July Gratitude 2023

“When we focus on gratitude the tide of disappointment goes out and the tides of love rushes in” Kristin Armstrong

I am happy to write the gratitude post, for the month of July.  I can say my cup overflows with Joy for all the blessings in my life. I am happy to be alive, in the right place, continuing education, helping students and contributing positively to make a difference in the lives of those around me. There is so much to share, today on the last day of this month (31^st of July) I complete this post and here goes my gratitude list:

I am driving everyday to my workplace despite of heavy traffic and reaching home safely and it’s a daily affair.  I am grateful for the divine protection around me and my family too. Now with heavy down pour it’s a challenge to drive, I am grateful for being safe and healthy.

I have been regular at work meeting students, at the centre, who are constantly inspiring and updating as to what is happening in their lives.  I am inspired by a group of them who have taken help from us and now want us to do preventive mental health sessions that would benefit a larger group of students.  This coming month hopefully after the exams, there will be a couple of sessions on Positive mental health and I am happy to facilitate these sessions.  

I am grateful that Hyderabad has cool down from scorching heat which was getting unbearable for us, with heavy rains it is pleasant now, added to this the government declared holidays for all the educational institutions, there was warning from IMD of incessant rains for a couple of days that extended to two more days and so there was unexpected holidays and I stayed at home being flexible with my schedule and sometimes doing nothing.

I am grateful to God that these 4 days staying at home slowed me down and I was so relaxed that I could do what I wanted- sorted my cupboard, updated my blog, connected with my friends, watched a Hindi   movie with a friend and made some wadas (snack) Dorothy wanted to eat garlic bread, and I made it happily.

I connected with my school friends, and they sent a beautiful picture of all the teachers who taught us from class one to ten; it was so nice as we spoke about all these teachers and how they helped us in the class; some of them are no more and still some are alive and some of my group members are in touch with them as they meet them at church or some restaurant.

We looked at the photos and identified them with names and subjects and some experience attached to the teacher it was so much fun interacting with one another on the whatsapp group. I am grateful that these teachers laid the foundation for our education; they shared knowledge and built our personality so that we progress in life.

I finished writing my thesis in December 2022 and was ready for submission, but due to unavoidable reasons I could not submit it. Since I was done with my part of work- I decided to register for a PG course in Philosophy, for I was fascinated by the western philosophy so the best way to study is to enroll for a PG course.

I got all the materials to study by December and I started reading, attended the contact classes, found new friends to discuss and enjoyed learning this subject. I am grateful for these group of students who are enthusiastic to make academic progress, still some of the students are retired teachers, professors, and home makers and people from various walks of life.

I am grateful to write the first year exam in this month which had 5 papers to study, Western, Indian, Moral, Ethics & Sociopolitical philosophy. I was glad to write the assignments and this kept me busy, reading books, browsing and gathering material to complete the assignments. As a group we exchanged notes and shared reading materials and even discussed in the class.

I am grateful for #YWCAofsecunderabad for celebrating my completion of PhD. I am associated with them for more than a decade and active in all the programmes planned for the community, empowering girls and women. I am happy to be surrounded by this group of women as we meet regularly every month and plan for the activities that would make a difference in the lives of the girls and women. I feel good to be acknowledged by the Project team as well as the Board.

I am grateful for the people who pray for me every day- and it means a lot to me; there is one sister who has always stood my me right from the time I was a teenager and always motivated and prayed for me and continues to pray and encourage even till this day. I am blessed because I know no matter what’s happening in my life, there is someone who is thinking of me and praying.

I visited my brother’s family this month to acknowledge and thank them for their encouragement and support especially for being there as I completed my PhD. I am grateful for the family wherein I can walk in any time and spend some time with my sister in law and my nephew who take care of my brother very well, my brother has some age related issues of forgetfulness and other health problems.  It’s inspiring to see how my nephew takes care of him without getting tired. Its not easy to take care of the elderly, but hats off my nephew for his patience and perseverance.

I am grateful for birthday of Ann Magdeleen – my youngest sister who invited me for a lunch and it’s been a year, we don’t get to meet regularly as she is busy with her life and I am busy with mine, it’s a nice that we could be together for some time and enjoy a good meal.

I am happy and grateful for all the service providers – every person who is connected to my family, the person who maintains the house, our kitchen, the provisional store that keeps supplying our basic requirements, the one who delivers the newspaper, milk and  all those who help David facilitate the Sunday clinic, the children who help Dorothy in the choir.

I am grateful for all those who are responding to the crisis in Manipur.(lives lost, properties damaged, violence and killing –we hang our heads in shame) It’s a tribal conflict given a religious twist destroying churches & temples.  It’s a sad state of affairs in our country, there are people who are raising their voices, responding to the challenges I am grateful to the volunteers for showing their solidarity for Manipur and  collected donations in cash/ kind for this cause, the people who are praying, still others who are reaching out to them in whatever possible ways. I pray and hope that justice& peace prevails in our land.

As this month ends today I am on time and excited to complete and post, while stepping into the new month August, 2023 with gratitude… I want every nerve and cell of my body to be in a state of gratitude and move in the direction that will enable me to fulfill the purpose of my life !

Thank you for reading my post; would love to hear your thoughts

May you be Happy & Blessed