Seventeen years ago I packed a suitcase and flew from New Delhi to Belfast with 200 pounds and a job contract in my pocket. I didn’t have even one acquaintance in Belfast but I had fire in my belly. I wanted to study further, be better at my job and create a brighter future for my family.

Although my colleagues were very friendly I did not have any friends for a while. What kept me going was keeping a gratitude journal. Every evening I wrote down 5 things I was grateful for and went to bed smiling even though I missed my family a lot. I have misplaced those journals but I hope I will find them and read them again.

I found one random entry dated 1^st Jan 2001 –

“Another year.
Another slot in the Time Machine.
Another measure of nothing.
Another invisible milestone.
On the road to an unknown destination.

Time and Ego are brothers. The latter being completely identified with the former – held upright by it’s past, it thinks it is ‘so and so’in the present and will be even more ‘so and so’ in the future.”

This blog is a journal of sorts. It helps me a great deal.
Today’s entry would be:

– Thank you for the gorgeous summer solstice, a full day of sunshine and the full moon.

– Thank you for my third Mental Health First Aid course with 14 participants. (Bringing the total to 37)

– Thank you for Saagar and the strength and purity of his love.

– Thank you for Si and his tender loving care.

– Thank you for this mind, body and spirit.

Thank you!