motivates me to appreciate small acts of kindness and thus encourages me to kind.
• Fills me with awe, wonder, amazement – whenever I look at the sky, the moon, the stars, the trees, the birds and the whole universe
• The world appears a beautiful place because of gratitude in my life
• Gratitude triggers me to sing, thus keeping me happy, bring smileJ on my face and helping me to stay cheerful.

Thankfulness is the beginning of gratitude. Gratitude is the completion of thankfulness. Thankfulness may consist merely of words. Gratitude is shown in acts.” Henri Frederic Amiel

Some of the ways I practice Gratitude are:

Every night I go to bed with gratitude, no matter what happens in my life; end of the day before I sleep I review the day and pick up all those moments which I want to be thankful for; and lie down thanking the Lord  in my heart and sleep follows.

I rise up with gratitude, every morning as soon as I get up I sit comfortably on my bed, become aware of my breath and gratitude just flows- for every part of my being, acknowledging, thanking God for another day,  another chance to start again a new “Today”

I try to remain in the state of gratitude as much as I can; constantly reminding myself as I keep moving doing all my work; every time my mind wanders, I keep shifting my focus and continuously checking to ensure that my mind stays positive till the end of the day.

I write thank you letters for loved ones and close friends and also for those who are part of my life; stating how much they mean to me and how lucky I am to find them.

I regularly keep sending thank you messages in whatever ways possible – sms, whatsapp, face book, Email and stay in touch with my friends and colleagues.

I sometimes even make calls and connect with class mates, college friends, childhood friends and express my gratitude and appreciate them.

I acknowledge and pick up small gifts as token of gratitude and appreciation to few of the persons who constantly provide services right through the year for me and our family.

I also practice gratitude while having my lunch; as most of the time I eat alone in my counseling centre and it’s a good opportunity to eat in silence, being aware acknowledging all those involved in getting this food in my Tiffin box.

I ride my bike with gratitude everyday as I go to work, 7 kms from my residence- I keep singing songs of gratitude, luckily for  having been in the local parish church choir  for a decade, I have learnt so many songs in 4 different languages. I sing in Tamil, sometimes in Telugu, at other times in Hindi and English too.  I love the psalms from the bible and I keep singing the psalms as I keep riding and reach my workplace with enthusiasm.

Lastly definitely not the least, I love to express gratitude by writing blog posts, reading gratitude posts, linking and connecting with bloggers who promote gratitude.

  

Some quotes for inspiration :

“When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around” Willie Nelson.

“It is impossible to feel grateful and depressed in the same moment” Naomi Williams.

“One can never pay in gratitude; one can only pay’ in kind’ somewhere else in life” Anne Morrow Lindbergh

 Have a Grateful Day!

My Gratitude List - November 17, 2015

Free images from Google

Life is full of challenges, and as we address one problem, another one surfaces and this goes on and it’s a way of growing up.  Dealing with various kinds of issues and emerging stronger with age as time passes by; we realize it’s part of living and also these things keep reminding us how much more there is to learn in life; and the lessons are unending.

There has been heavy rains flooding Chennai, Nellore and some lives lost; and on the other end there has been a tragedy at Paris killing 129 people, which is one of worst attacks in France. Amidst all these happenings,I am delayed in posting this by one day… here goes my gratitude list :

For the beautiful and inspiring posts on kindness I have read from Corinne’s blog on The Power Of Kindness and the other bloggers who shared on similar lines kindness begins with ourselves,  blogger reached out to her .  lessons in kindness from the worst day of her life

For the helper we have found to take care of my mother in law who needs a full time person to take care of her. It was very difficult to get a person full time; and David was getting very stressed everyday visiting his mom and helping her. This new lady is an answer to our prayers and we are grateful.

For the person who repaired our computer and put things right for us, so that we are able to access and stay connected on-line at home. For a long time, there is been some problem in the system and was not getting resolved; we are glad to get this done.

For a wedding celebration we went as a family and connected with all our extended family members, interacting with them shared dinner together.

For Lucy, my neighbour who helped my daughter prepare for mathematics exam while I was busy completing my house work. Being a mother and disciplining a teenage daughter is not an easy task and for me to have a person who can help my daughter focus and complete the revision for the exam was a big relief.

For an old friend who connected with me recently and shared some of our very memorable times spent together at her place and also in college.

images from Google

For the good health and capacity I have to take care of self, family and also continue to work at the campus is a blessing. I am grateful for every experience that comes in both at home and at work place.

May you be blessed! Be Happy!

 

My Thoughts on Kindness !

I was reading Corinne’s blog on The Power Of Kindness and also the links that was shared so generously about a few more bloggers who have made very inspiring posts on kindness. Every post was a beautiful, and brought so much insights in to my life... …. reading these posts reminded me of all the Kindness I have experienced at various times in my life too! 

You can read these links to, which are worth reading….Sunita reminds us that kindness begins with ourselves.  Alana shares about how another blogger reached out to her about her fear of falling.  Gretchen Kelly shared lessons in kindness from the worst day of her life

This brought to my memory of my childhood and how the sisters of charity, a congregation who were so kind to admit me and my other brothers and sisters in their school. I remember the fee concessions, wherein a very small fee was charged for admitting me in the English medium school and all the text books and note books provided free of cost to me till the primary section, and later on I was motivated and encouraged to complete my 10^th standard from the same school.

There was one sister by name Sr Loreta who was very kind to me; and saw the potential in me;when everyone else around me felt doubtful of my capacity, this one sister identified my strength and was kind towards me to give me a gentle push to complete my graduation.

Then came my friends who found me and showed kindness by affirming me, stood by me and bonded with me so well that they have now become companions for life. I continued to experience kindness form various groups that I associated myself with the youth group in my parish, choir, the local prayer group, the charismatic city group and of course the NSS group in college have all been a great source of encouragement, learning and support that has helped me build confidence in myself.

I have grown in self esteem because of all these people who have touched my life; and have shaped me into a person of gratitude.  I feel a great sense of gratitude only because of the kindness I experience even till date. There were days in my life wherein  I worked as a  young graduate in a school for Rs 400 per month, and seeing my struggle a kind teacher helped me find home tuition wherein I taught 3 small children after school to earn another 200 rupees to add to my monthly salary.  In those days it was a very big amount for me and I was glad to be earning at an early age.

The parents of those children were very warm, friendly and kind. Every day I was offered hot tea with snacks along with their children. Every year for their festival, especially for deepawali I was invited as a special guest and was picked by from my home by their driver and taken to their residence and was honoured with sweets and a small gift. I still recall the surprise gift that was given – a beautiful wrist watch as a token of appreciation, which was my first wrist watch in my life.

There were also situations wherein I had a colleague of mine taking me for a physiotherapy every day for a whole month to the centre till my right leg that had a hairline fracture was healed completely. I can go on and on with so many others similar experiences which I have not forgotten but recall and remember them with gratitude.

While we celebrate this world kindness day: it’s now my turn to give back what I have received in abundance, so here I go to all that I attempted to do in the last few days:

I went out for a long walk all by myself to show kindness to my own body, and practice affirmations as I walked alone with a smile.

I also made a conscious decision to shop so that I am able to make a healthy and nutritious meal for myself and my family.

I acknowledged and gave a little extra tip to the guy at the petrol bunk who washed my bike.

I helped a young cab driver with a bottle of water, when I found that his bottle was empty, and his lips dry.

I decided to volunteer for a session to the youngsters during a holiday; and I did feel good about this experience.

I gave a surprise visit to a sick person and spent some time enquiring and listening to all the health problems the person was experiencing.

I messaged notes of kindness to few of my friends and told them personally how blessed I am because of them in my life.

I am glad to send something to the needy kids through my daughter for a share and care programme. I hope to continue to be kind in thought, word and deed.

Let us pledge to be kind not just for the world kindness day! But always as we journey along with gratitude…  “Be Kind whenever possible, it is always possible” says Dalai Lama

Keep smiling & Be Happy!

My Gratitude List + November 2015 Link Up!

Add caption

I am back again with my gratitude list; and it’s a pleasure for me to write and state how much happiness this exercise gives me; that I don’t seem to be putting much effort to do this post J

• Thankful for the time of rest in the last week; as it gave my body and mind some rest
• For the doctor who treated me for viral infection and put me on antibiotics that forced me to sleep and even take a day off from my regular work
• For my woman friend who was kind enough to accompany me to the doctor continuously for 2 days and be there for me;
• For my daughter who is supportive and helpful in accommodating small inconveniences to do a little extra work in the kitchen and also managing home
• For my husband David who despite having enough to deal with his mother’s issues; had time to help me take doctor’s appointment and also coordinate travel; so that I have the auto to take me to the clinic.
• For my friends, for their constant enquiry, concern and care; which gives a big boost to myself and makes me feel so good.
• For my classmates on whatsapp for being in touch; and cheering me up with their forwards, humor and inspirations. Also for their regular calls to check my wellbeing and connecting with me.
• For a Christian group that connects regularly to encourage, nurture and motivate with scripture quotes and video’s thus having an endless supply of positive energy flowing
• For my involvement in the YWCA (Young Women Christian Association) wherein there is always something meaningful to discuss, share and get involved… glad for this group of empowered women…

• For the International Conference on Stress Management Professional (ICSMP) I attended on the 6 & 7 November, 2015. For all the learnings that I have had on stress and wellness, stress coaching, work, life, balance etc.
• I am grateful to co author a research paper presentation with my friend Aparna on the topic “Young People’s Stress Level and Its Association to Substance Abuse, on behalf of the Young Women Christian Association, Secunderabad.
• For connecting slowly with inspiring bloggers; I began with shilpa at http://shilpaagarg.com  and Susan Scott @ http://gardenofedenblog.blogspot.in and there are so many more that I need to update myself with their post.
• For being happy and well once again, back to my routine and catching up with all that I need to; and re connecting once again to all those things that matter to me.

Be Blessed & Be Happy!