July Gratitude – 2025

The month of July has gone and we have entered August today. Glad to write this post as it makes me relives all the moments of July once again; filling my heart with joy, happiness and thankfulness.

“I will give thanks to You, Lord with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.” Psalm 9:1

Here goes my gratitude list for the month of July:

I am glad that I get to go to work – which is a blessing for me as it keeps me physically active, busy, occupied, maintaining a routine, constantly learn, grow, set goals, healthy and happy!

I am thankful for the trust I have developed with my clients, and this month some of them expressed gratitude in ways I could not imagine – these moments touch me to the core… and I have no words to express. This month there were so many counseling sessions with different kinds of problems, including substance abuse, breakups and over thinking/negative thinking and living with past traumas, suicidal thoughts, failed attempts of suicide. This month there were so many suicides – in the news, student committing suicide due to failure in NEET, some due to relationship failure, still others in depression, and many more reasons.

Grateful that some of them found me through referrals, others who happen to pass by my centre, still others through internet browsing. I hope and pray that talking about mental health and taking help from a counselor gets normalized and many more youngsters are able to take help.

“Your mental health is just as important as your physical health” “It’s okay not to be okay” “You are not your mental illness”

This month I am happy to celebrate Monsoon Magic at the #YWCA of Secunderabad – after a long time I attended this programme which gave opportunity to interact, play tombola (I won too, made me happy), danced a little and had some hot snacks with a cup of tea… I am grateful for these moments.

I am thankful that I could take my daughter Maria Dorothy out for a date to one of her favorite café – and I tried eating what she likes, away from my normal South Indian items to Garlic bread, Prawns and Pasta (which I normally don’t prefer, except for prawns). I am happy to spend time with her and just enjoying listening to her about this place which she normally comes out with friends.  Also checking with her about her new job at the college, appreciating the efforts in preparing for the class. Some funny moments in her college, and her experience in teaching psychology to the degree students. I am grateful to God for  the opportunity she got amongst so many other applicants for this post.

I am grateful for our friends group- as one of our college mate had come back from the US with her granddaughter and it’s been quite a long time we have not met –We were happy to be together as she updated us about her situation and her plans for future, we want her to settle here in Hyderabad so we could all be close to one another. 

We were happy to see her granddaughter grown up, as we saw her as a baby and now, she is 10 years old and communicating so well. She also danced to the music with my daughter and another friend’s daughter; we had the joy of watching our youngsters swing and dance and enjoy good food.  We created beautiful memories for ourselves in order to relive these moments in our life.

 

 

I am grateful for our school buddies, we  celebrated birthday of Nimmi – one of our class mates, from our school,  her son arranged this birthday for her; as she is always busy entertaining her family and extended family and friends. This year he told her strictly to celebrate with all of us and arranged a special private space in Telangana Spice Kitchen to give his mother a break from the kitchen😊. 

We were so happy and impressed with the gesture of her son. We enjoyed ourselves, created a handmade card, another one baked the cake and we encouraged her to celebrate herself. I am happy to be part of this school group where we have so many memories of our school, teachers who admonished us, taught us with love, and also motivated and inspired us…. Grateful for all these blessings of life… 

“A Sweet Friendship refreshes the Soul” – Proverbs 27:9

I am thankful for the opportunity’s life provides – this month I had been to FDDI (Foot Wear Design and Development Institute) in Hyderabad for an important session. I went with my friend and it was a new place and happy to see so many students, agreed for some future sessions on mental health as we felt it was important for the students staying the hostels, away from home and the challenges they face coping in a new environment. After which we went to Rameshwaram Café – a new coffee shop and we loved the Dosa and Filter coffee. It was a nice place with a lot of youngsters hanging out. I came home back with heart filled with gratitude and stomach full too😊 as the Ghee Dosa was heavy and I chose to skip my dinner.

I am grateful for  my sister in law Mary Marcus, who celebrated her  birthday this month. I always remember  her, for her support in taking care of Dorothy and Emmanuel, while I worked at my office, we visited her, prayed, cut the cake, enjoyed the sumptuous dinner and made some reels just for fun.

I am grateful that I could watch a beautiful movie – Sitare Zameen Par with my daughter in a theatre, just loved it as it was all about differently abled children, a heartwarming movie and must watch.  I enjoyed the simplicity, pure innocence and love of these kids and came home with gratitude as it brought me memories of my son who was a down syndrome child, and the beautiful memories he left behind, an experience I can never forget.

People with Special needs are not broken.They are just a different version of what a human can be. …

I am thankful to my daughter for suggesting me to watch a Tamil movie named Tourist Family, which was on hot star – this movie brought tears and laughter together, both me and my daughter cried and laughed watching, it was meaningful and had some important lessons for all of us.  It was worth watching and we just loved it as it was entertaining too.

We may be Tourists in this world, but we are family in this moment….

This month I am sorry to have lost simple, beautiful soul – a YWCA member by name Smt. Veena Karmarkar. She was a committed and dedicated member who was regular to the YWCA and always brought flowers to distribute to other members, sometimes, raw mango from her garden, I recall when I got elected as a President, she sent me a Coconut through the General Secretary, and told her to congratulate me with the coconut.She was sick for a while and passed away this month and within a weeks’ time, her husband battling with dementia too passed away. I remember her with gratitude with a cheerful face – responding to all my WhatsApp status. Death reminds us to cherish life, live authentically and appreciate the present moment.

“The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living” - Cicero

I am grateful to connect with an old friend, we worked together for more than a decade and I was happy to meet her over a cup of coffee. We had lots of stories to share, and laughed so much reminiscing our past.

I am grateful that two of my friends got together and attended a session on financial discipline, which made us think about how we are handling our finances and how we can do better in moving towards financial health.  After which we had lunch and went out for shopping – had some coffee and snacks after the purchases and came home happy and tired. I rested well to be ready for the next day routine.

I am grateful for some of my friends who gifted Dorothy some very pretty saris, she is lucky to have collected quite a lot within a month and I am busy getting her the matching skirts, and blouses stitched.

I am grateful that this month my niece Nissi Marilyn delivered a baby boy and it was wonderful to see the mother and child safe and healthy. Every child is a gift from above, and birthing itself is a miraculous process.

I am grateful that I am alive, my basic needs are met – I get to go to work, there are so many good people around me who appreciate and cherish me; I am blessed with my Director who keeps encouraging and affirming me- a few of the scholars who have completed PhD but so thankful to me for small help that I rendered.  All the service providers who supply with milk, provisions, wifi connections, help me at home in maintenance work in the kitchen every day, available for me and our family.

There are still who regularly keep calling, connecting on whatsapp, especially Sr Joshina ( my elder sister’s friend) who keeps praying and enquiring, and some who keep sending blessings on my way – I feel blessed, favored and deeply loved.

Thanks for reading my post!

May you be Blessed & Happy!