Gratitude for March 2017

My gratitude list for this month:

Women's day celebration in the community

• Women’s day celebration at community in Risalabazaar through the YWCA -Young women Christian Association Secunderabad.  It’s always a privilege for me to speak to the community women who are simple, hard working and culturally bound by beliefs and traditions that does not help  them to focus on themselves.  Some times they are dealing with unemployed husbands who are dominating and are also addicted; at other times they do small jobs to take care of their families and take up a lot of stress.  I was glad to interact with them and share a few thought provoking insights.

After Lunch with classmates  

• Glad to connect with a friend for lunch and talk endlessly about our goals, challenges and plans for our lives…. It’s so nice to have friends who share your concerns and understand things that you don’t even talk about; One of our friends invited the whole group of us for lunch, as she was leaving the country to be with her daughter for confinement – very refreshing to be surrounded by friends who are loving and caring, truly they are blessings of God. I appreciate and feel grateful for these occasions.

• Glad to accompany my daughter to the school to get the no objection certificate from all the teachers and then finally take the hall ticket. The very thought that she is completing schooling was a happy one and I couldn’t believe how 12 years have passed in the same school.

• I was motivated and enthusiastic to spend more time with my daughter - Maria Dorothy in finding out the centre in advance, getting familiar with the road and planned to reach at the scheduled time. I am also happy that she completed 3 papers and now only two more subjects left.

• While waiting for her outside the examination centre, I got to  meet the parents of other children, had some interesting conversations  on education, children’s issues and the challenges faced in parenting J

• After the second exam, I and my daughter went out for lunch. We went out together after a long time, being the season of lent we chose to eat vegetarian meal. Generally I am not very fussy about food; I accept and eat whatever I get with gratitude in my heartJ  While I am aware that in our country there are so many families who struggle to get even one meal a day.

Me & my daughter for lunch

• I am Happy and excited to have completed two books in this month – enjoyed connecting with myself and my reading habits again. My daughter’s exam was an opportunity to connect with the books. Now excited to have ordered a book online from Amazon, and looking forward to get this book to start reading.

• Grateful to the teacher who took additional interest in helping my daughter to focus on the difficult subject i.e., maths and physics.  She was so kind enough to create space for her in the morning hours, wherein she will learn on her own; and in the evening she would teach to reinforce what was learnt in the mornings.  It’s not easy to find teachers who go out of their way and patiently help students to learn at their own pace.

• This month I was shocked to hear about the death of a colleague; who worked with me in the previous organisation.  Another friend of mine saw the obituary in the news paper and informed the others, this event brought pain and sadness along with also lovely memories of interactions with her. She was not in the city, as her work took her to Mumbai and she settled there. She was very successful in her career and was working for a Television channel – we came to know through their family that she was sick only for short period of time, diagnosed cancer of the pancreas and within 75 days she is no more.I am Grateful to God for having met her.

  

  After the Funeral service at the church with my colleagues

• I recall the moments when she used to give tips for self care, and in fact she even designed a blouse for me; and also helped me love myself. Thanks Amala Thomas I am grateful to you, may your soul rest in peace…. A few of us from the organization got together and attended her funeral. She appeared as though asleep having suffered so much; she was very cheerful and positive about everything in life.

• I am grateful for the 4^th Sunday this month wherein David organizes prayer meeting in our parish church – I take this as an opportunity to review, reflect and spend quiet time thanking and praising God for all the wonderful deeds He has done in our family.Its once a month and a good time for me personally as all of us will be in the church together, each of us in small ways involved and then we share lunch together, which means no cooking at homeJ practically no work in the kitchen except for the light breakfast – dinner depends whether required or not… while me and David will have something light if needed, but for Maria I give what she likes… now summer being very hot, she prefers curd rice.

• This month at our counseling centre, it was a busy month; with students coming in regularly and most of the issues were related to fear, anxiety and negative thinking. There was one student we rescued from suicidal attempt, and then referred him to an Organization that works for suicide prevention; took help from the police to repatriate back to his parents who lived away from the city. I am grateful to my colleagues and the external help received to be able deal with difficult situations.

• This month, was also birthday of Nathu, my nephew’s son and I was glad to visit him before his birthday and spend some time with my brother’s family. It’s a treat to interact and play with the little ones as they bring in so much joy.

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  Nathan Emmanuel my nephews son

• There was a birthday of a special friend too J Neomi who was the God mother for my son – a beautiful person with a generous heart, and very committed to empowerment of women. She  is very good in financial management; and taught me how to make budgets and plan the expenditure very early in my life; I am very grateful for her presence in my life, and can never forget her support during my son’s hospitalisation and her patience to listen to whenever I needed someone to talk to… glad to stay connected with her; and together we have partnered in implementing activities related to women’s empowerment. I am grateful for the friendship !!

Me & my Friend Neomi

Another month is gone and I am grateful to God and all those lovely people who are part of my journey making me happy and bringing meaning into my life!!

Glad to be part of this circle, thanks vidya !!

“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.” Ralph Waldo Emerson