August 2020 Gratitude

“Reflect upon your present blessings – of which every man has many – not on your past misfortunes, of which all men will have some” Charles Dickens

August was a rainy month and it rained heavily. I am grateful for the rains that washed the roads, cleansed the whole place and luckily I could work from home – with Zoom meetings and Webinars and helping my daughter in her assignments, there was more than enough work at hands. I am grateful that despite the pandemic situation wherein there’s such a crisis of employment. It’s a blessing for me to be working and involved in satisfying, fulfilling and gratifying work.

The first week was also birthday of my friend Aparna, with whom I have been working for more than a decade; she has been so generous in reaching out to me especially helping me in connecting with the right resources for referrals, helping me in research paper presentations, and also booking travels whenever I planned to travel out of town either for sight seeing or just a break.  I feel grateful for these kinds of relationships and believe that it’s a blessing to have friends who understands us and would motivate us to get involved in meaningful work.

August is dedicated to FRIENDS – (Friendship Day being celebrated in this month). I feel privileged to have come across so many friends as I journeyed along –  working with different kinds of organisations for more than 3 decades, I found good friends; some have remained in touch, others have moved on in their lives and have got busy with their own goals. Nevertheless I am always in awe that life keeps connecting me to new friends who I believe are divinely ordained to reach my goals and destiny. When I think of each of one of them who have influenced me and enabled me, my heart overflows with gratitude and I feel so rich, blessed that I am not alone in this world – there are so many who have touched my life and some way everyone of us are connected deeply sharing our human existence.

This month our family doctor Dr Guru Prasad was hospitalized with Pneumonia and finally within a week, he was shifted to the Intensive Care Unit and gradually deteriorated  and  passed away.  It was sad news and we were disturbed as a family. Dr Guru Prasad was a compassionate and helpful person and was available any time for his patients. He treated my husband’s family – grandmother, aunts and his mom too, who passed away last year. He was available for all emergencies and I recall so many times we have referred people to him and he generously helped; and there are occasions wherein he visited our home when I had dengue to check on me and to suggest caripal extracts which helped me in my recovery process. I pray with gratitude that his soul may rest in peace.

When you appreciate the blessings in life; your soul rejoices……

I had the opportunity to attend a wedding mass, (one of the choir girl who used to sing in the Soldiers of Christ group facilitated by David) and it was such a joy to be in the church after almost 5 months and spend time in the church. While we took care of social distancing inside the church and the premises had sanitizers at different entry points. I loved the ambiance and clicked some beautiful pictures of the trees.  The weather was cool and it rained the whole day.

The best part was my daughter Dorothy played the key board and led the choir to sing some lovely hymns for the wedding service. I am grateful that she was using her skills positively and also spending her time practicing the songs, along with managing her academics. The whole experience of going out after a long time for a church service was positive and we enjoyed delicious lunch and came back.

I am grateful to my classmates for organizing virtual meet once a week every Sunday on zoom and we have something to learn and share our experiences with each other. One of the week we spoke about our childhood experiences and laughed listening to one another stories, it was so destressing, another week we spoke about power of affirmations and at another time the impact of gratitude as to how it impacts us and changes our energy towards focusing on the positives of life..

This month I did try some recipes which I have attempted during the initial months of lock down, just to ensure that I don’t forget them J  I repeated soya chunks with potato curry; black eyed peas gravy with roti, Rajma with Dosa (unusual combination) which I liked. I am grateful that I could experiment and take these initiatives managing work simultaneously.

I tried  again and repeated making Garlic bread with cheese J for one Sunday made it for breakfast. I took help to make plain cake with walnuts and taste was good except the cake got stuck and slightly burnt. I attempted cheese balls but did not succeed J it was a big disaster. I realized my mistake and hopefully will try again sometimes leisurely.

When I am thinking about food – I am always grateful that there is enough food for our family. There is also extra food that is always being shared by neighbours, close friends and relatives. This month there were so many times we got to get a different taste, for various occasions and that minimized my cooking time J as I don’t like to waste food so was sharing and storing in fridge.

I am grateful for the interactions that I have had during the telecounseling sessions. Whenever I listen to the students and their problems – I am in awe as to how they handle themselves with their problems – this month I had students who come with not just one issue –Its very challenging to deal with all of them as every person takes his/her own time to cope, grieve, unlearn habits and reschedule time tables.

I am grateful for all the service providers who have been constantly in touch with our family. The mechanic who repairs our water filter, so we get clean and pure water to drink. Our kirana shop boy who delivers provisions on time, the person who supplies milk, never misses out on a single day. The person who is ready to recharge our cell phones every two months.

The GHMC staff that never misses a single day, even during the last six months when there was a lock down, they collected garbage from every flats and houses in our area. I imagine what would happen if they don’t come to take the garbage, our flats, houses and the whole area would stink… am thankful that these people have risked to come out and collect driving their vehicle all around our area.

I am grateful for our friends who agree to pay the electricity bill for us; while they go to pay theirs and collect the money and get it billed for us. I think of the person who comes everyday in the early hours to sweep and clean the flat; and every 15 days washes and cleans the water tank so that we get clean water for washing utensils, clothes and cooking.

I have too many flaws to be perfect; but I have too many blessings to be ungrateful..

Thanks to technology there are so many good things happening in this pandemic – heartening  to hear stories of how the migrants were helped to reach their homes during lock down, by one man Sonu Sood who took the help of his friends and reached out to so many.

I have seen so many organisations supply provisions to families, still some who did not stop salaries for their staff even though there was zero funding – but paid certain percentage to keep the families running. There were some youngsters who were making and supplying home made mask free of cost to all domestic workers and other service providers. I came to know of one church in the city that was supplying daily meals to the home less, rag pickers and beggars on the roadside.

I keep observing while I leave for work – there is so much of goodness around and people are kind. There have been so many deaths due to COVID 19 in the campus. Every time some one got infected the departments were closed for next two to three days.  I trusting the Lord as I continue my work with gratitude, as I am aware I am not the only one at risk but globally all of us are vulnerable. I pray and hope that we together will survive and open ourselves to a new way of living our lives with gratitude.

I thank vidya for initiating this process of forming a gratitude circle and inviting everyone to share the monthly gratitude post .If you are interested in joining the Gratitude Circle:

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Post it on the last Thursday of the month and

Add your link to the Gratitude Circle. https://vidyasury.com/

Thanks for reading my post; hope you are doing well; how was your July, 2020. I will be happy to hear  your thoughts.

Be Happy & Be Blessed!