Living A Life Of Gratitude

September 2026 Gratitude

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Genevive Angela) — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 10:05:30 +0000

I am grateful that this month I traveled to Vellore end of August and returned on 1^st September bringing my daughter Dorothy back home after successful completion of her course – I am grateful for her resilience to be able to put up for two months a lot of hard work and never giving up attitude, even though she had a choice to do a short term of 4 weeks, but she chose to go for a 8 weeks and finish the intensive PG course in Counseling. We had a comfortable journey slept well in the train and reached by noon.

I am grateful for some interesting experience during my travel, there were many stops where people were just getting down and some of them were getting in, at Tirupathi I saw a gentleman a retired banker who got in and occupied the opposite seat and just started a conversation with me; he started talking about how he came to Tirupathi temple to do some voluntary work, counting the temple money and helping the temple trust in accounts and audit. I was impressed with his service that he has taken upon; for he spent his own money to reach from Aurangabad to Tirupathi and once having completed the work at the temple he was now visiting Golden Temple at Vellore out of interest.

We were complete strangers but very helpful, the train stopped at Katpadi, it doesn’t stop for long as it’s a small station, only 10minutes the train halts. He helped me with my luggage and joined me till I got my cab to reach the institute. I was thankful to God that there are good people in this world and kindness a timeless value, that never goes out of style.

I am grateful that I reached without any discomforts and safely. I entered the premises and Dorothy was just waiting for me, came running and hugged me, it’s been two months. I was so happy and relieved that I got to meet her. We spent one more day as we couldn’t get the train tickets, we were happy to go around the city and came back home safely.

The next day was David’s niece birthday; she turned 14. We were invited for her birthday. Myself and Dorothy visited and spend some time in prayers and there was a cake cutting followed by fellowship dinner. I am grateful for the gift of her for another year has been added to her life.

This month is also Dorothy’s birthday – and she turned 25. I am grateful for the last 25 years; I can’t believe so many years have passed, the babe that I held in my arms has now turned 25. David was also very happy and wanted to celebrate so, few of the extended families were there and it was a simple celebration. We had another celebration with my friends and Dorothy connected with her friends too and she had a great time.

This month was also Arushi’s 20^th birthday and we had a great celebration in Aparna’s house, meeting her extended family and also our common friends. The food was delicious, her friends also came and decorated her place and we had a good time.

This month September 10^th being the World Suicide Prevention Day – we are expected do a lot of awareness programme on suicide prevention, as our centre was born due to suicides in the campus during the agitation time. I was invited through the YWCA and also directly to take sessions on suicide prevention and mental health. I was glad to visit these Degree colleges for both boys and girls.

The theme focus for this year was “Change the Narratives” “Start the Conversation” an interesting concept, as a team it was nice to put all the material together and create a standardized PPT for ourselves wherein we could adapt depending on the situation. I am always happy interacting with the youngsters in the colleges and come back with enthusiasm with the kind of energy they share in the room.

This month I am grateful for cold and congestion in my chest😊 it was not comfortable, went to the doctor took some medicines and still it took some time, I am grateful because it slowed me down, I realized in the last few weeks I was rushing a lot attending too many meetings, birthdays and get togethers, this discomfort made me slow down. I stopped riding my bike for more than a week, and everything changed.

I am grateful for those around me who were constantly checking on me, my daughter gets worried so she was all the time wanted to know if I am okay, and some fiends who sent some pickles adding spice into my life.

I allowed myself to rest and took my own time to do things, I used auto to commute to work, and I delayed washing clothes and just took one day at a time, rested well and took care of myself, as I am fully aware that that this is the only body I have – I reduced the number of sessions …restricted myself to few. That way I never hurried for anything to be accomplished but let the time take over and that way I gradually healed myself with minimum medicines, hot water steam inhalation, drinking warm water throughout the day, resting well, good sleep, diet and being optimistic.

This month Dorothy too had some discomforts; she had to go for a root canal treatment due the wisdom tooth which was troubling and not being properly placed interfering with other tooth so she was busy visiting the doctor. I am grateful to the Doctor, who is familiar with our family and we trust him that he will always do the right thing when it comes to dental issues.

Work kept me busy the whole month, as we are implementing a project which is for 18 months, and with renovation and repairs at my work- we have moved to another room close by. I am grateful for all the people who are supportive to us and soon our repairs and renovation will be over and we will get back to our centre.

I did have a few students who had come for counseling here; and some of the referral clients referred by our employees, professors and even our director in charge. A few were in touch with Tele counseling and still others connected me on WhatsApp.

I am glad to take a break in between meeting my classmates from my school – one of our school girls completed her MBBS, MD and moved into research on Nutrition, and retired as a Director of National Institute of Nutrition-ICMR, Hyderabad. She wanted to meet all of us for lunch and so we were happy to reconnect with her and catch with all our school memories. We were 13 of us together, and we acknowledged her achievements, and it was a proud moment for us too that she worked so hard to reach a prestigious position in her life. We appreciated her and honored her with a silk saree and a beautiful bouquet and affirmed her of all the lovable qualities of simplicity, generosity, hard working and also friendly and cheerful nature. I am grateful for all these moments that brings joy and gives us happiness.

This month was the candle light ceremony at the YWCA Secunderabad, and this year too I am part of the board as Vice-President. It was a meaningful celebration with the new board taking over with gratitude for the old board and candle lit years ago by a group of women, continues to burn world wide- women recommitting by love to serve one another.

I am grateful that everything was fine at the home front. I had people helping me with household chores, David washing clothes, watering plants and keeping the surrounding clean. There was regular supply of provisions needed or the house, milk delivered at my door and all the basic survival needs were met, can’t thank enough as I feel I am highly blessed, heavily favored and generously blessed😊

As the month of September ends – I am full of gratitude for everything, and welcome the new month October with faith, hope and joy.

May all of you who are reading this post be happy and Blessed !

August 2026 Gratitude

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Genevive Angela) — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 18:05:50 +0000

August month always comes with a lot of positive energy and excitement as it’s a month dedicated to Friends – so many of them in my life who had come at different time and phases, they have been a blessing, an extended family, a variety of them who have empowered me and lead me to my destiny. I am grateful for all of them who have supported me, provided me lessons to learn and still some who have made my life meaningful.

I am grateful for:

My friend Aparna celebrated her 50^th birthday- 50 years is quite a long journey in life and its a milestone a person reaches, there is so much to be grateful for. As we are friends for the last 23 years, working together in the NGO sector addressing various issues, implementing projects and learning together. I felt grateful for all the learning with her, for all the travel experiences of my life. She is that one friend whom I can call any time in 24 hours without checking her availability and she always responds and has been very helpful. So together with other friends we celebrated her, affirmed and appreciated her and shared all our experiences that made us laugh, cry, joke about the past and thank her for being a great friend.

I am grateful for the opportunity I took to take weekend break at Bapatla & Chirala - this was a good break as I love the beaches. This place was the nearest from Hyderabad, and it was a road trip with 8 of us in the tempo traveler taking the highway road, we had a south Indian breakfast at Organic farm kitchen, run by an NRI – the service was good, enjoyed my dosa and wada, also picked up millet cakes, millet biscuits, banana chips and some chocolates for the journey. We had the music system in the bus, and listening to our favorite songs, singing along we did not know how far we travelled, we stopped by for lunch and tea and then reached the resort. This was a small resort; we left our bags and went straight to the beach and walked around for a couple of hours, and the waters were very clean and salty.

I spent quite a lot of time in the beach with friends, we sat down in the water, allowing the waves to hit us, sang songs sitting on the sand. We also took some rides on the shores and it was fun to drive on the beach. This was a good break for me as I have been busy with regular work as well as a new project that we are implementing, which is taking a lot of time. I did miss my daughter Dorothy who was out for a course in Vellore. But with friends around I was happy and grateful created memories of a life time.

I am blessed and feel grateful for the work I do as it brings me a lot of meaning and satisfaction. At my work place we are expanding both physically as well as team wise, am glad we have few more persons joining for this project for implementing all the capacity building programmes, training of trainers, and getting small repairs done to ensure that our centre has no infra structure issues. Since this the government set up everything takes time, and we need to constantly keep following up even for one small letter to move from one place to another. But that’s part of the process when we implement a government project.

This month there were also two deaths in the same family; one of my friends cousin lost her 18 year old son in an accident in the early hours, while he was going to college with his friend on a bike. He fell off the bike and had head injury and died on the spot. Hearing the death of the son, his father was shocked and within 3 days got a paralytic attack. The family was suffering for the wife was trying to deal with the son’s death, grieving for the son and now handling her husband was sad and within days the husband dies. Two deaths in a span of 15 days can be terrible and I felt very sad, as my friend kept me updated regularly, and wanted to meet me as she was finding difficult to handle, for she was helping her cousin, who needed help. I spent some time listening to her as she was emotionally disturbed and grief is not easy to deal with. I am grateful for the trust she placed in me and could vent out. I validated her feelings and everything she was going through as she was attached to her cousin. Death is always a reminder for us that we are not permanent residents here on earth, and its so important to keep this thought in mind and live our lives to the fullest.

I am grateful for all the mornings I have got up from my bed, for the heart that was beating throughout not just the night, but for so many years of my life; for sleep that keeps me rested, and motivation to show up to work every day, for the divine protection I experience 24 by 7 not just throughout the month but year after year and for many more countless blessings I am filled with awe and wonder for being alive.

I am grateful to God that Maria Dorothy had completed the Post Graduate Certificate Course in Psychological Counseling Skills (Residential) at Dr B J Prashantham Institute for Counseling Psychology, Vellore with practical work at Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu. This month I traveled to bring Dorothy back home – and stayed up for a couple of days in Vellore for going around this place, rested well, shopped a little for Dorothy as she had friends, went out with them and came back with gratitude on the last day of this month. I am grateful that while I was away David managed everything at home, ensured that house is clean, minor repairs were done and when we reached home there was food cooked and ready on the table for us.

I am grateful for the journey and am happy to travel alone, friend who came to bid goodbye to me at the railway station, and another person who got in at tirupathi, a co passenger, was visiting golden temple at Vellore, got into a conversation and told me that he had gone to the temple to do voluntary work, a retired bank employee helping the temple trust with accounts and audit. I was impressed by his generosity as he has traveled all the way from Aurangabad only to volunteer.

He spoke about his family and how he looked after his mother till the end while none of his siblings had time to give as they were all busy with their own lives. It was a meaningful conversation and I am surprised that I never asked his name J neither did he asked me any information about my personal life. He was kind to help me with my luggage as I got down and also put me in a cab.

I felt happy that God places the right people at the right time and a complete stranger reaching out to me, was truly a Divine intervention. As he left immediately in another direction to reach his own destination.

I came back home with gratitude in my heart for everything the Lord has done – and for all the people I met, for my journey was a comfortable and safe. I am ready to welcome the new month with a heart full of thankfulness, with hope and trust that everything is working for its highest good in our lives.

Thank you for reading my post; I hope you had a great month.

May you be happy and blessed!

Gratitude Post for July, 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Genevive Angela) — Sat, 01 Aug 2026 07:38:38 +0000

Today is 31^st July –with tomorrow begins the 8^th month of the year. How swiftly the time passes and we are moving so fast. This month began with Maria Dorothy joining an intensive Counseling course at Vellore. So she was busy preparing herself with paper work and responding their queries and I was wondering how she will travel alone, and when I spoke to the Director there, he told me that a faculty from Hyderabad is traveling, it was a big relief for me that Dorothy got a company to travel to Vellore.

The first week I was busy helping her sort things out. I am grateful everything worked out perfectly. The tickets were booked and I knew the faculty as we had worked together. She was kind to do all the bookings in the beginning of the week; Dorothy left for the course, and I bid goodbye to her at the railway station. Aparna invited me home as she felt I will miss Dorothy, so from the railway station I spent some time with my friend. We went out for a walk and had some tea and snacks and then I returned home with gratitude.

I do miss my daughter but at the same time I am happy that she has started making her own choices, getting independent, thinking for herself as to what suits her and which direction she must take for a career. She reached Vellore along with her faculty from Hyderabad and connected with us to tell us that she had a safe journey. I was glad that everything was working out for her beginning with an inaugural to theory and practicals at CMC.

Initially I was messaging her thrice a day and gradually reduced from twice to one day now. As she got well adjusted and I am grateful that she is doing well, it’s a tough residential programme and lot of work given to students. Since she chose this for herself, its not so bad, except some days she is very tired but other days fine.

This month there were two deaths –one person was the YWCA member which came as a shock to all of us; as she was active member, interacting with everyone and no one expected this news. She was very cheerful person, full of life, generous with her compliments, and always saw the good and appreciated. I went to see her and she looked so beautiful and smiling even on her death. I paid my homage to her and within few days another death, one of our very old neighbor; I used to see her every Sunday for mass and used to interact. I just met her a week before her death for her grandchild first holy communion, and she was very happy meeting all the relatives, near and dear ones.

That was the last time I saw her and she died in the sleep in the early hours. Every time someone close to me dies, a part of me also goes with them and it’s a reminder to me that one day I too will leave this earth. I need to be prepared to go and I have by now learnt to live one day at a time, ensuring that I reach my highest potential – as I feel it’s so important to find myself my purpose for being here on earth and accomplish it. I am grateful for these thoughts as it gives me strength and courage to keep walking in faith, trusting the Lord in everything and continue my journey with gratitude.

This month there were a couple birthdays – my sister-in-law Mary Marcus who celebrated her birthday on the 15^th of this month, and my younger sister leena who celebrated on the 22^nd of this month. Mary Marcus invited me for dinner, it was an informal celebration as she came back from her work to cook, she was happy to see me, I spent some time in prayer and then wished her for her birthday, that day I had late dinner. (which I am not used to) some days I break rulesJ she also packed food for David as it was late night and he was out on some work. I came home with gratitude carrying the food and some snacks.

I am glad that I went out for lunch with Leena for her birthday as she wanted to visit a particular restaurant in the city. I took this opportunity and took her there for lunch, she ordered what she loved to eat remembering her son, shared her experiences of her travel to US. Where she met her son Yohan and stayed with him for a month. She was very happy to meet her son after a long time and she was so excited and happy and told me that he looked after her like a queen. I am grateful for real conversations, and feel enriched listening to travel stories as I love to travel too. :)

This month was the busiest at my workplace, with an additional project sanctioned- a lot of time went in meetings. We had more than half a dozen meeting as a preparatory session for implementing this project. This was alongside my regular routine work, which was getting hectic. I am grateful that I have work to do and with additional project I feel blessed to be part of this project. As it focuses on working in the community on substance abuse and addiction.

There were also other works for me coordinating within the departments, and following up with admin and accounts, as the systems here are rigid and everything takes time; but I am grateful I am able to do everything without losing my temper and being calm and quietly accomplishing all the tasks. I am grateful that I am able to write a little bit whenever possible and I feel good maintaining a journal.

I am grateful for my domestic help, despite taking few leaves, she showed up to help me for this month; and luckily my old maid showed up when I needed. So my routine did not get disrupted and I attended all the days in this month, except for one day where I went out.

I am grateful for my client who came to me with her parents to thank me for the sessions, she had serious symptoms. She was referred to the Psychiatrist – with medicine and counseling she came out of her problem, and even got very good marks in her degree. She was so happy that she came to the centre to thank me, bringing a small box of sweets. I was touched by her thoughtfulness, and luckily my director also walked in and she was happy to see her. I encouraged her and told her to set goals and keep working and trying hard. These are small joys of helping and I am overwhelmed with these experiences, as it motivates me to keep doing the good work.

I thank all the service providers who are ready to serve, the milk man who delivers it at home , the Kirana stores person who drops the provisions at my door step, the mechanic who took my bike for servicing and brought it back home. I am grateful for all these people who males our life easy, saving us so much time.

I am also glad that whenever time permits – I visit the Young Women Christian Association Secunderabad. I am involved in the projects committee – facilitate all the programmes along with my friend Aparna who coordinates and plans all the details for implementation in both our communities.

There was a friendship day celebration at YWCA and it was potluck of snacks and a lot of new members were added, there were some interesting exercises on friendship, a game of tombola and ended with fellowship high tea.. there was plenty of snacks. The members brought a variety of it and each of us added our own snacks, we clicked a lot of pictures and chilled out for some time and came back home with gratitude.

I am happy to stay connected with my school friends, college mates, my colleagues the past and the present ones and feel favored and blessed as the Lord has been kind and generous to me and my family.

I look forward to August 2026 and pray that it will be a great month, and pray that every one reading this post be healthy and happy too.

Be Happy & Blessed !

June 2026 Gratitude

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Genevive Angela) — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 11:34:00 +0000

This month was just 30 days and it ended fast, but not the temperature in the city, the weather continued to be hot and sultry. I continued to work, reach the centre, met the clients and took a lot of sessions, related to relationships, grief, overthinking, negative thinking, obsessions etc. The best thing was that there was so much of gratitude from my clients.

I would like to share in this post:

There was one student a few years ago who was referred from the college for fears, anxiety and she was losing in touch with reality, this was a serious concerns for the parents who had come with their daughter – I had counseled her and referred to the doctor as her symptoms were pointing towards serious issues – she was given medical help as well as support counseling and now she is out of danger, she had made some life style changes and doing well.

This was long time ago; I have forgotten about this student. One fine day suddenly the family comes to meet me to express gratitude and update me about their child, listening to the mother was overwhelming as she was shedding tears of gratitude. I felt so touched by her presence and her gesture, for there was a small packet of fruits, extending towards me as an act of thanks giving.

Then there was another person who was coming to me for few sessions and it was grief counseling, the person was not able to come out of grief, loss of a loved one in the family, and it was painful experience for me too to listen to how one struggles with grief, and there is so much of guilt, regret, self blame… its not easy..I am glad to be of help and this person was so happy that in the next visit – I got a small dabba of sabudhana kitchidi which was the person’s favorite dish. this was not expected, still I do appreciate the thought process and the way people express thanks, make me feel grateful for these moments.

I am grateful for my generous neighbor who keeps sending our family whatever she makes, she lives alone, both daughters are married and settled and live a little away from her. She sent some hot medhu vada’s to our family for breakfast. Small joys and these were eaten with gratitude.

This month one of our school friends had called for evening gathering for a cup of Tea & Tombola for fun. She was leaving out of town for a month and wanted to see all of us before she left. We were happy to gather and had Tea, played Tombola and I was happy to win the last line😊which was followed by snacks and some juice, we met her family members who arranged everything for us and I came back home as it was also cloudy and drizzling. I am grateful for this small break for a couple of hours from my regular work.

At work front there were follow ups of the trainings which has taken place related to Substance Addiction – some NGOs who were part of this programme had come back to plan for a closure of this programme as a valedictory function. This kept me busy and I am grateful that I get to go to work, which I love and that which gives me happiness and fulfilment.

There was another college mate who was sick and hospitalized with a major surgery to be done, and all of us friends were praying for her and it was a big miracle, the robotic surgery was successful and she healed fast. She shared her experience with us and told us that it’s a second life for her, as it was slightly complicated, but she found doctors who were not just professional but were optimistic and positive, with the right connects everything worked in her favor including the cost which was covered by medical insurance. I feel overwhelmed by these experiences and I am grateful to God.

This month there were also a couple of deaths in the YWCA of Secunderabad. One member who was sick for some time, by name Joan Valetine died. She used to be active member until she fell sick and could not walk. I am inspired by her daughter who looked after both her mother and her father, despite challenging times she did her best for her mom.

I was disturbed as another active members from the YWCA of Secunderabad had a sudden death. I did not expect this and it was shocking as she was not only active, but a cheerful, friendly, positive and committed person, it’s a big loss for the YWCAof Secunderabad. I went to see her and I found that she was smiling peacefully, it was a very peaceful death, just little discomforts and till the last moment she was surrounded by loved ones. Death is a reminder that we need to be prepared when our time comes. I am grateful for these reminders as they keep us grounded.

This month I also celebrated birthday of our college mates – she was unwell and had to be hospitalized and she was worried and tensed as it was a surgery to be done, and we all were praying for her safety. Luckily, she came out without any complications, and we were overwhelmed by Gods mercy, we celebrated her once she came out of the hospital, it was a robotic surgery, so healing was fast and she could get back to work. I am grateful to have my college mates who are brave and inspiring too.

This month I got a parcel- a box with delicious sweets from one of my friends – it was good news, a birth of a girl child after a decade of marriage, which brought joy to the whole family, and my friend became a grand mother once again and she was happy to share her joy. I am grateful that there are friends who care enough to share whatever they have and it’s a blessing to be surrounded by them.

One of my college friend too suddenly got sick and within no time was put in the ICU for breathlessness. I felt strange that so many things just happen randomly – life is full of surprises, I thought she will come within few days, but to my surprise she was there for more than a week, which was a concern – so I took another friend with me to see her, and thanks be to God she was in the process of recovery but feeling weak. Now she was discharged from the hospital recently and healing well.

This month was a birthday celebration too of my friend Saroj, an opportunity for all the friends to come together and spent time, we went out for lunch and each of us complimented her for all that she is to each one of us, we cut the cake and a beautiful hand made card was done by Dorothy and another friend brought home made mango pickle for all of us.. we went out to another place for tea and it was a refreshing experience to chill out with friends.

We had a breakfast meet with another group of friends who work in the area of mental health, and also celebrated a birthday we missed in the month of March. This was in another part of the city, and after meeting we went back to our work places to continue to work. We shared some small little things we picked up for one another while we went out for short trips, and we were happy that we stay connected with one another, reaching out personally and also professionally.

I am grateful to have interacted with the Government High school children, as I took one session for them on Substance Abuse and its impact on students. There were lots of interactions and I enjoyed as I heard their responses. I am glad for the committed teachers who focus on these issues while also completing their syllabus.

Life is all ups and downs, and this month had me laugh, cry, reflect, pause and empowered me to be grateful despite of everything life offers us each and every day of life. I never cease to be grateful, as the day ends and few more hours I shall hopefully welcome the 7^th month of this year – I look forward with optimism, faith, courage and conviction that everything does work for good for those who trust in the Lord.

I am glad to be writing this post today, as this duty of thanks is extremely important for me to keep me going, and continue to remain grateful for everything, as gratitude lifts my heart, fills me with energy and motivates me to trust myself and hope for the best, as the Best is yet to come.

Thank you for reading my post and there are a lot more things I want to be grateful for; I just picked up randomly everything that’s on my mind at this moment so I could post it without any delay. I hope the month of June brought you immense blessings, as it did for me.

May you be happy and blessed!

May 2026 Gratitude

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Genevive Angela) — Sun, 31 May 2026 08:31:44 +0000

This month was hot as predicted by the weather reports, and it got cooler with in between showers in the evenings, and now it’s much better. 31 Days have gone rolling into eternity, never to come back again and despite the weather, there have been a lot of good things happening for which I want to be grateful for: so here goes my gratitude list for this month:

I am glad to go out with my daughter for a stand up comedy show which was in Shilparamam, Hyderabad. My daughter is a great fan of Kenny Sebastian and has been watching and follows his channel. He was in Hyderabad and she booked the tickets almost 6 months in advance and checked with me whether I would be interested to accompany her. I was happy to agree and there I was attending his show, wherein he not only did comedy but also used the guitar and sang some songs. This is was the first time I saw a live show with my daughter and laughed out loudly, I am grateful for these memorable moments.

My classmate Maureen and Harsha celebrated their wedding anniversary this month and it has been 4 decades they have been together as a couple. My other schoolmates also came and it was great to be with all of them – it’s inspiring to celebrate these kinds of occasions which are rare. I am grateful to join in thanksgiving celebrations that remind of God’s faithfulness and the commitment of one another for four decades of unwavering companionship and cherished memories.

I grateful for the lift we got from another friend Philomena and her husband, who saw that the party was delayed and we had a problem in booking a cab. It was almost midnight –we reached safely home, and thanks to the generosity of Philo my friend who ensured that we are dropped home.

I am glad for a short break– to Mysore and Coorg, with my daughter and my friends, we were seven of us and together, we went around Mysore city, saw the palace, St Philomena’s Church, Chamundeshwari hills and Brindavan gardens. It was a busy day and we stayed one night in Mysore and the place was beautiful, and there was buffet breakfast and good spread of the south/north Indian and western too. Grateful for the variety and abundance of food on my table on all the days that I toured.

We rested well and next day we started to Coorg which took us around 3 hours – and on the way we stopped by the Golden temple, Buddhist Monastery, Tibetan market and proceeded to the coffee plantations site and reached late evening to a beautiful hotel right on the top of a hill. The place was stunning surrounded by forests and the sun rise from this place was awesome and the food was also very good.

The next day we went to a fort which had a museum, and from there to an old historic temple followed by a beautiful garden called the Raja Seat. There was view point and it was well maintained garden, and there were lot of people as it was holiday time.

We spent some time in this place and then headed for lunch, –in place which was specialized only for sea food. We tried crab curry, Fish fry with a different variety, prawns and their traditional fish curry with rice. It was a heavy lunch for me and I preferred to skip the dinner to keep myself from over eating.

Post lunch we headed towards Abbey waterfalls – it was 100 steps down and 100 steps up and I was wondering whether I would be able to make it – then I saw an 82 year old gentle man returning back, that inspired me so I started walking down those steps and reached the water falls – took a lot of pictures of the waterfalls and some group pictures, and climbed back 100 steps, and along with my friend, we were happy that we could reach the waer falls. I felt like a winner, achieved something great, thanks to my legsJ with fitting shoes it was not difficult, and also, I felt when you walk together with friends it’s easier to walk long distances. I am grateful for every experience, and with friends its always fun to keep walking, exploring places, food and also relaxing.

The next morning I got up early to see the sun rise – my friend and Dorothy also joined and what I saw was so beautiful, that even now if I close my eyes I can see the magnificent sun rising above the hills, and after a very long time in my life I watched something so magical and it filled my heart with joy. I clicked the pictures and also captured it in my eyes and its unforgettable and is stored in my memory!

I had a great time, Dorothy loved this hilly place, and I am grateful that I could take this short break with my daughter and friends. I had to get back to my work the very next day, and luckily our train was on time and it was a comfortable journey and we reached home by 6.15a.m.

I am grateful for Anuja my sister-in-law, who was there helping me in my absence to ensure that meals are cooked, and house is well kept. I am blessed to have her as she helps me at home- That gives me time to relax, pray and leave for work. Being Saturday and the weather being extremely hot, there were no students at our counseling centre. I worked for the whole day and came back home to sort out my suitcase and empty it and washed all the clothes.

I had a good night rest – slept well and next day being Sunday – I attended the church for the early mass and it was a day to relax – I am grateful for this time and for everything that works out perfectly for me, feel favored and blessed.

This month I was busy with trainings follow up, hence was not sitting at my counseling centre but was going constantly to another place to assist my boss. I enjoy trainings and follow ups where one gets to interact with participants, take their feedback and suggestions. I am grateful I get to learn so much, not just the knowledge, but listen to the experiences of participants.

I am grateful for a friend who was thoughtful in sending me some mangoes from their farm, it was delicious and different variety – then there were different variety of mangoes, sent by another friend of Dorothy from their trees. I appreciate and thank them for being so kind and generous.

I am grateful to have attended a memorial service of Seema Victor a prayer partner, active member of the YWCA of Secunderabad, a friend who was full of faith, trusted God in her worst times, well versed with the bible and the way she was coping with her illness was an inspiration to me. Unfortunately, her father passed away before her and within few days she also died.

The memorial mass was at St Anthony’s Church, Mud fort, my previous parish. I am visiting this place after a very long time in my life. The moment I stepped inside the church. I recalled so many moments in this church that was so dear to me. I used to regularly attend this church, sing in the choir and volunteer for different activities with youth, women and children too. My heart was overwhelmed with joy and felt immense gratitude for my past, the journey taken in faith and to where I am… brought a lot of strength from within which made me sing and pray actively join the celebration.

I am grateful for the lift I got to reach the venue and met a lot of friends there – this was a fellowship meal; and this place too was familiar to me as I had spent my childhood here. The Secunderabad club is a place where my father worked for many years and retired. We lived inside the staff quarters and this place triggered so many happy memories of my life. I shared all the stories with my daughter Dorothy, clicked some pictures here and came back home with gratitude.

I am grateful that 31 days have passed – the Lord has been gracious, faithful and has been generous that it not just me who is alive but all those surrounding me, be it at home or workplace and friends – all of us have journeyed this far, to enter into the fresh new month.

I am grateful for every breath of my life, the air in my lungs, my heart still beating all through these years, and my body that has kept me healthy, my legs that have carried me to places that I have always hoped for; am grateful to God for watching over me, for making a way, where there seems to be no way –for leading me in the right direction, while I doubted my own capacity.

I trust God to lead me through all seasons for I know His plans are for Peace and Prosperity, and He works everything for my greatest good. I am reminded of the scripture passage that says those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

I move ahead with faith continuing my journey of gratitude – welcoming the new month that is about to unfold shortly. Thanks for reading my post, my only prayer and hope is that this post fills you gratitude, and motivates you to count your blessings.

Be Blessed & Be Happy !

April 2026 Gratitude

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Genevive Angela) — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 10:39:44 +0000

Courtesy - Soudhamani

April brought an end to the season of lent and celebration of Easter, which brightened up with prayers, wishes and blessings of the Easter Season, where we had our Priest from the parish visiting our homes for Easter blessings. There are so many blessings in this month and it’s a joy to keep counting, so here goes my gratitude list:

This month the Department of Education released a notification that we will be getting our certificate for the YOGA. Our group was the second batch and we were so happy that we were getting the certificate. This adds to my resume as well as my profession as a counselor. I always integrate skills for bringing in quality to my sessions.

I am thankful for the opportunity, for the teachers /my Guru’s who have taught me and helped me to succeed in learning all the Asana s and the Pranayama’s which are useful for Counseling.

I am grateful to some of my friends who celebrated EID and one of them sent gifts for all of us in the group. I am happy to receive and appreciate her thoughtfulness.

World Health Day was celebrated in the University College of Science and we had a Free Mega Camp for all the students and the staff, wherein Lion’s Club, STAR Hospitals, Dr Aggarwal’s and two more other hospitals were collaborating.

This was an opportunity to get our general medical health checkup. There were blood tests, BP, Sugar RBP, ECG, Eye checkup etc. was organized and I also checked my own health and glad that all is well and I am grateful that my work space offers these surprises.

I am grateful that we implemented a new project related to addiction, wherein we got the sanctioned amount and we were able to even complete the short-term project. A lot of time went in attending these workshops, Counseling some of the clients, doing the reports and being available for the implementation at Sahayam.

I am also grateful for another certification in Nutrition – I missed the date for the convocation and then went personally to the Regional Centre and picked up my Certificate for Diploma in Nutrition and Health Education (DNHE). It feels good to constantly keep learning and acquiring knowledge that adds to my existing skills.

I am glad we celebrated a couple of birthdays of my friends from two different groups – one was from my school buddies and another from the college mates. It was time for some gathering, meeting, catching up, good food and enjoying the company of one another. These groups keep me happy and motivated. We are always eager to check on one another update about our lives to stay connected.

I am happy to visit a patient – a friend’s husband who is not being well for a long time, and this friend of mine has been taking care of him for the last two years. Since she lives close by I could regularly be in touch with her. I am so impressed by her commitment to him – just spending a little time was so inspiring.

“The Root of Joy is Gratefulness” David Steindl Rast

Courtesy Soudhamani

I loved what she created staying home looking after him, monitoring his schedule and adjusting herself to the schedule, the best part of her creation was she used the best out of the waste- I clicked some pictures, affirmed her and had a cup of coffee and came back home with gratitude.

I am grateful for my neighbor who regularly shared the mulberry fruits with me – they have a mulberry tree and every time she plucked these fruits, she shares with us some of these fruits which are now become rare. I enjoyed having them as a snack and felt thankful for her thoughtfulness.

April was extremely hot and our ACs were stopped working and being on the first floor was like sitting in the oven. Thanks be to God that I got an old contact person referred by my head and it was repaired within a week. I am grateful for the environment and for the people who care.

YWCA day is celebrated globally, on the 24^th April to honor women’s leadership rights. This year’s theme was “FORWARD TOGETHER” I attended this celebration at the YWCA of Secunderabad meeting all the members, and some guests, while the programme committee plans and implements it, reminding us of the community connection and collective action empowering women across countries.

I am glad to meet Sr Joshina -my sister’s friend after a long time as she was getting transferred to another community. I remember her with gratitude for all the encouragement, support and motivation by which I pursued my education, and still continue to update and keep learning even no.

We have a professional group of friends working in the area of Mental Health. One of them celebrated her birthday, she invited us for a breakfast so that we could get back to our workplaces on time. I had a great time, as the breakfast had spread of variety, from south Indian to north Indian and western buffet too. We ate to our hearts content, hugged each other, cut the cake for her and came back to our work places happy with return gifts. We went to celebrate the birthday lady, and ended up celebrating ourselves too.

I am blessed with my daughter who works hard, thoughtful and sensitive. Today being David’s birthday, she offered prayers and went for mass, bought a cake and got it cut for him in the church and also distributed cakes to everyone who attended mass.

I am always proud of her and the way she’s becoming independent, making her own decisions and at the same time acknowledging both of us for whatever we do for her, brings in so much joy to our lives. I thank the Lord every day for her in our lives.

Today being the last day of this month and there is still so much to be grateful for ; those who offer their services to us in various ways, despite the weather we have all the supplies at home, a safe place to stay, to work, and to pray and meet. I continue my journey with gratitude, hoping that you had a great month.

Thanks for reading my post.

Be Happy & Be Blessed !

March 2026 Gratitude

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Genevive Angela) — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 07:56:00 +0000

This month began with a sad news, that one of YWCA member, my prayer partner, and a good old friend Seema Victor passed away due to prolonged sickness – she suffered from lung cancer and later on developed other complications in her health. She was committed and disciplined, taught zoology until retirement and served as a President of YWCA Secunderabad for a couple of terms and was an active board member. This was a disturbing news to me – as death always reminds us of impermanence of our lives, thinking of death has always kept me grounded and true to myself.

Grief and Gratitude can coexist; one can be sad and happy.

I visited her family, and saw how peacefully she was laid down – memories of her association with me were flooding my mind. I prayed for sometime and left thinking of her in my mind, looked at the albums where we had been together and how strong she was in her faith, and one day she told me pray for my healing and she added don’t forget death can be a healing too… those words, and her smiling face turned my grief into gratitude. I thanked the Lord for Life and Death comes from above – she did her best in staying true to her calling. Grateful for these moments that shifts my perspectives and challenge me to become better version of myself.

This month we had the Training of Trainers programme in collaboration with Governor’s office, Telangana state. It was on 1-3 March2026 –first batch. TOT “Rebuilding Lives Beyond Addiction” This programme was two parts, one is the training of trainers and the next one is implementing this learning in our communities through the NGOs. The second batch was in the next following week. I was glad to be part of this programme as it provides me opportunity for learning.

This training kept me busy not just for three days, but for a whole week, as there was a second batch of participants from different NGOs. I am grateful for this learning, interacting with participants and involving myself in various ways in understanding lives beyond addiction. This was a successful training and it ended with the valedictory function with our Governors’ visit to our sessions and motivating us and sharing his experience of working in the north east and how important it is to work on substance abuse, which is now becoming a serious concern among our young people.

I am glad this month we had a women’s day celebration at the Young Women Christian Association of Secunderabad – and I was invited to speak to our members on the theme for this year – GIVE to GAIN. I took this opportunity with gratitude and prepared a short motivational talk, which also gave me insights into looking into my life as to what I have given in my life and what did I gain. The session was appreciated and I was happy for all the compliments I received in person and also on what s app stating that this session was very inspiring. Grateful to be appreciated and validated for the work I do.

A strong woman stands for herself; A stronger women stands for others

I had scheduled to talk to the Self-Help Group women, but then it started clashing with our valedictory function at my work place, so on priority I chose my workplace. But requested my friend Dr Beulah who is a Rehabilitation Psychologist, to do this session. I am grateful as she agreed to step into my place and take the session for these women. It’s a blessing to have people who are willing to help us in this kind of a situation. I felt relieved and grateful for the timely help.

I am also grateful for one my college friend’s birthday which was actually on the 28^th February, and she was for the first time in our city during her birthday week. All of us friends celebrated her and had a great time, meeting, chatting, relishing delicious buffet and we all shared our feelings about what we think about her – each of us as to how we connected and what we liked about her… it was surely a happy moment as she was getting emotional and shared her feelings of gratitude with all of us. we came home inspired, and feeling uplifted in our spirits.

On my way home I saw some plants in the heart of the city – made me feel happy just looking at the way they were adding beauty, with wide roads, heavy traffic, and metro s full crowds moving around, these plants and few more trees nearby were stood elegant and green, which was pleasant for the eye and made me smile.

I was glad to visit the Parsi sale that was happening in the city – with music, food and sales. The YWCA of Secunderabad had a stall. Members were encouraged to visit the stall., we visited the stall, took some pictures, met a lot of parsi ladies, and also danced a little for fun and came back home with gratitude for a happy day.

This month few of my school friends felt that its been a long time since we have met – there was so much happening in our lives, one of my friends two daughters delivered in a gap of a week, both of them were girl babies – which brought joy to the families but also stress for my friend as she had to handle two babies one in the city and another one in Bangalore – she was too tied up and wanted to come out of the house, so three of us decided to meet her and we met for an evening cup of tea and some light snacks. We wanted to spend an hour or so but ended up staying for a longer duration. This was a sudden plan and it was a surprise but we were grateful that we could take some time out for ourselves😊

Empower the women and empower the world

This month we had two holidays and it was just what we needed – me and Dorothy as both of us working full time in institutions, it was a relaxing – the one was the Telugu new year Ugadi and another one was Ramzan. Both the days we chilled at home and relaxed as we were not in a hurry to attend to our respective works. I am grateful we could go out one of these days for dinner as it’s been a long time we went out together.

We had a International Seminar for women’s day where women across were invited for three full days at the campus, paper presentation s were done, and women of excellence awards were given to 30 women who excelled in their fields – it was a great programme we had women scientists, nutritionist, politicians, representatives - human rights commission, entrepreneurs, and a proud moment for us at Sahayam as my Director In charge Prof. C Beena was also invited and awarded as one of the person who excelled in bringing about social change especially in the prisons as well as a Professor in Psychology for 30 plus years in the campus and focusing on Cognitive Psychology. I was happy to be there by her side and take the award.

This month was also a birthday month- one of our friends – she wanted us to meet over for dinner as it was a week day and some of us working would have a problem for lunch. So, we were glad to meet for dinner. I was happy as the month ends, we could gather again with friends to celebrated life and love, there is a kind of bonding with friends which gives us immense pleasure and feeling that we are not meant to be walking alone in our lives, but walking together makes us feel the journey less stressful and more meaningful.

I am glad that it was Lenten season and feel proud that both Dorothy and David were fasting and avoiding non vegetarian food. I respect their choice and ensured that I did not get any meat for this whole month.

I am grateful for this whole month – I worked without taking leave, managed two batches of training, documented the trainings and also had almost every alternate days students visiting me and a couple of tele counseling – where one person was grieving due to the loss of the mother, and another was a person going for chemotherapy.

I am grateful for my neighbor who sent me the mulberry fruits from her tree – which was delicious and I do appreciate her thoughtfulness for sending it across the wall😊Its been ages since I have seen this tree and also the fruits, this truly was a pleasant surprise for me.

This Ramzan we had neighbors sending us Semiya with dry fruits, a sweet dish, as they celebrated their festival, they shared what they had and I am grateful for people’s thoughtfulness.

On Ugadi – I had my neighbor sent me some very good wheat chapati’s made with ghee and jaggery. It was hot and tasty, glad that we are blessed with good neighbors around who are kind and we live in harmony and mutual respect.

I have been riding safely to work, David has been dropping Dorothy everyday to college, we had the regular supply of milk, provisions and I am grateful to Anuja (my youngest sister-in-law) who is a blessing to me as she takes care of the kitchen. The tailor lady who stiches and delivers the blouses at my home, the aunty upstairs who accompanies me to church every Sunday, books the auto so we can go together, also sends us special snacks whenever she makes it .. I count all of these as my blessings in life, as they empower me to focus on my work and ensures that I am healthy and happy too.

The little things in my life are the biggest

I am grateful for people who love and appreciate me, validate my contributions both at home and workplace – friends with whom I can just step out for a cup of coffee and vent out my own problems, my nun sister’s friend who keep praying for me and our family every day.

I am grateful for my bike – that takes me everywhere, this month I gave it for servicing and also changed the batteries and it’s a blessing for me, as I am able to do so much independently save a lot of my time.

This month I felt like pampering my feet – as it has carried me for life and still supports me, visited my favorite beauty parlor to get a pedicure and facial done. I love the girls who work there, they not only work hard, but their hands are magical and it feels good, grateful for them and the service they offer.

I am filled with awe and gratitude for everything in my life – I thank God almighty for His Love, Grace, Mercy and Compassion, for without Divine help I can do nothing.

Hope you had a great month.

Be Blessed & Be Happy!

Gratitude Post for February, 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Genevive Angela) — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 15:47:00 +0000

One of the most delightful jobs of my life is making gratitude post- as this month has been the shortest one, ended so quickly into the 3^rd month of 2026.

So here goes my gratitude list:

This month began with a celebration with my colleagues, who are also friends for years. Glad to meet them for a buffet breakfast, it was a big surprise - there was cake, flowers, chocolates, gifts and lots of hugs, kisses and prayerful wishes. It’s always a pleasure to have friends who are thoughtful and kind and make sure they never miss birthdays, even if we are not meeting on that special day, but we make sure we meet some other day to celebrate- thanks to Aparna who organized and made sure that I had a lovely time, these are small joys of my life that makes my ordinary days turn into extraordinary ones.

Friends are therapy - it’s a blessing to have them in my life.

I am grateful for my sister in law who had gone out for a break and came back with cute little earrings, clip, homemade chocolates and a beautiful shawl for me, and for Dorothy a warm an soft monkey cap. I appreciate her thoughtfulness whenever she goes out; there is always something that she gets for me and my daughter.

This month I and Dorothy went for the industrial exhibition- Hyderabad. We love to go out to this place once a year and move around looking at different stalls, the games for kids, watch the toy train moving around and this year we tasted the special Nilofur Chai with Muska Bun and the Pista House’s haleem was yummy. There was a lot of crowd on our way to the entrance– but once we stepped inside it was comfortable as there was some breathing space to freely move around surrounded by colorful stalls, and eateries.

My Daughter is my biggest Motivation – I feel Blessed.

I am sad to state that one of our relative in our extended family, suddenly passed away – he appeared fit and active and one fine day complained of pain in the chest, treatment was done, but he did not survive, death s always painful – despite the fact that our lives are temporary, I felt this was a reminder to focus on what truly matters and enhance the quality of our lives. I am thankful to God for these reminders and also to give us hope that death is not the end of life, but a beginning of a new one… all our ancestors have moved on too and they have given us the faith to believe in God and to find the purpose of our lives, to make our lives meaningful.

This month 14^th February was a reminder to me – that I completed 15 years of my service at Sahayam Psychological Counseling and Wellness Centre- so glad that I survived and sustained myself handling different kinds of issues in the campus.

I am full of gratitude for this place for the space that offers for growth, for the freedom to learn, explore and even involve myself in research work. I am grateful to God as well as my Director Prof. C Beena for the trust she has placed on me, in understanding my strengths and make optimum use of my potential. I am grateful to God for placing the right people in the right place to empower me…

“Learn to Trust the Journey, even when you Don’t understand” Lolly Daski

A lot has happened in the last one and half decades – my daughter Dorothy too has completed her education and working now, our house loan is cleared- I completed two Post Graduate programmes, a couple of Counseling training's, one PhD, two Diploma’s in Yoga and Nutrition and still continuing to learn – countless sessions with clients who have taught me, enabled me and empowered me towards growth and maturity. I am grateful for every person in the campus and outside who accompanied me in my journey for their encouragement and support.

I am also happy to be volunteering at the YWCA of Secunderabad, and we meet once a month to review, plan and discuss our work with two communities, the Self help groups, and the service we do in addressing the adolescents with life skill education.. I am grateful to God for I see these as opportunities to serve, keeps me grounded in understanding the field realities of life, which is constantly changing – the challenges are more and the issues are new constantly demanding me to be relevant.

I had some dental issues this month and my tooth was painful due to some infection from within. I am grateful to the Dentist who helped me with painkillers, antibiotics and enabled me to heal myself. I had to visit him for 2 to 3 sittings and he was very gentle and helped me to recover faster.

This month I had an invite from CHAI where I worked for more than a decade (Catholic Health Association of India) celebrating the life of Dr Sr Mary Glowrey- a brilliant Australian doctor who left behind the comforts of her homeland and promising medical career to dedicate her life for the poor and marginalized of our country, becoming a radiant example of faith in action. A biography of her was released and a statue was also unveiled by Bishop of Archdiocese of Hyderabad along with the board members of CHAI.

It was a meaningful event and was very inspiring to hear the Director Fr Mathew, who shared the journey of Sr Dr Mary Glowrey with beautiful photographs and inspiring quotes. It was a moment of gratitude for all of us the ex employees and the current ones as we felt privileged to have shared a small part of our journey in her vision.

This month I am glad to have taken one day break for a retreat at Satyodayam- along with the other lay people who had also come for a Lenten reflection – a time that reminds us to Pray, Fast ad give Alms – which is part of the tradition in the Catholic Church. I have always been particular to follow the traditions, at the same time as I continue my journey of faith, I am learning to move beyond and reinterpret the true meaning of lent.

While I was finishing this post in the morning – I got a message stating that Seema Victor a good friend and member of the YWCA Secunderabad has passed away. She was suffering for a long time battling lung cancer- she was an inspiration in the way she handled her pain. This news disturbed me – so I went ahead to visit her family, shut down my computer hoping that I will complete in the evening.

As I complete this post – I am grateful for every experience in my life – and my faith says that Death can never be the end of life, but a New Beginning and I welcome this new month with a heart full of gratitude trusting God to lead me to life filled with meaning, purpose and fulfillment.

Thanks for reading my post, am glad to share and hope and pray all go well with you and your family!

May you be Happy & Blessed !

Gratitude Post for January, 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Genevive Angela) — Sun, 01 Feb 2026 18:03:00 +0000

Good people in my life, Grateful feelings in my heart….

The New Year began with midnight mass – I was glad to have been in the church for the midnight service joining the community in thanksgiving for the year that was slipping by, and my heart was overwhelmed with gratitude; for so many thoughts were filling up my mind and I took a brief flight of all the 12 months that rolled away into eternity; my mind was racing with random moments and memories that I had collected in the year that has gone by, the persons who were there are no more in this year and here I am blessed to have entered this year along with my family and my community.

As we complete the first month of the year 2026 – I have a list of experiences to be grateful for; so here goes my list:

The New Year was a surprise as one of our friend wanted to be with us for the night service – and she came home, we were happy to have a guest at home, connecting after a long time, it was a quiet and the restful day to begin the year.

I am grateful that I worked this whole month – work kept me busy, as there was so much happening in the campus. I am glad for the students who visited the centre and all the services I could reach out to them in the best possible way.

I am grateful for the being part of the Women Empowerment Cell in the campus – and we had a new Principal joining the Science College. The first meeting we had to plan for the National Women’s Teacher’s Day on the occasion of 195^th birth anniversary of Smt. Savithribai Phule. I was busy attending the planning meetings and also took up some responsibilities – like finding the Resource person for this event.

I am grateful to Prof C Beena who is the Director in charge for our centre and she was kind enough to accept the invitation to speak on the life of Smt. Savithrbai Phule and also touch upon work life balance. As a teacher who taught cognitive psychology for 35 years in the university, she inspired and motivated all of us – I feel blessed for all these opportunities in my life as it’s learning from the senior professors.

This month our centre was the knowledge partner for another organization that wanted to collaborate with online training on Cognitive Behaviour Change – this was a 5 day workshop in the evening for around 2.5 hours. So I got busy as part developing content on cognitive load, emotional labor, learned helplessness in addictions and interpersonal relationships. This programme took a lot of time and I am grateful and glad to be part of it – prior to organizing this we were also provided training on understanding on all these topics and coordinating and working together was meaningful. I was managing both the centre as well as collaborating with the other organization.

This was a certificate course and I am grateful to be a participant as well as the Resource person. I am grateful to God for providing me with these opportunities of continuing education for myself.

I am grateful for the break I got for Sankranthi wherein the campus closed for two full days and in between there was a Saturday and Sunday – which gave me some time to rest and relax. The weather was extremely cold and I developed cough and severe cold, found difficult to breathe at nights – I kept myself warm, wore woolen sweater, and socks all day and night. By Gods grace I managed with Paracetamol, Dolo650 and citrizine. I also tried steaming, salt water gargle and took a lot of warm water and moved around wearing mask and stayed indoors. The holidays were a blessing and I took one extra day leave for rest.

Dorothy was busy with her regular work at college and she was extremely helpful to me, and took care of me – she took up the responsibility of buying the weekly vegetables, and she was always ready to help – despite the fact that she too was having cold and cough but managed it well, she was regular to college and kept herself busy with choir, academics and chilling out with her friends. I am grateful to have a daughter who is caring and sensitive; she is truly a blessing in my life.

I am grateful that this month we celebrated one of our friends birthday – which was on 31^st December. She was not available on that day, so we met in this month. I am glad that Arushi baked a cake for her and appreciate her thoughtfulness to make it healthy and delicious too with very less sugar in it so that all of us can enjoy. We had a great time together, enjoyed the dinner and also there was young girl who sang some lovely Hindi songs, Dorothy also joined and sang one song – it was a pleasant experience and I had a great time.

I am grateful that Dorothy tried to experiment with momos- she bought the chicken mince meat and tried the fried momos for the first time and served me and David. I was happy for her initiative for trying out something that she never did it before, learnt it watching the utube, and David was happy too.

I am grateful that I got to meet my younger sister in this month, she has not been well too due to the weather, and was stuck indoors with cough and chest congestion. She wanted to meet but as I too wasn’t feeling well, could not give her the time. I am glad that she healed and I am feeling much better too; so we decided to go out for lunch and spent some time with each other. It was refreshing to come out of the house not for work but just to hang out.

I am grateful that I got to watch some good movies on Net flick – I watched Veer Zara and liked it and wondered how I had missed this movie. I also watched HAQ a hindi movie, a must watch based on a real case of Shao Bano a socio political movie without falling into the category of propaganda, YamiGautam the heroine and Imraan hasmi the hero were brilliant in their roles, it was so intense and engaging – applaud the director and writer for their efforts in making it so impactful.

I watched a Telugu movie with my friend Indira in a theatre. It was a humor and light entertainment- Anaganaga Oka Raja- Navin Polisetty as the hero – I enjoyed watching as its been a long time since I stepped into a theatre, which is nearby to my residence.

I am grateful for an invitation from a Degree college to address The National Two Day Seminar on Strategies for Women Empowerment. I was asked to talk about women and domestic violence, to the faculty and their students. I am happy when I get these kind of opportunities as it makes me think and prepare and plan for the session. I was glad to address this and also take up questions with regards to this topic. It feels good to be acknowledged and appreciated and these moments motivate and inspire me to do better.

I am grateful for everything the roof on my head, the food on my table, people who love, those who care and assist me to make my life a little more comfortable, happier and less stressful. I am grateful for all the gifts that I keep receiving – the books that inspire and motivates me to keep reading, the desire to keep moving my body, filling my own cup with prayers, exercise, meditation, self affirmation and practicing mindfulness. I am grateful for all the people who affirm and appreciate me, pray for me and always encourage me.

I am content and happy for the month that has gone by ; and for the month that’s beginning today!

Thanks for reading my post – Hope you had a great month too… would love to hear from you J

Wishing all of you once again a Happy and bright New year 2026

Gratitude Post for 2025

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Genevive Angela) — Thu, 01 Jan 2026 12:03:00 +0000

This is December post, as we are ending the year this month I felt its fitting to combined with the whole years blessings.

It is only with Gratitude Life Becomes Rich

I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the blessings that came my way every day of 2025. The year began with a travel to Ooty for a South East Region Meet of the YWCA and it was a pleasant journey with the members; little did I know that it would be the last trip of our General Secretary Sharon Solomon. The journey of her life lasted only till September, 2025 which came as a shock to the organization and all of us associated with her. The year was filled with new experiences staying in touch with my school friends, college mates and colleagues who have been part of my career for more than 4 decades.

I am grateful - for Dorothy as she found the job as a Lecturer to teach psychology for Bhavan’s Vivekananda Degree College. The Lord has been kind for there were so many for the same job, but she was chosen. This is not only a privilege but makes me happy as her mother that she has become competent to prepare her lessons, handle the laboratory as well as adjust to the new academic environment, it’s a joy to see children find their own career path and keep evolving finding their purpose in life.

I am grateful for the places I visited in the city along with Dorothy –enjoyed the toy train ride at the annual Industrial Exhibition with my sister-in-law and her daughter, picked up a few of the fancy items for myself and felt like a child going around, window shopping, enjoying the ice cream, which brought memories of my mother who used to buy the egg bondas followed by kulfiJ take us to these places of fun and entertainment.

I am grateful for this year for few of the guest lectures on Mental health, Psychological counseling, Prevention of sexual harassment at work place, Stress and Well Being. Dealing with Study Stress, Suicide Prevention& Domestic Violence and some need based programmes that kept me busy in preparation and meeting a lot of new set of people every time for these sessions.

I am happy to have got certified in Master’s of Philosophy – which I desired to study, another important course, that offered certified in YOGA and a Diploma in Health Education and Nutrition which was a tough course. But I am grateful for the right people in my life; especially friends working in the area of Nutrition who helped me do the project research which is mandatory for the Diploma course.

I am blessed with surprises this year – my trip to Mahabaleshwar came in as a surprise, it was one of the beautiful places I visited along with my daughter and my friends. This place was always on my bucket list – as most of the time I have been to south, I wanted a different experience and so moved towards Maharashtra – it was lot of fun, staying in PanchaGini was relaxing, swimming in the pool, going for horse ride, boating was a great experience.

The surprises for this year was a sling bag, women’s day we were gifted with casserole, and there were so many return gifts from different people with a cute little thank you note, there was flask, a beautiful table décor and fancy bowl, there were perfumes, friendship bands, beautiful cards, plenty of snacks, chocolates with different taste and brands, cakes, savories.. this year I got to taste Dosa, a variety of it during meeting some of my old friends, and colleague for short breaks, over a hot cup of coffee – discussing work, projects and some times sharing about our lives in general, staying in touch motivated and energized me.

I loved the international trip with my daughter to our neighboring country – Sri Lanka which was an unforgettable experience; this place was so beautiful surrounded by the Indian Ocean and the natural resources were mesmerizing. The journey was simply awesome as we went around the place and I loved the way people are so kind, simple, peaceful and respectful. Their economy is down and one can see how difficult life is for a common man – and they were busy building the economy and tourism is one of the things they are promoting – enjoyed their cultural performances which was part of the tour, the herbal gardens and the cinnamon island and their beautiful hills and gardens is all worth visiting.

I feel blessed with so many of my students visiting the centre and those who have visited before making courtesy calls. I had some of them expressing gratitude by small gestures – there were plenty of the things I have received which make me overwhelmed. I had a parent of the student getting me some mangoes to say thanks to me – another parent brought some pappads and pickle just to say thanks for her son is doing much better as he was suffering from anxiety,

I am also grateful for movies I watched with Dorothy – some of them in the theatres, like Sitare Zameen Par which was beautiful, and still others on Net flicks, Amazon prime – enjoyed watching a tamil film Tourist Family, I entertained myself by watching some old 70’s movies of Jaya Bachan, Chupke Chupke, Zindagi Na mile Dobara, Dil Chahata Hai, Parineeta and also a funny web series called 90s A Middle Class Biopic and some English web series like ‘The summer I turned Pretty” The House of David, The Chosen, Ruth and Boaz and Nobody wants this….I also enjoyed watching some comedy shows of hindi, telugu and tamil.

Gratitude to all my loved ones and friends, for we could meet for the important days, celebrated 60th birthdays, 75 years Jubilee in service of God, christening – arrival of a child in the family, thanksgiving prayers, weddings, memorial services of some of my friends- house blessings, celebrating academic achievements such as completion of the PhD of some of my students, receiving gift hampers for important festivals.

The last month of December was also exciting – as Christmas is my favorite festival and being my birthday month – I am blessed to receive so much as I appreciate the thoughtfulness of my daughter, who will take the initiative and extra effort to ensure I enjoy my day.

She took me for a haircut and changed my hairstyle J, made a lovely card for me, I always love handmade cards, a friend took me out for a day outing and got me beautiful dresses for my birthday, while I took opportunity to pay forward what I received. Still my colleagues surprised me with a lot of chocolates, inspiring reflections from the bible, a beautiful year planner book, so many dresses that I don’t have to purchase for a whole a year and also picking up something’s that I needed for the kitchen – I call them my utility gifts J

My gratitude to my boss for her generosity in ensuring that I take breaks and don’t get burn out dealing with difficult issues in the campus, regularly checking on me, mentoring and guiding and even inviting me home and at other times visiting me at the centre despite her busy schedule.

Thanks to my girl friends specially Aparna J who is my twin sister / call her my soul mate who make my life easy by shopping for me on my birthday, getting it tailored and reaching me, so I can wear it whenever I want to. Thanks to Arushi who baked a delicious cake for me, this was perfect for the occasion, Nishita sang a song for me on my birthday and all my friends spoke some of the good qualities they found in me; I was glad to hear them and the best was Dorothy appreciating me about the kind of mother I am to her and what she likes about me which made my heart melt for the first time she has prepared to talk about me; and I felt proud of being her mother.

The end of the month had lots of activities – I was glad to take help from the urban clap and get some cleaning done, and felt good as they repaired our TV too, cleaned up the Gas stove, fans and also cleaned up the drain pipes too. I am grateful for all these services which makes my life easy.

I am grateful for the family support, for every service provider and the domestic help that I get so that I am able to go out and work peacefully, without having to worry about maintenance of the house and the kitchen.

I am thankful for every person who came into my life as joy, as lessons and as experiences that empower me in my journey of holistic development and growth.

I am grateful to my body, mind and spirit that support me and houses my soul, preventing me from sickness or ill health.

As I bid good bye to 2025 I am filled with joy and hope that 2026 will bring us to peace and prosperity, as we stepped into the year today – I wish all of you who are reading this post a very Happy Christmas and Healthy and Happy New Year 2026.

Be Blessed & Be Happy !

November Gratitude – 2025

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Genevive Angela) — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 09:06:00 +0000

“Finding Gratitude in little things, and your well of Gratitude will never run dry” Antonia Montoya

The month has ended and we have stepped into the last month of the year; and so much has happened. When our minds our stressed it looks for everything that is missing, that is wrong, that which is heavy, but when we practice gratitude our mind returns to what we have already supporting us, and keeping us alive, gratitude softens the heart, calms the nervous system, it lowers the fire of stress inside the body, it reminds us that even on difficult days life is giving us small blessings.

The practice of gratitude every morning in my life has empowered me as I found that as I keep thanking the Lord, anxieties loosen their grip, fears disappear and worry dissolves. Gratitude is not seasonal but it’s a life style and I am glad to practice it daily.

The month of November was challenging, began with all saints day – reminding me of my mom’s death anniversary and all the memories attached with her death was painful experience, followed by all souls day – a day observed by the catholic church in honor of the departed souls in the family – so visiting the graves, spending time in prayers and placing some flowers with gratitude and lighting up the graves with candles with hope that one day we will all meet. I came back home feeling low thinking of all the people in my life who are no more – as the last grave I visited was Emmanuel’s he was so much part of my life, now I am grateful for the experience he gave me adding value to my personality.

There are plenty of small joys captured in this month- wherein I attended a small gathering of our staff as one of our colleagues was visiting us from New Zealand and we were meeting him after 30 years, almost 3 decades and because of him all the other friends gathered for a meal and fellowship, and it was a great experience, we interacted, made fun of each other, and clicked plenty of photos, it was a pleasant experience;

This month there was a wedding to attend to and it was an interesting one, and most of them whom met were from social sector and it’s rare that I get into these kinds of circles, but am grateful that I had a happy time with my daughter and also meeting some of my old friends.

Then my brother John Bosco goes missing suddenly from the hospital – John had gone with my eldest brother to the hospital as the eldest brother needed a health checkup. John went out for a cup of tea and lost his way on the 9^th November in the morning hours and does not return for almost 10days.

Police complaint was given and search started in that area and CCTV footage shows him walking out of the hospital and reaching the main road and after that there is no sign of him. The whole family was tensed and worried and prayed for his safety. This is not just scary but disturbing to the mind – we started praying and sent messages for prayer in all the known groups, extended family and friends started praying for him, the police was kind and they were helpful as my younger sister was in touch with them, I connected with all my contacts and everyday we were praying and hoping that he will be found.

On the 11^th day he was found and it was a miracle – as I cannot imagine, now Hyderabad is very cold early hours in the morning and later after 6p.m it is getting colder and darker. I am eternally grateful to God for I can never imagine how a person can survive in this weather, with hunger, thirst, no place to rest and walking aimlessly and without sleep and no shelter, despite all of these challenges. I am grateful to the Lord eternally for bringing him back safe and sound. The whole family is happy for he has returned back home and we continue to praise and thank God for His love and mercy.

This month I am glad to meet all of my school mates – one of them had gone abroad to be with her daughter and grandchildren for few months, and she came back this month, we got to celebrate her birthday and it was a stress buster for me after all that I have been through after my brother missing – this was relaxation for me. I felt happy, peaceful and rested well.

I am grateful for every opportunity I get to grow – been busy editing a friend’s research paper and its always a learning for me as I dwell in the topic and read through, and able to look at the gaps and the flow, makes me feel competent. I am grateful as it’s a learning and my skills for editing research papers are getting sharpened.

I am grateful for all the tele counseling sessions – and felt I was getting better with every session, normally I do not prefer these kinds of sessions face to face, so I am able to pick up the nonverbal cues… but I agreed for these sessions as it was genuine and they were not able to reach our centre due to various reasons. I compliment myself for doing such a great job in the counseling sessions😊.

I am grateful to see Dorothy turning independent and managing herself quite well – this month she had weeks break as she chose to attend a Youth Conclave at Nilshi village, a three-hour journey from Pune, organized by the National YWCA India – being on the National Board as a youth she represented the National YWCA- New Delhi. She took break from her college, completing all her assignment and attended this camp. It was also a good break for her from her academic stress. She came back renewed with enthusiasm and lot of positive energy. She also picked up for me some junk jewelry as she knows I keep changing my earrings everyday and I loved what she picked up carefully, with different colors and some of it with matching chains to wear in the neck. I am grateful for her thoughtfulness and her generosity to get things for me, especially what I like

She was also busy collaborating with the Nutrition Department of the college – organized a field trip for her students to Sahayam Psychological Counseling and wellness centre, Osmania University for the value added course, which made me happy and proud.

November is also the month of Thanksgiving – the YWCA Secunderabad celebrated the thanksgiving by inviting members to share with the less fortunate people in life. This year a girl’s home was chosen within the city – and we collected the basic utility provisions to donate and at the same time we gathered together as a community and celebrated the Thanksgiving Day. It’s always a pleasure to stay in touch with the women who share the common bond and vision to be of service to the ones who are less fortunate.

The last day of the month was another gathering – a friend who has been unwell, wanted to meet all of us for an evening before she goes for a surgery. So, all of us her friends we met at a place and spent time encouraging her, and comforting her that she will be fine with the treatment and she must be courageous to fight and come out of it.

Hyderabad our beautiful city is getting cold day by day – both in the morning as well as in the evening hours, its time to use all the warm clothes -a enjoy eating pakora’s and sipping hot coffee. It’s a challenge to get out of the bed as its very cold in the morning – but when there is something to do every day, there is no choice, but get up and seize the day.

I am grateful for so many things in my life and I keep counting my blessings all the time, even sing and thank God for His unconditional love and mercy. For all the people who I met, and for every experience that I had in this month, I am thankful to God. I continue my journey walking in faith to what the Lord has in store for all of us in 2026. I pray that all of us are healthy, happy, peaceful and in harmony.

Thank you for reading my post!

Wishing you a meaningful Advent !

Be Healthy and Be Happy!

Thursday Tree Love-166

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Genevive Angela) — Thu, 13 Nov 2025 06:03:00 +0000

“If you would know strength and patience, welcome the company of trees”- Unknown

My Friend Cynthia has sent this picture, from Chantilly, Virginia (US). According to her this tree appears to be a species of maple (Acer), a diverse genus known for its spectacular fall colours Maples are found throughout the Northern Hemisphere and include many different species. The specific colour of the leaves can vary by species, ranging from yellow to deep red.

I am so happy and grateful to connect with her and share this picture in the Tree Love post. I felt so happy just looking at this tree, reminding me of how majestically these trees stand colouring the world. In a world full of noise around, there is value to just be there offering comfort, strength and hope to those who need us.

Thursday Tree love is a photo feature on Parul’s blog hosted on the second and fourth Thursday of every month. You are most welcome to join in, all you need to do is:

Post a picture of a tree on your blog Link back to here post-

http://happinessandfood.com/tag/treelove/

Thank you for reading this post; I would love to know your thoughts...

May you be Happy & Blessed

October 2025 Gratitude

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Genevive Angela) — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 16:26:00 +0000

“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.

Thursday Tree Love-165

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Genevive Angela) — Fri, 24 Oct 2025 16:07:00 +0000

“Life has no limitations, except the ones you make” Les Brown

This is an old picture I clicked when I visited Pragathi Resort, a day outing with my friends; the place was beautiful, Eco friendly, greenery, perfect for nature lovers. I was looking at some of these beautiful pictures, reliving these memories, felt like posting this picture for TTL.

Thursday Tree love is a photo feature on Parul’s blog hosted on the second and fourth Thursday of every month. You are most welcome to join in, all you need to do is:

Post a picture of a tree on your blog

Link back to here post-http://happinessandfood.com/tag/treelove/

Thank you for reading this post; I would love to know your thoughts...

May you be Happy & Blessed

September 2025 Gratitude

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Genevive Angela) — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 16:00:00 +0000

“Beautiful things happen when one has a heart of gratitude.”

I am back once again to express my gratitude; we have stepped into a new month – October 2025. Nine months have rolled into eternity, only two months left for 2025. Here goes my gratitude list for this month: I am grateful for:

the new member in our extended family -Welcoming JoJo boy (Joash Dheer) in our families this month, congratulating my niece Nissi and Jayakar on the arrival of this little champ. May this cute little bundle fill our hearts with joy and laughter.

The entire Virgo’s in the family and among friends, who celebrate their birthdays this month, beginning from Diana, David’s niece followed by Dorothy and continuing with Arushi and a couple of friends too who celebrated their birthdays. I consider birthdays as something very special as it makes me feel not just happy but helps me focus on the giver of life. I am glad we visited all the birthday babies on their birthdays.

Dorothy’s is always special for me, for its my birthday too as a mother for the first time, to hold another life in you for nine months, with expectations and joy and finally to see the miracle, is something unforgettable in my life. This day brings to a lot of memories of all those special people who were part of my journey and who walked with me month after month nurturing, protecting and above all being my strength – I am grateful for all of them.

On this day I am filled with gratitude for my little baby has turned into a beautiful women and is now independent, active as a National Board member for the YWCA , also a Choir leader for the 10.30a.m mass in the parish, Lecturer in a degree college – making us proud parents.

This month I am grateful for having met my friends, over some snacks and a cup of tea, as it was a long time since we updated one another about our lives. Each of us were dealing with some challenges and when we talk about it- we feel heard and ventilated. Friends are my safe space, a room therapy wherein I get to talk, as my profession demands that I keep listening to my student’s problems and reach out to them. Friends are the only people who do not judge and they provide you the support enabling us to become resilient.

I am grateful for my work as I had commitment for this month- 10^th September being the Suicide Prevention Day – its mandatory for us to focus on orienting all kinds of groups on suicide prevention. I did almost three different sessions – two with the Self help groups and one with our HIV beneficiaries. I also attended to some women who came to me after the session, to tell me how relatable my session was; they felt as if I was talking directly to them. I counseled almost 4 to 7 women out of which 3 of them felt suicidal due to domestic abuse and cheating by the partner. The rest were strong and were fighting for their own space in the family by taking charge of their lives.

I am grateful as well as sad because I lost a young friend from the YWCA of Secunderabad – she was only 39 years old, Sharon Solomon- our general secretary. She was fighting hard with autoimmune disease, had a sudden and massive heart attack…

I am grateful to have met her, interacted with her, got to know her and was amazed to see the way she was fighting her battles. She was full of faith in the Lord, living one day at a time and did her very best till her last breath –a reminder for all of us that nothing is permanent, and death can happen to any of us; it’s important that we keep constantly enhancing the quality of our lives. Despite the energy level being a bit low; and experiencing pain as though Sharon has carried some part of myself with her.. am grieving and will do so till my grief turns into gratitude.

This month my counseling sessions was in dealing relationship issues, every second student came up with either a break up; or wanting to fix the relationship. My heart goes out to these kids who are so easily distracted from their goals, still in 20’s getting into relationship with no boundaries- risky behaviors, trying to fix their problems by smoking, alcohol and moving so fast from friendship to situation ship… and I get to listen to their expressions such as Ghosting (where as friends they get involved romantically and suddenly stop connecting and cuts of totally) Situationship – (where they are on and off the relationship but not ready to commit.) Then there are pink and beige flags which are warning signs and have the potential to become red flags.

The challenges I face is that they look for easy solutions and do not want to work and take some initiatives to come out of these problems, constantly looking for quick fixes… by quickly moving on from one relationship to another without even thinking about the consequences. I make sure that the counseling door is always open for them no matter what their choices are… for I believe that it’s important to give them the safe space and the time needed to help them. I am grateful for all the learnings, keeps me motivated to get up every single day thinking of them and reaching the centre.

I am grateful that I could motivate myself to join an online class to learn Hindustani vocal… I have taken a few classes and hope to continue to practice.) As a youngster I was passionate about singing so I registered in the Government college of Music and Dance. I was regular for two full years but couldn’t write my exam due to multiple issues I was dealing with. I thought now is the best time to learn whenever possible – it’s a feel good factor for me.

I am glad and grateful for I could join #Thursday Tree Love – organized by #Parul to spread the greenery in the virtual world. I could Post for both the second and the fourth Thursdays. It always nice to stay connected with the other bloggers who inspire… Parul is one such blogger who inspires me with her writings at https://happinessandfood.com ( you can check her blog).

I am grateful that our school gang met up in the last week – as we have not met for almost 3 months. So we just decided that we meet over for lunch. I had a great time enjoyed the food and we also danced with one another, clicked beautiful pictures and hugged and kissed each other good bye. This meeting was also an opportunity to bring two of our friends who have home bound looking after their spouses and were not able to come out… this meeting united us and together we offered to lift each other.

I am grateful this year to I went out with my daughter, my sister in law and her daughter to play dandiya.. luckily it was not raining so we could dance for a couple of hours and had fun, we stopped by a popular restaurant to taste biryani and then came back home happy.

I am grateful that this year our centre was invited for the Bathkumma festival (festival of flowers n Telangana state), in the campus, which was organized by the employees of the university, followed by lunch. I just made a courtesy visited and clicked some pictures – it was a busy day for me in the centre, so I had to get back for a meeting.

I am grateful that this year too Dorothy attended the National Board meeting at the YWCA National office, New Delhi. This is the 4^th year for her and I am glad that she went by herself and came back after the meeting, learning to travel alone and managing herself, grateful to God that she came back healthy and safe.

I am grateful to God and to my guides who helped me complete a Diploma in Nutrition and Health Education (DNHE) it was a one year course and was quite tough. I am happy that I could complete this course, as this course had a research project where the student is expected to do a research proposal, get it approved and then do the research on the any of the topic related to Nutrition. My topic was Consumption of Fruits, Vegetables and Iron rich Food among the Adolescents in Malkajgiri, Hyderabad. My sample size was 100 and it was an interesting and time consuming work.

I am happy to visit the beauty parlor for a pedicure; hair color and face clean up. I feel so much refreshed and rejuvenated after my visit to the beauty parlor. Dorothy got a hair color for me and its been lying in the cupboard as she is busy I decided to take help from one of the girls, and she was gentle with my hair and also trimmed my hair.

I watched “The summer I turned Pretty” with my daughter, and did found it engaging and interesting to find so many youngsters getting hooked to this web series, taking sides of the hero’s here Jeremiah and Conrad.. I saw some funny meme’s about this series on Instagram. I also watched Aryan Khans Baadas of Bollywood... with my daughter – to keep myself updated. I don’t like to watch too much violence on screen... Felt okay, but I found a lot of youngsters are loving it..

I am grateful to God for my good health of mind and body, for the people in my life who are there to assist me and help me out; my service providers, the person who supplies milk, provisions, and everyone who are part of my life; my students who inspire and teach me, my Director who trusts me with the centre, always encouraging me, my colleague and some of the professors who are kind and always in touch to reach out to the students.

Thanks for reading my post; hope you had a great month!

May this floral festival bring harmony, good fortune, and everlasting happiness to all of you!

May you Be Happy & Be Blessed.

Thursday Tree Love-164

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Genevive Angela) — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 10:34:00 +0000

“Every flower reflects devotion, beauty and the eternal strength of women”

Telangana is celebrating Bathukamma which is the festival of flowers. It is said that this is a floral festival celebrated by the women to honor the Goddess Parvati. Another says about women’s unity, love for nature, and often ending with Dusshera.

There is another version that says that this is a nine-day festival to honour womanhood, mother Goddess Gauri, and Telangana’s cultural heritage. Women all over the state actively participate, decorate the flowers which are beautifully displayed and perform traditional ritual and dances. Just like the flowers arranged in layers for this festival, may all women build and uplift their families and communities with grace and resilience.

Bathukamma was celebrated in the campus too; and since our centre got the invitation. I went to represent Sahayam and there was a huge crowd. I watched the women placing the flowers and doing some rituals and then started dancing. It was a great sight to see all the women from the campus, dressed up in bright color saris and dancing to their hearts content. This event was followed by lunch. I had to get back to work as I was expecting a student for counseling.

Thursday Tree love is a photo feature on Parul’s blog hosted on the second and fourth Thursday of every month. You are most welcome to join in, all you need to do is:

Post a picture of a tree on your blog Link back to here post-

http://happinessandfood.com/tag/treelove/

Thank you for reading this post; I would love to know your thoughts...

May you be Happy & Blessed

Thursday Tree Love-163

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Genevive Angela) — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 08:39:00 +0000

“Let’s Talk, every Conversation matters”

Every year on September 10^th, the world comes together to recognize World Suicide Prevention Day. It’s a moment to raise awareness, reduce stigma, and remind one another that support and hope are always possible.The theme this year is “Change the Narrative on Suicide” Let’s start the Conversation – Change the Narrative – Promote Hope.

This picture is from my Srilanka ‘s visit recently. I was fascinated by this window as it gave a beautiful view of the beach along with a lot of greenery. When I sat at the balcony, I could hear the sound of the waves and it was soothing and giving a calm effect. The other picture is the Royal botanical garden in Kandy; we couldn’t get down as it started raining heavily so we skipped this place. I just clicked the boundary of this garden which was green.

Thursday Tree love is a photo feature on Parul’s blog hosted on the second and fourth Thursday of every month. You are most welcome to join in, all you need to do is:

Post a picture of a tree on your blog Link back to here post-

http://happinessandfood.com/tag/treelove/

Thank you for reading this post; I would love to know your thoughts...

May you be Happy & Blessed

August 2025 Gratitude

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Genevive Angela) — Sun, 31 Aug 2025 17:30:00 +0000

“Gratitude during hardship doesn’t ignore pain, rather it helps carry it.”

August is ending today, 31 days of the month is passing by; we are completing 8 months of 2025 – I am overwhelmed with gratitude for God’s mercy and kindness. I am happy to write this post as it’s easy to focus on what is missing in life and forget what is already there in our lives, for we often think of what we lack and what we are missing out in life, thinking about our past with regrets or worried about what the future holds, which does not allow us to live life fully and joyfully in the present moments of our lives.

This is main reason I have learnt over a period of time, to be always grateful and live a life of gratitude, for Gratitude shifts the lens of our eyes and lifts the weight of regrets and discouragements of the past and insecurities of the future.

I want to pause and acknowledge every small little thing I have in my life – from the roof that I live is secure and there’s a comfort that allows me to rest and my heart that kept beating all along, breath filling my lungs, food that is on my table, friends who care, family that supports, all those who serve, to make my life easy, the domestic help, the milk supply, provisions that comes home month after month, the garbage collectors who ensure to empty our bins, the medical shop, the mechanic who takes care of my bike and so many of these moments that look so ordinary in life, but they are actually miracles that I am blessed and favored everyday.

Gratitude is not my weakness but it’s my strength – an energy that keeps me going, not just allowing me to stay positive, but also setting my mind in the right direction. Some people have called it toxic positivity, as it appears that I am blind to the challenges of life and living in a delusionary world. But I don’t see that way for I am fully aware of my difficulties. I do feel it intensely and even acknowledge those emotions – as life has taught me that Feelings are not FACTS and they are subject to pass. Gratitude is not just an emotion when life feels easy, but it’s a choice, a discipline and a way of seeing. When we choose gratitude we don’t deny pain rather declare that God is still faithful in the middle of pain. As I begin the new month I want to be grateful for the whole month of August. Here goes my gratitude list:

I am grateful for:

Aparna’s birthday, we (friends) celebrated her at a joint that we have never gone before – it was another part of the city, almost 22kms - a Dhaba. She treated us with delicious dinner, we cut a cake, brought small little gifts for each other to celebrate friendship.

The next day was friendship day and it perfect time for us to affirm and appreciate one another for the gift of friendship which has lasted more than a decade that we have become family. It warms my heart to be surrounded by friends who care and are in touch almost every day of my life.

Surprises in this month- I had my neighbor who had made mango pickles and generously sent it to us, there was another friend of mine who visited her home town and she brought one big bottle of pickle, another colleague also sent me some snacks and pickles. I am thankful that I have people who add spice in our lives J

Dorothy is getting adjusted to her college – and happy to teach the college students, it’s a blessing that she found something to be busy with, and I love to listen to her classroom stories of her students and how they admire her and acknowledge her efforts. I was glad to accompany Dorothy for a wedding of her college mate at a beautiful place called the Paigah Palace in the city, this gave me a sense of the history of the Nizams, which is one of the oldest palaces and well maintained.

The wedding began at 10 p.m as it was a Muslim wedding, Dorothy was happy to meet the bride and other friends; we were moving around this place and had a lovely time, good food authentic Hyderabad cuisine features iconic delicacies with rich Biryani, slow cooked meat mutton stew, chilly curry, kebabs, tangy egg plant curry, a lot more of rotis, buns, plenty of salads, apricot dessert, ice-cream, cakes with custard.These moments are beautiful as I and Dorothy also enjoy spending time together, taking selfie’s and enjoying the irani chai which was unlimited beginning as a welcome drink, as the weather was cold after a heavy rain and the chai was available till the end of meal.

Glad to have spent some time, volunteering to be with the YWCA staff, as we were marketing the products made by our community women. I also loved playing a couple of games at this FETE, me and my friend Indira won the game of holding the brick with three fingers for 70 seconds... we tried guessing the weight of the cake, and we played a game wherein we targeted to hit with 6 balls which needs to fall in at least 3 Glasses out of many, and we joined in the tambola.

I went around with my friends to the food stalls we tasted chicken lollipop s which was yum, some chicken kababs, chicken cheese rolls, brownie and lemonade with Jaggery. We clicked some photos moving around and yes ! It was Independence Day as well as the feast of Assumption of our Lady at St Mary’s Cathedral, Secunderabad.

Dr Beena my Director at Sahayam Counseling centre decided to host a lunch to celebrate some of the scholars who submitted and completed their PhD, still others who have been actively involved in the Prison work and all the other projects taken up by Sahayam. This lunch was special as we not only had our lunch but we took time to our share our individual journeys and our association with her for many years of our lives.

It was inspiring that all of us had unique experiences, some were scholars, the others were established in the different aspects of life, some in the corporate world, still others in teaching, and me as a consultant had a long journey too … it was a 14 years journey when I walked into this centre as a Psychological counselor feeling inadequate, depressed (I had just lost my 7 year old son in 2011).

As I look back with gratitude I had so much to share about my journey – I completed two Post graduation programmes in Psychology & Philosophy, and got certified as Master Trainer for HIV &AID as a part of the Global funding project, Counseling Supervisor for ICTC(Integrated Counseling Testing centres) for a 3 Centres in the city. I constantly updated myself in order to be relevant, and recently completed my certification in YOGA and a Diploma in Nutrition and Health Education.

I am grateful to my work place for I had enough people coming for counseling, there were some very difficult cases to deal with, which I refer to others who can handle better and continue to stay in touch with them for offering support counseling.

I am also grateful for the opportunity for I did a session on Adolescent Mental health to the Staff of Little Flower Degree College in the city . It was part of the Faculty development programme. I enjoyed the session interacting with the staff and sharing my experiences of working with adolescents.

I am grateful that I could connect with my cousin Maria Bambina - I recall so many holidays spent at my aunts place, and I and Bambi used to visit the Golconda fort as it was walk-able distance from their house, we watched movies together and used to have a lot of fun. My aunt was good at cooking, baking and bambi inherited some qualities of knitting, doll making, stitching embroidery and also good in language, she studied Hindi and taught Hindi as she qualified to be a Hindi pundit.

Once they built their own house and shifted beyond Golconda it became difficult to stay in touch, then our lives changed due to marriage and children. This month was her birthday on the 17^th, so I decided to visit her one day before as it was a holiday for me to celebrate her; for she was not keeping well, had asthmatic attack, she had a knee replacement surgery. I felt deeply for her and took time to spend the day with her and family.

The end of the month I am glad to attend a first birthday of a child by name Hayden, along with Dorothy as it was one her friends nephew-surprisingly the child was so happy and smiled away all the time cutting cake, enjoying the music and posing for photographs.

I am still smiling completing this posts, being Sunday I am glad to attend church and listen to the sermon which was all about humility and doing good to others. As the new month unfolds I pray to the Lord Almighty to bless all of us and grant us good health especially with the current weather here a lot of people are falling sick.

Thanks for reading my post; hope you had a great month.

Be Happy & Be Blessed.

Thursday Tree Love-162

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Genevive Angela) — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 08:08:00 +0000

“Trees are the earths endless effort to speak to the listening heaven”

Rabindranath Tagore

The last place we visited was Colombo – a whole day driving in the city, and I saw these beautiful trees right in the heart of the city; I was so happy to see the greenery and clicked it from the moving bus.

Thursday Tree love is a photo feature on Parul’s blog hosted on the second and fourth Thursday of every month. You are most welcome to join in, all you need to do is:

Post a picture of a tree on your blog Link back to here post-

http://happinessandfood.com/tag/treelove/

Thank you for reading this post; I would love to know your thoughts...

May you be Happy & Blessed

Thursday Tree Love-161

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Genevive Angela) — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 09:44:00 +0000

“He who finds a Herb has found a cure” Michael Bassey Johnson

This is the Herbal Garden at Kandy, took a break a couple of months ago in Srilanka – where they grow everything in a natural setting – popular for spices, oils, powders, of every kind that can be used in the kitchen like turmeric, black pepper, Cinnamon’s and many more. I got some pepper and some immunity juice along with a face cream.

Thursday Tree love is a photo feature on Parul’s blog hosted on the second and fourth Thursday of every month. You are most welcome to join in, all you need to do is:

Post a picture of a tree on your blog Link back to here post-

http://happinessandfood.com/tag/treelove/

Thank you for reading this post; I would love to know your thoughts...

May you be Happy & Blessed !

July Gratitude – 2025

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Genevive Angela) — Fri, 01 Aug 2025 15:30:00 +0000

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!

Thursday Tree Love-160

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Genevive Angela) — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 07:31:00 +0000

Time wasted at the Beach is a time well spent!

I am posting this almost after a year. I am glad to do it as its better late than never, so many things happening in my life, completed my certification course in Nutrition as well as Yoga, so these two courses kept me busy.I am happy to come back to this space of turning the virtual world green.

Thanks to Parul, henceforth I hope to sustain TTL posts on a regular basis, as I do enjoy clicking Trees and posting it too.

I clicked this image while I was on a holiday with my friends to Srilanka, and this click is from the hotel room, we stayed in Bentota in a hotel/resort called CITRUS. Which was beautiful and surrounded with greenery and a beach. I loved the ambiance and spent some time in the pool swimming and also walked to the beach, it was a wonderful break for me and my daughter Dorothy. Sometimes all you need is a break from the routine, work, monotony, to experience the joy of doing nothing, surrounded with nature.

Thursday Tree love is a photo feature on Parul’s blog hosted on the second and fourth Thursday of every month. You are most welcome to join in, all you need to do is:

Post a picture of a tree on your blog Link back to here post-

http://happinessandfood.com/tag/treelove/

Thank you for reading this post; I would love to know your thoughts...

May you be Happy & Blessed

June Gratitude – 2025

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Genevive Angela) — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 15:55:00 +0000

“Gratitude sweetens even the smallest moments”

June is ending today, I am grateful that 6 months of the year will get over today, and a brand-new month is waiting to welcome all of us. It’s time for me to reflect and review the month of June and count all my blessings naming them one by one. This is one of my favorite duty to focus on the good, bad and ugly and practice gratitude.

It was a busy month, lot of commitments of work and at the same the campus reopened and the students started coming to the college, with lively students hanging around all over the place. I loved the atmosphere due to the energy of so many youngsters moving around vibrantly.

I had students coming in regularly for counseling – one of the Professor, a great friend of mine keeps referring a lot of students for counseling. This time she came with fresh mangoes to thank me for my service in the campus. I am grateful for her thoughtfulness and acknowledgement of my services, even though she said it’s a small gesture – I felt very happy from within and accepted it gracefully.

This month was St Anthony’s feast and Dorothy has been visiting the church regularly every Tuesday and spending time attending the mass and adoration in the chapel. I am grateful that she has developed faith for this particular saint and has been committed to visit every Tuesday.

I am grateful that Dorothy gained good health, as last month she was unwell and I had to take her to the doctor. This month she recovered faster – with her interviews and involvement in the choir and friends in touch helped her to get into the normal routine.

I am grateful for her as she helped David for the cataract surgery, the post operative care was completely managed by her for 3 weeks, she is truly a blessing in my life. As she is sensitive and responds quickly whenever there is help required either for me or David.

I am grateful for a extended family gathering this month – Davids’s cousin built a beautiful house and we had gone for the house warming. The place was 10-15kms approx. but slightly interior. I appreciated his cousin who could invest in a house early enough.

He is less than 30 years old, lost his father and took responsibility to settle his elder sister, also got the second sister engaged and built this house, he does inspire me and I told him that I was proud of what he has done. We had a nice time meeting the other relatives too, chatted with everyone endlessly, as we don’t get to meet often enjoyed yummy food came home filled with gratitude.

I am grateful for the outing I had with my daughter one evening – her watch had stopped so we decided to visit the show room to get that sorted, the lady there was very friendly, kind and patient in showing so many different watches within our budget. Dorothy found a beautiful watch and she picked that up for herself. I am grateful for the lady by name Cecilia who helped Dorothy to find what she was looking for.

This month our friends group planned for a short trip to Srilanka, our neighboring country. I was not sure whether I would make it. As I just went for a short trip last before month to Mahabaleshwar with my friends and was wondering whether I would be relieved.

I am grateful for my friend Aparna who motivated me and ensured that I joined the trip. Everything was worked out by her and another friend Amina – who planned and implemented this whole journey collaborating with Make my Trip. From booking the tickets, to getting the Visa and looking into the smallest details, they did everything. For which I feel grateful because we had a great trip, and Dorothy too enjoyed the trip.

I will make a separate travel post on my trip to srilanka – I am also grateful for this month, as Dorothy had got a call for the interview in one of the Degree Colleges, so she was busy preparing for the demo and the interview itself. There were other girls too for the post of a Lecturer to teach Psychology. I am glad and grateful that she was selected to teach in this college and it’s a coeducation. The campus is big with school, Junior college and degree college.

I am grateful that she got the job and was asked to join in when the college reopens – meanwhile the whole process of verification of certificates everything was done online.

I am grateful that this month due to NAAC Visit (National Assessment and Accreditation Council) all the departments of the University were expected to submit reports of the last 3 Academic years. I was busy with this work as it had a particular format in which I needed to report. This work took a lot of my time, as I was checking the back records and collating the previous years work and entering the format. I am glad I could do it and also discuss with my Director, take her suggestions and incorporate the advice given and complete the work before I left for the holiday for a week.

I am also grateful for the body that functions so well – I took some routine tests -to check thyroid levels, cholesterol, hba1c and Hb. Everything was under control; also went for a routine eye checkup as I felt dryness – the doctor gave me eye drops to keep it moist, otherwise no major complains.

I was excited to travel with my friends, checking the utube and browsing for the places we were about to visit, whenever I had little free time. The visit to srilanka was a refreshing experience and I am glad and grateful for this opportunity. I came back happy, enthusiastic and energized to get back to my routine.

I am grateful for my workspace and back to my counseling centre, there were students coming in regularly, and I am grateful I could participate in the session at Mahabub college, Secunderabad on the occasion of international day against drug abuse and illicit trafficking. This programme was facilitated by the #YWCA of Secunderabad – the resource person Dr V George Reddy was excellent speaker who motivated the college students to stay away from substance abuse.

There was a wedding in the extended family – I was happy to go for this function as we get to meet a lot of people whom we don’t meet otherwise. Dorothy and my sister inlaw along with her daughter accompanied, we went for the reception and enjoyed being with everyone.

I am also happy to connect with my college mates, so we could share about our experiences of the trip to Srilanka, we met over a cup of chai and felt so happy and connected.

Thank you for reading my post! Hope you had a great month.

Be Blessed & Be Happy

May Gratitude - 2025

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Genevive Angela) — Sun, 01 Jun 2025 05:22:00 +0000

“Gratitude takes nothing for granted; is never unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder” Thomas Merton

Today is the last day of May, and we complete the 5^th month of year – despite being a holiday month for the students and the faculty. I am surprised at the number of students who have been coming to the centre on a regular basis. The issues were more of relationship conflicts, anxiety/panic attacks and few cases on substance abuse.

The one issue that is on rise is the anxiety and panic attacks, a greater number of students visiting me for anxiety issues –I feel so sad when I see students taking medicines for anxiety which can be easily resolved practicing simple breathing exercises, mindfulness and practicing gratitude in a disciplined manner can be of great help.

As all of these helps in shifting our focus to the present moment and also keeping oneself happy by counting our blessings. I am glad that I not only practice all of this, but also teach my students – so happy and grateful as I keep meeting them, they motivate me with their youthful energy.

I am grateful for this month for I had work to do – and I went to work regularly, and am happy that I was safe and secure as I traveled everyday on my bike. I am eternally grateful for the Divine protection that I not only could drive safely but also run errands.

May being the hottest month, I ensured that I had butter milk every other day, as it is the mango season, enjoyed eating the mango along with my daughter. I was bringing mango home, and mixed with milk for Dorothy, as she enjoys eating with milk, but I enjoyed the fruit as it is -grateful for this mango season and for those who brought these delicious mangoes to our area and sold it to us.

This month on the 4^th was the death anniversary of my brother V Francis – I visited his family and met my extended family members, met my younger my sister, elder brother, few cousins and one of my old school mate Madonna. I was happy to meet her here and we could just connect from where we left, she was a good friend of mine in school, helpful, humorous and friendly. The time flies so fast and it is already one year my brother is no more, he was bedridden and life was getting difficult for him.

I used always feel sad whenever I met him, for I have memories of how active he was and so prudent with everything in his life. Grateful for these reminders in life that we are here only for a short period of time, and the only thing that will matter in the end is the memories we leave behind.

This month I met my college friends as it has been a long time, since we met one another, so we went out to a new place for early tiffin’s and we went around window shopping in that area. I picked up biryani from the nearby restaurant for Dorothy as she loves food.

Dorothy surprised me with a black color sling bag to keep my phone and money as she always found me carrying the old one. I was happy and appreciate her thoughtfulness – I am grateful to have a daughter who is thoughtful and sensitive, and it was Mother’s Day.

I am grateful for the opportunity I get not just to counsel the students, but also evaluate their papers, something that I did first time online and it was a learning experience.

I am grateful for the online classes I took for the undergraduates on Psychological Competency – more than teaching them I enjoyed relearning it myself as it was so relevant to me too –I got back to the basic life skills sessions that I have been trained in one of the Projects Implementation.

They say when you teach you learn more, as one keeps preparing the lesson reflecting and giving practical examples one learns more – and I enjoy being a learner all my life.

I am happy to connect with my friends online too – as one of our friends has gone abroad, we have been missing her; so, we connected on the WhatsApp video call and enjoyed chatting with one another.

I am grateful that Dorothy is back to her routine and healthy – for she had sun stroke and it was bad, she was dehydrated with high fever; thanks be to God for our doctor who responded promptly twice in this month and helped us. The second time was severe so she had to be given two bottles of glucose, am grateful to God for having healed her, it’s a blessing to have good health.

This month David had his cataract surgery for both the eye – and we are grateful for the whole process and the doctors who were not just strict but also firm and kind, as he is diabetic it was important that his sugar levels are in control. Thanks be to God for Dorothy who did all the running around in a responsible manner offering full support to the family. Daughters are Angels in disguise and she was truly a great blessing despite just having recovered from her own health, she was concerned about her dad.

I am grateful for all the service providers beginning from my home till my workplace, there are always people working to ensure that we have a clean environment, good and healthy food on my table, kitchen cleaned, clothes washed and at office the premises maintained and process followed to ensure smooth running of the Psychological Counseling Centre.

This month I watched a one movie with Dorothy – which was in Tamil by name Thirchitrabalam, entertaining, a light hearted movie with a common subject and beautifully played out by Dhanush and Nithya menon who is so natural in her role, and Prakash raj brough tears to my eye, all the actors, music, songs everything was magical. I laughed, cried, and enjoyed the music and the songs.

Another one was Web Series in Hindi on Amazon Prime called the Gram Chikitsalaya – it’s about an idealist Doctor who is passionate about serving the poor people selflessly in a village – at a neglected Primary health centre in North India. What follows is the reality of our PHCs which is an eye opener paving path for humorous and emotional journey ahead of him. This was in 5 episodes.

I enjoyed watching each one of them, it’s a must watch. Sometimes I do watch young Sheldon my all-time favorite – Dorothy introduced this series to me and I got hooked and loving it. I am grateful to God and all those who have been part of my life for this month, despite the heat there was also some showers in between cooling the earth.

I received a forward from an old friend on gratitude – the words were profound, well chosen and inspiring too… I feel like sharing an extract from this post:

Blood flows ceaselessly from head to toe,

Every heartbeat a silent drum of life

I don’t know what kind of Divine technology powers this system

But the heart never tires, never rests, until it’s time to go.

Two eyes, like camera’s of a thousand megapixels,

Capture the ever changing beauty of this world

Colors, lights, emotions –etched into memory.

A tongue that performs ten thousand taste tests with precision.

Skin, living sensor, feeling heat, cold, love, pain

A miracle of sensitivity…..

Let gratitude be my constant companion;

Let awe fill my every breath.

This is not just a body…

It is a temple of Your presence….

I don’t know the author – but I am impressed with these thoughts… and I am feeling thankful, favored and blessed

Thanks for reading my post!

Be Blessed & Be Happy!

April Gratitude 2025

noreply@blogger.com (Dr Genevive Angela) — Thu, 01 May 2025 10:17:00 +0000

“Living in a state of gratitude is the gateway to grace”. Arianna Huffington.

I am glad to sit and reflect about the month that has just gone by; April was an amazing month. A month filled with various activities/events – I was constantly shifting my focus from one event to another; So much has happened in the last 30 days.

I am highlighting a few of them to keep my energy levels high, that is what gratitude does to us. Gratitude is not just saying thanks for the few things in life, but it’s a whole attitude to be able to look at everything that is happening for my own greater good. It’s a way to look at life in a positive way, and become aware of how blessed you are for all little and the big things of life, which I don’t want to take it for granted, but in humility acknowledge all aspects of life and constantly keep giving thanks, as they say a thankful heart is a healthy heart.

Gratitude has kept me going, it has helped me magnify what I have in life rather than looking at what I don’t have. Gratitude has helped me to keep counting my blessings everyday and every moment of my life.

The post I make is only once a month, but I ensure that I keep the attitude of gratitude every day and every moment of my life.Here are some of the things I would like to be thankful for:

The fact that I am alive, healthy, riding regularly to work and being committed to my work that is not just paying me but also giving me a sense of fulfilment. I am grateful for I get to go to work every day.

I keep listening to the struggles of my students- I was handling issues concerning relationships, which was the number one problem faced by the students in this month. They keep hurting themselves without realizing that they have not set any boundary for themselves. I am glad that they are taking help and gradually are able to understand themselves and the contributions to their own problems. I am grateful that my students can trust me with their secrets.

There was women’s day celebration in our building in this month- being part of the Women Empowerment Cell. I was busy with the meetings, and we had the celebration on April 3^rd 2025 at the conference hall. There were Women representation, -who inspired us with their personal and professional lives. There were 300 students and staff who attended this programme. I am grateful to be associated with this programme.

This month there were two birthdays on two different days – which we celebrated one was a college mate, her birthday was on Ugadi day – being a festival, she could not come out of the house, so we fixed another day and celebrated Kasturi’s birthday over lunch in a nice restaurant. The place was good, as it was newly done with lot of decoration and the food was delicious too.

The other birthday in this month was one of our colleagues who works in the area of mental health, Taj – we celebrated her, as her birthday came during the month of Ramzan and they were fasting, so we feasted😊 after Ramzan and this was celebrated at a place called Habitat a little beyond our usual meetings. This was a breakfast and we did enjoy the sandwiches, sausages and ham and egg, butter, cheese and of course there was chole bature too. I am grateful for these meetings as it helps us to stay connected with each other and also gives s opportunity to celebrate life.

I am glad that I completed my research work for the Diploma in Nutrition and Health Education (DNHE). I am grateful to my guide Ms Hannah Jessie for her help and support, for Sravani who was kind enough to show the sample as to how that needs to be done. I could complete this work and submit the hard bound copy one for the study centre and another to IGNOU (Indira Gandhi Open University) New Delhi. I kept one copy for myself - I am happy and grateful to have accomplished this work on time.

This month we had the holy week and this kept us busy attending all the services – from Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and also celebration of Easter Sunday. I am grateful that we had everything ready, I got my blouse stitched for one of the gift sarees I already had, there was no need to get a new one. Dorothy shopped a little and she got a beautiful green dress. She was also very busy in the church volunteering for various activities in the church along with the youth group. She went visiting the churches in the city along with her friends and she took beautiful pictures.

I am grateful for my sister-in-law Anuja – who helped me with all the domestic work, and it’s a big relief when we have people around us to help. I took her to the main market in the city as she also wanted to buy somethings for herself, so we went around the market and after all the shopping’s we picked up some fancy bangles, jasmine flowers and then we enjoyed light tiffin’s in a restaurant.

After the easter celebration I took a few days holidays with my friends and travelled to Panchagini- Mahabaleshwar, which are hill stations and 3 hours away from Pune city. It was a great place full of trees, sun rise and sun set points, and beautiful lake, and there was lot of tourist attractions for strawberries – this place was full of straw berries and there is huge garden called the MAPRO garden full of eateries, play area for kids and strawberry items like sauces, jams, chocolates and other items like cool drinks are sold.

It’s a fancy looking place maintained well and lot of people visit this place. I along with my friends visited and we also picked up some things as we did not want to overload our luggage’s, so we just took some small items that can be carried.

We stopped buy at Pune for a day and some friends chose to go around the city; but me and Dorothy preferred to visit an uncle who lost his young daughter, and also my cousin – we were happy to spend some time with our relatives, then we just went around MG Road and Fashion Street, picked up some snacks and came back. We returned the next day with early morning train and reached by evening. I will make a separate post for travel as there is so much to talk about my experiences visiting these two hill stations.

I am happy to complete this regular post, hope you had a great month too.

Wishing all of you Health and Happiness!

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