October 2025 Gratitude

“Life is uncertain, be grateful and appreciate what you have.”

We have come to the end of the month – 31 days of October has swiftly passed away; so much has happened in this month. Few more hours and we are stepping in the 11^th month of year and soon we will enter into another year.

Here goes my gratitude list for this month: I am grateful for:

For the break with my friends, we went out for day outing at Woodland Resorts –Moinabad, which is approximately 36 kms from my residence. The weather being unpredictable as it was raining heavily for a whole week. I am grateful that we had a pleasant weather and it was fun to be with friends for a whole day; we hired a bus and all of us were together, sang songs, danced– I went swimming in the pool, after which we had the rain dance followed by lunch.

The lunch was–hot soup which was soothing for the throat, starters were finger fish fry, chicken and panneer, the lunch was delicious; they served us desert which had a variety of sweets with ice cream. We walked on the lawn, a great feeling, and then we had a bed sheet for lying down facing the sky and listening to our favorite songs on spotify.

We joked, laughed and teased each other sharing our funny moments of the past. We rested well – it was tea/coffee break with hot pakodas and sandwiches…After which we were back in the bus, hugged each other, bid good bye and came back home with gratitude. We checked on each other’s well being, shared the pictures we clicked on the group and appreciated one another for the time well spent.

This month was also my nephew Sunny Emmanuel’s birthday – I am grateful to God for the gift of him in our family, for being so committed and devoted to the family, I called up and wished him on his birthday.

I am grateful to connect with one of my old friend Bernadette Juan, who celebrated her birthday this month, invited me and Dorothy. It was a quiet birthday with very few friends, some of them we knew as they were from the same college me and my daughter studied. It was refreshing to meet all of them after many years.

This month one of my colleague Annie Cornelius from my previous office celebrated her 60^th birthday – her brothers planned a party for her in their house, only with close friends. There was open singing and we enjoyed the songs sung by different people who attended this party, some English pop songs were sung reigniting the desire to sing these songs once again. I enjoyed singing along country roads, top of the world, and Hindi old songs which was sung melodiously.

 

I am glad that Dorothy sang a few Hindi numbers and some of our friends danced and at midnight the cake was cut making it a meaningful experience for her. We came back home happy filled with gratitude for 60 years is a long time in life.  

This month was also the birthday of my mom Rose Mary and my brother Vincent Dass – both are not in this world. I am grateful for the memories they left behind. It’s no more grief for me now but gratitude as they say time is the best healer.

I am also grateful that this month, Sr Joshina celebrates 50 years of her life (my elder sisters friend) who served the Lord for the 50 years as a nun, working tirelessly in various capacities in the different institutions managed by the Sisters of Charity of  Bartolommeo and Vicenza. I am grateful for this long association with her – after my sister’s death there were two sisters who were close to me and our family – Sr Loretta and Sr Joshina Vaz. Sr Loretta passed away few years ago.

Sr Joshina was always there for me, and she always encouraged and motivated me to never give up education and helped me in continuing my education. I owe a lot to the sisters as they were kind and encouraging. I am still connected with Sr Joshina Vaz and its been a long journey almost half a century. I am grateful to God for the gift of her and so many lives she has touched.

I am glad that this month October 10^th being the World Mental Health Day – I got the opportunity to take a session on mental health for the Government Girls high school children. There were 8o students for this interactive session – the children were active and enthusiastic in this session. This session was facilitated by the YWCA of Secunderabad.

I am glad to get to work every day for this whole month except for one or two days,  I took break due to heavy rains and to attend a function. The month was hectic as every day I had clients coming to the counseling centre regularly. This month there were too many cases related to anxiety, depression, suicidal ideations and violence. Some days were tough as there were more people waiting – I could only take 3 persons in a day and other days 2.

Accordingly I learnt to deal with my own mental health by spending more time with myself, attending prayers, listening to music and also watching some of my favorite movies on Prime and Net flicks.

I loved watching movies such as Zindagi Na mile Dobara, Dil Chahata Hai, Parineeta, also watched Telugu ETV Web series called 90’s A Middle Class Biopic. A well made series, relatable and full of humor – enjoyed these series with my daughter.

I am grateful that Dorothy is busy with her teaching in the college –learning to deal with all the challenges in this career. Planning the lessons, organizing and conducting tests, lab work and open for the new challenges. She also keeps herself busy singing in the choir at the local parish, proud that she is leading the choir for the 10.15a.m mass. She regularly goes for the choir practice every Saturday.

This month one of Dorothy’s senior friend got married – so she was busy practicing for the wedding mass – and on the wedding day, she was in the church leading the choir, while I joined her later for the reception where we had a great time meeting a lot of other friends, some of my friends were there too. These are the occasions we get to meet extended families and friends – feels good to be connected.

David keeps himself busy with digital marketing – and prayer meetings, sometimes traveling to Chennai and this month, he went with his friends to visit the shrine of Our Lady of Velankanni at Nagapattnam, Tamilnadu.

I am grateful to God for His unconditional Love and Protection – as in this month while riding; I had a narrow escape of getting hit by a biker while taking a U turn. There’s too much traffic and too many vehicles on the road. I am grateful and blessed as I did not fall from the bike, despite the guy hitting me from behind – the traffic police were right there to rescue me from falling, and shouted at the guy who hit me from behind with his vehicle. They caught him and warned him and I continued riding without a scratch, felt God’s presence and His protection.  

There’s so much happening in life and I keep counting my blessings everyday – as it keeps me grounded, positive and happy- I keep making small changes and never forget to practice gratitude twice a day. I also have been learning so much while helping some of the students with their thesis, power points, and giving them feedback and sharpening their presentations.

I had also received a lot of gifts from some of my friends. I appreciate their thoughtfulness, got some junk jewelry sets, and diwali gift hamper, and some homemade sweets parceled for me.

I am grateful that this whole month – I am happy, healthy, helping my students, taking sessions, connecting with friends, celebrating life and glorifying God every day in my life.

May you Be Happy & Be Blessed.