***Update***

So I've apparently been failing at this daily thing... and I'm really sad about that. The blog will be updated shortly... with all the missing entries... I have been grateful though!!! Just so gosh darn busy! AAAAHHH

Day 6

Look @ the adorable hats!!!!

And a nice group shot from the front

Today I find myself truly grateful for all of life's little (and sometimes big) blessings. What I mean is, I'm grateful for all of the gifts that we have been individually provided...whether it be the ability to sing, to act, to counsel someone, to be some type of athlete, to be an amazing parent, to be a president, a lawyer...you name it...not one person alive has the same abilities and capabilities as the next...we're all unique and we've all been given that gift for a reason...what we do with it is our own choice...but we were given that particular gift for a reason...and I'm truly grateful.

Went to Church today and there was this small traveling choir from Europe...they looked so adorable in their matching outfit (the underlining of their dresses matched their hats, and they all wore ballet flats that were similar to their dress color)... I was so inspired by their big hearts, big presence during today's Mass, and amazing voices...that I am posting actually going to post a picture in this entry. :-). They took my breath away today.

Look into your life a bit and see if you can find that special gift that you were blessed with...and use it to the fullest! We all have at least one gift...and I am TRULY GRATEFUL for mine!!!

Till tomorrow's food for thought.

Much Love,
Serendipity2908

Day 5

So today is day 5 of my daily reflections on things that I am grateful for...and the thing that I find myself grateful for today is love, family, and friends...without all three I'm not sure where I would be in life...where any of us would be? I'm grateful that I have the ability to love people unconditionally, even complete strangers... I have the ability to accept a person as they are, no questions asked...and that I think is what love is all about. I'm grateful for my family (crazy as they can get at times! LOL)...and for the fact that they love me just the way I am, for always being there for me, and for allowing me to be there for them. And of course, I'm grateful for the wonderful friends that I have in my life (both old and newly acquired friends)...each of my friends fulfills my life in a unique ways, and fills my life with happiness that another friend would not be able to do. I'm grateful for the wonderful memories that I have made through love, with family and with friends. Friends are the family you get to choose, and I'm so very happy and grateful for my chosen family!

Till tomorrow's food for thought.

Much Love,
Serendipity2908

Day 4

Today's food for thought stems from yesterday's reflection on technology, as this particular item is also part of technology..but I'm going to classify a different reason for being grateful for it. Today I'm grateful for the ability to capture life's precious moments, whether through just pictures, audio, or even video. Life is way to precious...and each moment can have such significant memories for each and every single one of us...luckily in this day and age we're able to capture life's precious moments....For instance the birth of a child, a baby's first steps, the first time an Autistic child completes a completely "new" tasks independently, the completion of an evaluation group that has had such a tremendous impact on your life, graduation, that going away party for a really close friend, weddings...or how about simply parts of nature that leave you feeling content, happy, at peace? It's amazing how quickly and easy it is this day and age to capture life's precious moments...and we each have our own memories, our own precious moments (even if we experience the same exact event together). So, I'm truly grateful for all the memories that I have been able to not only experience first hand, capture one way or the other, as well as to reflect upon.

Till my next food for thought.

Much Love,
Serendipity2908

Day 3

Today I find myself grateful for technology...and all the amazing things that are possible because of the technological advances. Take for example an Autistic child who has not yet mastered spoken language...with the use of a communication device, the child (or even adult) can express themselves fully. Or take for instance a wheelchair...completely changes a person's life (who may have been completely immobilized prior to the use of a wheelchair). While we're on the topic of wheelchairs...did you know the technological advances that have been made when it comes to wheelchairs? While one will still find an average wheelchair, they now also produce such highly advanced wheelchairs that can be functional with simply the use of someone's breathing rhythm. WHAT?! yep...believe me... I have witnessed this myself in the past. Completely transformed the persons life, who happened to be in a motorcycle accident and completely paralyzed from the neck down. Through a tube running from the client's mouth to the base of the electric wheelchair, the client was able to move around this city (and at a pretty fast pace too!). Imagine that! How about the technological advances we have made in regards to the way we communicate with one another? With a click of a button, not only can you send a letter across the world, call someone across the world...but can also SEE each other across the world....And how about medical technology? So many advanced procedures can be done now that even as little as a few years ago were not even thought about (partial pancreatic transplant from a LIVING donor...).

So tonight...I'm truly grateful for technology and all of the ways in which they better our lives.

Sadly, I couldn't find a quote for tonight!

Till tomorrow's food for thought.

Much Love,
Serendipity2908

Day 2

So this morning I woke up missing Glory Days very much... and was happy that I could listen to some of the songs while getting ready for work...especially one particular song...

Because of the way my morning was structured, in conjunction with Glory Days on my mind...I found myself thinking back to my very first job in the counseling/social services field as a Family Service Specialist working with special needs children...the impact a specific client had on my life (worked with this particular client for a year)...as well as the training involved for that kind of work..The training involved was VERY intense...you had to attend a training meeting at least once, sometimes twice a week for about a month and a half prior to starting employment, and then once you started working you had to attend a monthly meeting where case presentations were shared, group discussions were had, and even more training was provided...I learned so much from those training sessions...things that can not only be used in the field I was in at the time/am currently in now...but to everyday life with what one might consider "normal" people. I'm truly blessed for the knowledge gained then, that has since then expanded and made me such a more stronger person...and more effective in my line of work.

One of the very first training sessions...there was a professional who shared a very touching and personal story about their life and about their loved ones...and they shared a quote that I will always treasure: "every moment in a teachable moment"...well the same can be said in the reverse, no?... Every moment is a learnable moment (I don't know if "learnable" is a real word or not...but you get what I mean)! And that's what today's reflection will focus on...knowledge...the ability to not only teach one another each and every single day but to learn from one another as well as what all of that means to me.

Before I reflect more about today, I wanted to share a quote that I found today in a pile of quotes that I have, as it could not fit better into yesterday's reflection...

Quote for Day 1's reflection:
"I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing" ~ Agatha Christie

Perhaps it's thinking about the "Good Old Glory Type Days"...or perhaps it's because I started a new group fairly recently (and am still learning about each and every single one of my clients)...but I found myself thinking about knowledge...and how powerful it really is...and all the little places that it could be found that we generally don't think about. I'm truly blessed...I interact with so many people so intimately each and every single day...and each month/group I get the privilege of working with completely new individuals...and each and every single human being alive has their own personal knowledge, personal experiences, and an expertise in at least one area... and you know what? I get to witness this daily! I get to have a different "teacher" in my life. I get to become a better person simply because I want to help someone better themselves. It truly is an amazing feeling!!! What I've learned is that each and every single day I learn something new (whether I'm aware of it at the time or not)...and one of the things I'm grateful for is the ability to have the privilege of knowledge, the ability to obtain that knowledge, and of course very important is the ability to maintain that knowledge...

I had an interesting experience on my commute home, ... that teachable/learnable moment...There were no buses coming my way (or the other way for that matter), and the bus line was at least long enough to fill 3 buses (that were nowhere in sight)...so I decided to walk crosstown...as I near my train station...someone stops me and asks for directions...where they needed to go was slightly out of my way, but only by a few minutes...I decided that it would just be easier to show them how to get to where they wanted to go, as opposed to explaining to them the fact that they first needed to walk a few blocks, go across town, and switch trains a few times?...especially since I was going that way too..I know this city, I know the MTA system forwards and backwards, LOL (and at least 3 alternate routes to each of my destinations, etc)... so why not share that knowledge with someone who has only been in this country for two days??? While showing this person how to get around the MTA system, I got to learn a bunch of stuff not only about this complete stranger (who btw is a sweetheart, and I wish them all the best for the short time period that they're in this country to learn English)...but about a small town in Italy!!! It was an enlightening experience. And I felt better having had helped this complete stranger than if I had rushed home.

Here's a list of the things I find myself grateful for this particular day:

• I'm very grateful for my job... I get the privilege of not only sharing the knowledge that I have with my clients, but I get to learn from my clients each and every single day..
• Did you know that there's a way to hack into your own computer to assess whether or not someone's hacking into your computer?
• Did you know that despite everything else in your life going wrong, you still have the motivation to come to a program where you get evaluated...because you want to better your life and fix the current situation?
• Do you know the differences between the different business models???
• I'm grateful that I'm healthy and that I have the ability to help someone each and every single day...sometimes through the smallest of acts (i.e. the story about my commute home)...or through really great and big acts (i.e. helping an individual locate their vocational interests, evaluate them fairly, and then help build their argument to a board of reviewers so that they can obtain their goal [pending of course that it's a realistic goal]).
• I'm grateful for this profession...as challenging as it is sometimes...I don't know if I would be happy doing anything other than what I am doing now...helping others
• and I'm grateful for the KNOWLEDGE that I have about this... lol

Here's a quote I found that relates to Day's 2 blog entry. Enjoy this food for thought!

Quote for Day 2's reflection:
"Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones surround us daily" ~ Sally Koch

Till tomorrow's lovely reflection.

Much Love,
Serendipity2908

Day 1

So today started off a little bit rocky...and then everything escalated and got out of control, and it wasn't until I was sitting thinking back on everything that I realized the need for this blog. It was a highly intense day (as most days in my line of work are)...but yet it's SUCH a rewarding job... that I always find myself reflecting on the day during my commute home... I never leave work without "food for thought" and alas... a dream was born... what if... what if every day was like Thanksgiving... where we remember what it is that we are grateful for? I mean it doesn't have to be anything monumental...often times it's the smallest of things that we take for granted.

Take my day for instance...found myself rushing this morning as I overslept my alarm clock, thinking "could I just call out, roll over, and go back to sleep"?... but knowing that this was not at all possible given what was on my "plate" for the day...so I rushed around, got myself ready, and still managed to get to work 10 minutes before I had to be there (gotta love when life is on your side right?... oh look.. I'm grateful for something and I haven't even gotten to that part yet).. :-)

I get to work, knowing that I have this difficult conference ahead of me, and knowing that I need to prepare myself emotionally for what might turn out to be an "explosive" conference (whereby there are many unresolved issues between a client and another counselor)...I make my usual cup of coffee, sit down at my desk to start looking over the chart again, making sure all my i's are dotted and t's are crossed, and making sure that I don't forget to stress the positives while also addressing the negatives of this particular evaluation... when who should walk into my office but a colleague who has been out on medical leave. They sit down at my desk, and start talking to me (things completely irrelevant to my job)...knowing that they were taking up precious time from mental preparations for a difficult case, knowing the meeting would be starting shortly, and all this while watching my coffee grow cold... What do I do...as a counselor,... as a human being,... as a colleague...? I "evaluated" the situation and did the only thing possible...I was there for the person when they truly needed a person to be there (after all, that IS part of my job)...I held the conference shortly thereafter (and it did get emotional)...started a new group, and interacted with a lot of different people...

So here's a short list of things that I am truly grateful for today...

• I am grateful for being...alive...a human being...healthy...loved...and (for the most part) accepted for who and what I am.
• I am grateful for my colleague...who saw something in me this morning that I might have necessarily seen today...my genuine ability to put life and plans on hold...and truly be in the moment (and yes I realize that sounds very zen, LOL)...addressing the needs of individuals right then and there, providing a safe environment for someone who simply needs an open mind and heart, as well as a willing ear to listen
• I am grateful for not having had been set on fire in my own home by burglars, for not being shot, for not being hit by a car, as well as for not being stabbed (causing me to have a prosthetic eye) *** a compilation of two clients I have recently been in contact with ***
• The above has taken place within short intervals of one another... imagine...getting over a bullet wound, only to be run over by a car (nearly paralyzed)...to then be stabbed shortly thereafter
• Or imagine being in the comfort of your own home, only to be robbed, setting on fire and left for dead...to have such severe degrees of burns that the hospital induces a comma to try and save your body...only to have to amputate your arm (from the elbow down)...and all you have left is a metal hook that you to walk around with in place of a hand (because you can't afford the nice "prosthetic" hand
• And yet, still you have the willpower and the motivation to go out there into the world and make it a better and safer place for everyone.

I AM TRULY GRATEFUL FOR BEING!!!!!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's "food for thought"

Much Love,
Serendipity2908