August 2024 Gratitude

“Basic law: The more you practice the art of thankfulness, the more you have to be thankful for” Norman Vincent Peale

We entered the 9^th month of the year – bidding goodbye to the month that has gone by. I am glad to spend some time reviewing the month and all the experiences life has given to me and be grateful that despite all the challenges, I am happy to step into a new month with gratitude in my heart.

Here are a few things I would like to be grateful for the month of August 2024:

I am grateful for I have completed my Post graduation in Philosophy, which makes me happy for I have always been interested in learning philosophy and this two year course gave me insights into the Indian Philosophy. I have been familiar with some part of western philosophy which was taught in school – familiar with Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Karlmarx and my PG in sociology and Psychology helped me understand about a lot more philosophers but I never got an opportunity about our own Indian philosophy.

I enjoyed this learning process as I read through the material university has given, but motivated myself  to do my own research in these subjects. I am glad that I completed my final year exams. I am grateful for the opportunity that I get to learn, also meet new people in my class and the academic circle has grown.

I am grateful for my work -this month I got some referrals for tele counseling. I usually prefer face to face counseling as I feel that its important to be sensitive to the non verbal cues as well when one is counseling. But this was an emergency and suicidal ideations related hence I obliged and glad that I was able to reach out to the person who was from another state. I am happy and surprised at my own capacity to be able deal with the students even on audio call.

This month was Aparna’s birthday – she is like my soul sister who is so connected with me that we can implement any programme together combining our strengths. We are together in the social sector for almost a decade and we continue to volunteer at the YWCA of Secunderabad. 

We jointly plan all the outreach programs and help the committee to implement the issue based activities in schools, colleges and communities. I am glad to celebrate her birthday along with few more friends and we had a great time connecting with each other for a dinner in one of the restaurant.

This month Dorothy was busy with her MA Psychology final year exams- she was helping her classmates, as I saw her taking session s on her laptop to the students with non psychology background. I felt happy and grateful for the way she was reaching out to her classmates. I was concerned about her studies and I asked her when will she do her own studies – I loved her reply, she said “mamma when I teach I learn and it’s also my revision” I am grateful to God for her as she manages everything on her own, not just studies even her health, choosing to eat healthy by making her own meals and creating her own schedule.

This month I developed sudden cough, cold and it happened to be viral fever according to  doctor, he advised me to take some antibiotics. I took a short break taking care of my health, managing my work from home and thankful to God that I came out of the viral fever, but my chest congestion was bad and it took some time for me to deal with it; used a lot of alternatives everyday - steaming, salt water gargle, took milk with saffron and pepper every night and during the day I took thyme dry powder (called Omam in tamil and ajwan in hindi).

It worked for me as congestion in the chest has drastically come down. I am grateful for these herbs that are easily available in our kitchen and which serve as good alternatives than popping pills and taking injections, which brings down the immunity.

This month I am blessed with a latest model of Lenova that came with a printer cum scan and Xerox. This computer was a part of the project which my Director is implementing – as she is in Delhi working at Tihar Jail. This computer was shifted to our centre and it was given to me to use for the centre.

I am happy for her generosity to lend her computer to Sahayam and it’s a pleasure to work on this system. As our system is old version – and was giving a lot of problems, we got that repaired and in process lost all the data. So this new one is truly a blessing as it helps me complete my task and everything is inbuilt in this system. I am grateful for this new computer at workplace.

I am happy that our centre organized a session on Substance Abuse and its impact on oneself and life at our Engineering College within the campus. This programme was attended by almost 250-300 first year students. This topic addressed how substance abuse can destroy a person’s life and also get them into legal troubles. We had a young person who his story of addiction and how his life took a U turn and now he is helping other students to say NO to Substance. The session was appreciated by all the students and they had lot of questions and it was a powerful testimony as the youngsters could relate and identify themselves with his story.

I am grateful for the opportunity that helps me continue my education –I believe in learning and I do enjoy the process of learning. This month I attended one day session yoga class, as the other days I got busy in writing my exams. I am grateful for the yoga classmates who keep updating me about the subjects and what is being taught and all the information I am missing.

I am grateful for my Director, Mentor who is always guiding me and keeps encouraging me as I take up different subjects for learnings. She gives me the space and motivates me to stay updated and relevant.  She is a blessing in my life and I am grateful to God for people like this who  not just help but make us grow and bloom where we are planted.

I am grateful for David for all the support he gives me as I take up different projects, and continue education. He is always there to help me out – at the home front a lot of work like taking care of plants, washing clothes and paying all the bills, and ensuring we have regular supply of gas, provisions and everything in the house is taken care by him.

I am also grateful for Anuja who helps me in the kitchen and a lot of stress is managed as she is does the curries, rotis and overall help, that gives me the space to study, learn, to prioritize my own well being and also saves a lot of my time. I am grateful for her and it’s a blessing to have someone who is related as well as who stays closer to your residence.

This month no movie for entertainment as the focus was on exams. I was upset and disturbed about the news of Dr Moumita from RG Kar Hospital Calcutta. It shook me to the core to hear the news and all the videos that surfaced online about the brutal killing of the PG medical student, made me angry and helpless too. 

I wonder when will women be really safe in our country, a doctor who serves the people is also not spared. The plight of her parents and her father’s video was upsetting brought tears and I still feel the pain. It’s heartening to see people’s voice raised all over the country condemning this brutal attack. I pray and hope that the culprits are severely punished.

There are so many things happening all around the country – but I still hope that things will change, and we do our part in whatever way possible to make a difference in the lives of people and make this earth and better place to live.

Hope you had a great month; would love to hear from you,

Be Happy & Be Blessed J