February 2024 Gratitude

“If you want to turn your life around, try thankfulness. It will change your life mightily.” Gerald Good

February has just gone by 29 days, the shortest month of the year and it’s a leap year that occurs once in 4 years. I am back here in my favorite space to count the blessings of the month, and relive all the experiences of life and express my gratitude for the second time, thanking the Lord for everything -the good, the bad and the ugly. There is so much to be grateful for; I am just highlighting some of them.

So here goes my gratitude list:

This month was a busy month and kept me on my toes; I am grateful for the gift of workspace  and for being able to respond to every challenge; I have been regular to my centre and meeting the students and also taking up orientations.

I am grateful for the other service providers who are kind and helpful, that I could just call them and send my students- it’s a blessing to have the right people who support your work. I am glad that few of the students who had come with severe obsessions and depression got the timely help from the doctor and are on the road to recovery.

I had a surprise visit from a Post Graduate student from the Centre for Distance Education – brought by his father with a diagnosis related to Autism Spectrum Disorder – I was overwhelmed meeting this student, who inspired me, and listening to him, I felt that I had nothing to  complaints about life. As the challenges faced by him was far greater than my little discomforts of life.

I am grateful for I had students coming over for a field visit to our centre – and with a request for a session on Cognitive Behavior therapy used in Counseling to  treat neurotic disorders. There were more number of students, and interacting with them, answering their queries was interesting, as they were full of enthusiasm and their curiosity about the subject and career was inspiring.

I loved reading their feedback and their positive affirmations about the sessions – some of the comments were, they found this session amazing, interesting, enlightening, informative and they are looking forward to some more sessions. I kept all the feedback forms in the file and felt so motivated to do more of these kind of sessions.

I am grateful for the invitation from the Sisters of Charity for their Diamond Jubilee celebration of Vijay Marie Hospital & Silver Jubilee of their Nursing school. It was beautiful experience as I attended mass followed by the cultural programme, and the history of the both the hospital and school of nursing was projected on LCD. Love Story from Loraine was the video played showcasing a small group of sisters traveling miles to begin a small health centre among the minority community, in Hyderabad adjusting to the weather conditions, diet and with their devotion worked hard to raise this small health centre into a huge hospital. Their journey was inspiring – the hospital staff and all those who had served selflessly were acknowledged, and the youngsters nurses and the doctors gave wonderful performances. This event was an opportunity to meet some of the sisters who taught me in school & college and It was a pleasure connecting with them.

I am happy that a small group of my friends who work in the similar area of work – wanted to celebrate my birthday, which was in December, as some were out of town and still others had other commitments could not make it to wish me – I was touched by their gesture for the time taken to acknowledge and celebrate me – my heart overwhelms with gratitude for these beautiful soul sisters who bond and our work keeps us grounded and connected as we depend on one another to reach out to our  clients  in our professional lives for the greater good of the families and communities.

I was a special guest to one of the International school- and it was great to be among the students, watch them perform. I loved when a child from the class 7 interviewed me on stage with some questions related to mental health.   This was a great opportunity to not just address issues of students; but also some questions were directed towards parents. Hence I addressed the parents and the importance of Mental health and how can we take preventive steps in enabling children live a healthy life – and encouraged them to make mental health a priority.

I am happy to be a Guest speaker at Mahatma Gandhi University, Nalgonda. The topic was from their curriculum wherein there is a chapter on Life Span Development for the students of Psychology. I was requested to address “Adolescent Issues and Challenges, and How do we help them”.  I am glad to meet these students and interact with them and on my way I stopped for breakfast at Village Organic Kitchen – the ambiance was so good and I enjoyed the special South Indian idly with sambaar; felt thankful for these stops and after my session a great vegetarian lunch was waiting for me; and while returning I got a hot cup of ginger tea. All of these moments  filled me with joy.

I visited the  previous organization and met some of the old staff who are continuing to work there and there was so much to talk about; as the whole place was completely changed – I was glad to go around with my friends looking at the changes and catching up with them. I missed the lawn, the lovely garden where construction is going on now.

I had beautiful memories in this place for I had worked here for almost 13 and half years and I bid good bye to this organization in 2002. This place gave a lot of happiness – with lunch and tea was provided for us, so there was no headache of packing lunch. I used to work only 5 days a week. We had regular weekly mass on Fridays and the staff here was a family. We went out for picnics, celebrated Christmas and we had a staff welfare committee that took care of our well being. I am grateful for my past and for all the people in my life who brought so much happiness.

I am grateful to be at  St Ann’s Degree College, Hyderabad for  a Guest Lecture on the topic “Influence of Movies on Behavior” I loved preparing this topic as I do watch a lot of movies and I can see how it can influence the youngsters both positively and negatively. I made the power point and put the content together, but was searching for appropriate images and it was time consuming – I am grateful for my daughter Maria Dorothy who helped me in getting the right images to match my content and I could complete it on time.

The session was an interactive session as the students were open and responded enthusiastically as I quizzed them on movies and some impactful stories, songs and how easily we get influenced by the culture, language, fashion and sometimes even pick up words that could objectify and even humiliate one gender. I was glad by the response and some comments from the faculty and students for they found that this was the best interactive session they ever had among the guest lectures. I am also glad to be one of the member for  their Board of Studies.

I was overwhelmed by their love and hospitality and some students came up with questions related to careers in psychology and still others took my number to meet me at my centre.  I am grateful for all these experiences in my life as these moments motivate me and push me to keep working … and moving on to find meaning and purpose of my life.

I am grateful to take a session with the Lecturers from the Junior college; the topic was on the importance of Psychological Counseling, and why it is important in the current scenario; and what are the issues that could be addressed in a counseling centre and what cannot be  handled, the difference between a counselor, clinical psychologist and a psychiatrist. Some of the symptoms that we can notice as teachers and send the students for counseling. The session was interactive as the teachers were vocal and had some understanding on mental health issues. 

I am grateful that both David and Dorothy have been supportive and together we are able to keep to our own routines. Dorothy had started her PG classes and she was regular attending her classes as well as visiting the library, as this is the final year and she will complete her Master’s in Psychology this year. The Lord has been kind and merciful and has always enabled and empowered her as she continued to listen to her heart; I and David have always assured her that she must find her own path and we will always support her decisions.  

I am blessed not just with a supportive family, a regular work place that inspires me, enables me to continue learning, colleagues and my head who give me so much of freedom and space to constantly keep learning and growing.

I am glad to be alive for this month too with no serious complaints; grateful for all those who are connected with my life, be it in my neighborhood, workspace, or places where I volunteer (YWCA of Secunderabad). This month I was there for celebrating galantine’s day, a break from my regular work for few hours in the evening.

Thanks to my daughter for I watched a couple of movies for entertainment, enjoyed the comedy as well as the songs. I loved both the movies, one was Telugu and another was Hindi both of them were old ones but entertaining and refreshing.

Thank you for reading my post; I hope you had a great month, would love to hear your thoughts!

May you Be happy and Blessed!