Gratitude Post for 2023
I entered 2023 with a broken and shattered heart. When the year began, everything seemed so bleak and hopeless. (A mammography was not exactly the best New Year’s gift). However, I am grateful that the year turned out to be one of the most amazing years of my life. I am proud of myself for gathering up the pieces and building something beautiful. I was never taught to be proud of myself, but this year taught me how to be proud of myself and love myself unconditionally. My WOTY for 2023 was GROW, and oh boy!!, I did grow. So here are some snippets of the amazing things that I am grateful for.
Trips: I love to travel, and in 2023, I took some wonderful trips. However, the best was a pilgrimage to Mcleodgunj, a trip that has been on my wishlist forever. Along with Mcleodgunj, I also visited Amritsar. Visiting Golden temple at 3 am is one of the best spiritual experiences of my life. In February, we went to Goa, a place that I love to visit anytime of the year. In May, I went to a place called Tajpur, near Kolkata with my cousins. This was an amazing trip as all six sisters and one sister-in-law went on this trip.
Family: I love to spend time with my family, both near and extended. The year started with a family gathering. I met my husband’s cousins and their wives on the first day of the year. There were many more occasions of family gatherings. In May, I went to Kolkata and met my side of the family.
Friends: I am eternally grateful for my friends. They bring so much joy and happiness. In 2023, I spent some beautiful moments with them. We went for movies, dinner, breakfast, went dancing, shopping, the list is endless. Every evening, when I meet my friends I forget all my stress and just let myself loose.
Birthday: This year, I literally cut three birthday cakes. One of the cakes was baked by a dear friend. She not only baked a (naughty) cake for me but also threw a party on the eve of my birthday where we danced till the middle of the night. The following day, some other friends came over and made me feel like a school girl. I received gifts and two cakes. It was indeed one of the best birthdays of my life. I was especially touched when my non-bong colleagues used Google translator to wish me in Bengali on the Kudoboard.
Please Excuse the A rated Cake. My friend baked it and I loved it
She wanted to write Dickheads but couldn’t fit that, so it came out like this. God!! why am I explaining this? even if it is dick, who cares
Growing Healthy Relationships: We are social beings. We need healthy relationships to survive. We cannot live a solitary life with nobody to love and care for us. I mean, some people can perhaps live all alone in a deserted island. I honestly cannot. I need people around me. I don’t like a mob but I also don’t like deserted places. I need a proper balance.
Acquaintances/ Relationships: The above quote was something that I wanted to achieve this year. Thankfully, I was able to build some new friendships in 2023. This year, I joined a networking platform and made some amazing acquaintances. I have always been an introvert and networking was something that I shied away from. However, my son encouraged me that in today’s world, networking is extremely important to progress both professionally and personally and I should start being open to new collaborations. I was hesitant, but once I started meeting people, I came to know so many new things that I was more than thrilled. I met people from various walks of life and it was wonderful to listen to their varied experiences. Opening up to new experiences is something that I had stopped myself from. However, in 2023 I opened up to meet and have new experiences. However, not all experiences were good but mostly good. Some of the acquaintances have now become really good friends and I feel so blessed.
Learn New Skills: There are some skills that I want to learn in 2023. I want to learn advanced yoga and meditation. I have a wish to go to a yoga retreat in Dharamshala. I may join a nirvana course in Pondicherry. However, given the condition of my engagements, these seem difficult but I will keep my hopes high. I want to learn how to grow herbs in pots. Learn basic carpentry and pottery. Learn how to paint and swim. I also never learnt how to ride a bike as a child. I want to learn that also.
Read Carefully The Above Quote Before You Read The Next Section
Spirituality: I wanted to grow spiritually in 2023. In the above quote you will notice the things that I wanted to achieve in 2023. I was able to progress in this goal also a bit. I have started meditating. The best experience of 2023 was when I attended a meditation retreat in Dharamkot. I had made a resolution ( “I have a wish to go to a yoga retreat in Dharamshala“) in last year’s WOTY post and I achieved that target. I am so immensely proud of myself that I am getting goosebumps. This is a proof that written manifestations work. Meditating with 49 other people inside a Buddhist monastery was so far the best spiritual experience of my life. The calm, peace and happiness that I experienced after the meditation cannot be explained in words. Another amazing experience was the darshan of Lalbagucha Raja. I have been living in Mumbai since last 18 years, however, never managed to visit Lalbaug cha Raja. I was always scared of the crowd and never tried. However, this year, on the first day of Ganpati felt a strong urge to visit Lalbaug. I tried asking friends if they knew anyone who could help me. Finally, one of my friend’s brother gave us a VIP entry. We managed to get darshan in 10 minutes while the standard time taken for darshan was 9 hours. Tears rolled down my cheeks when I saw the first glimpse of the Raja, it was truly like a king in his royal robe. I also ate bhog for the first time at Rani Mukherji’s Durga Puja. This is also something that I had never done before, even after living in Mumbai for so long. However, it was not an experience that I can write anything about.
New Skills: As you can see, I achieved my goal to attend a retreat in Dharamshala/Dharamkot, I also fulfilled my wish to learn new skills. This year, professionally I earned four new certificates, one of them was from Google, and the other was a course on artificial intelligence (AI). I upskilled professionally. And, I did join swimming and cycling and of course the meditation course that I mentioned above.
Met Dhruv: I have been fond of Dhruv Sehgal since his Filtercopy days. On my birthday, I suddenly bumped into him in front of my house. It was almost a serendipitous moment for me. I usually do not like to click photos with celebrities but this was an exceptional fangirl moment.
Navy Day: My brother-in-law is a Naval commander, this year, he invited us for Navy day. We went sailing on INS Betwa. Throughout the day, we saw some amazing Naval drills. The lunch was yummy. It was cooked in the ship’s kitchen and was delicious.
