Gratitude for January 2019

Glad to begin the New Year with family and friends –beginning with prayer and  thanksgiving for 2018 and  offering the brand New year 2019  to the Lord, so happy that the day was filled with  delicious food, family and friends being surrounded the whole day!!

There are so many things to be grateful for; I am just highlighting the most important things that are on my  mind and I strongly feel a sense of  gratitude for the same, am grateful to the doctor who helped me deal with persistent cold,cough & congestion due to the weather conditions in Hyderabad (winter was extremely cold).  I ended up being on the antibiotics for almost two weeks – but that did not stop me from my routine – grateful despite all this I was able to work both at home and at the counseling centre.

 This month I am grateful that I could rescue a person and prevent suicide, but was quite shaken as I got personally involved with the victim – glad that at the same time I had people to share offer support.

This year my priority continue to remain focusing on my health – getting into daily walks, meditate, pray, eat nutritious meals, practice affirmations, maintain gratitude journal, yoga stretches and also tried mindfulness whenever I felt like…

South Indian Thali Lunch with my daughter after parent teacher meeting

I am glad that I could remain committed to the above most of the times, except for times when I felt discomforts because of cold and cough – and also due to commitments.

This month me and my family are happy that we could find a doctor for palliative care – my mother in law had lot of issues due to the weather, and knowing her well we could  find a doctor who is a kind and understands old age  issues and she’s been helping us to take care of her.

“To care for those who once cared for us is one of the highest Honor”

I will not say all is well – but would just be thankful that we have a team of doctors for help and committed caretaker for her and David always like to go that extra mile when it comes to care, for the last one week he has been looking after her in the nights and continues to stay overnight comes home in the early hours.

I am only facilitating the process to get to the right resources and be around giving moral support to the family. Currently my mother in law is on feeding tube and we are helping her to gradually make a transition peacefully surrounded by her sisters and children with maximum support from the doctor. It’s a tough time for David and his sister as it’s a challenge to watch their mom in a vegetative state …grateful for relatives, friends and well wishers for their prayer support and visits.

After a full day training session @ MCHRD - Hyderabad.

This month I am also glad for the sankranti potluck with friends, sankranti celebrated in  various parts of the country.  This group of us  have been working together for a longer period of time, we have always met to discuss work and never took time off as a group – we planned for an outstation trip which never materialized so the timing was fitting for us to share our experiences of work and learning we work as  counselors in various setting.  Second Saturday is off for all of us  and we were happy to be together for few hours sharing our experiences, laughing and distressing ourselves.

There was another potluck at the #YWCAof Secunderabad and the occasion was to bless the premises and also a session on Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Workplace (POSH) was organized for all the members, followed by the potluck Dinner. It was an important session as the purpose was to orient the members on POSH and take it forward with our staff and volunteers and to have a policy in place. This year #YWCAof Secunderabad focus is help organizations & Institutions to have a posh policy in place, and simultaneously also work with adolescent and youth on orienting them on gender sensitization. It’s a blessing to be working for a cause and also celebrating ourselves together with fun, friends and food.

This month I together with my friend Aparna  Facilitated Training on Counseling skills & Techniques  for counselors and social workers who work with District Child Protection Units. The planning took a lot of time to evolve a schedule as the participants worked with children in need of care and protection, hence it was not the typical counseling programme – we had to get into practical aspects of enabling and helping children who come from difficult circumstances, as the counseling here is more on field and so its challenging to as one has to  adapt and be flexible in addressing issues based on the needs of the children and also manage with given environment. 

It was a learning experience for us too and I was surprised at my own capacity as the whole programme was in Telugu J and I have learnt to speak… over the years looks like I have mastered the language and could smoothly handle sessions in Telugu, which is very positive feedback from the participants.

Counseling skills training for social workers & Counselors

Grateful to be involved in the community work through the #YWCA of Secunderabad  that has adopted another  community to empower children, adolescents, youth, men and women.   There was a  meeting  with the leaders of the community, clarifying expectations  and accordingly evolving a tentative plan to move forward.

This month I am also glad that my daughter Dorothy did well in her pre final exams and it was a pleasure to meet the teachers and take positive feedback; this was an opportunity for me to take Dorothy out for lunch and spend some time listening to her college experiences. She is in the Intermediate second year and was feeling bad that she will miss her friends as they will separate this year pursuing their own academic plans. Time just flies and soon the end of February she will write her final exam and in June she will join degree college.

A surprise parcel assorted chocolates from a friend

I am grateful for the helper who comes home daily to maintain the house neat and clean, everyday and has been coming on regular basis. There’s so much to be thankful for- its not just roof over head, food on my plate and bed to rest – some entertainment ( I watched a telugu movie, comedy and laughed for almost 3 hours, with my family).  

F2-Fun & Frustration a telugu comedy movie

It’s also meaningful work, encouraging friends, motivating family and whole lot of people who support us right through the year meeting all our needs…. 31 days of January is gone and we are entering a new month February, 1, 2019 and so far everything has been  learning and growing experience. Grateful to be alive and completing this post J  hope you had a great month, would love to hear from you,

                    

“Gratitude doesn’t change the scenery; 

        it merely washes clean the glasses you look through

                      so you can clearly see the colors” 

                      Richelle. E. Goodrich

Stay blessed and Be Happy!