𝐁𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞’𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 🌻

 𝐖𝐞𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐬 #181

𝐁𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞’𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 🌻

I recently read about the 𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐨𝐫𝐲. It talks about sunflowers turning towards the sun during the day — a behaviour called 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘴𝘮. They turn towards the light, standing tall and bright, taking in warmth and energy.
At night, however, it is said that two sunflowers turn towards each other — sharing warmth and energy. Gifting two sunflowers to a person is said to denote care, warmth and affection.

Quite an interesting theory — and so simple.

How many times in your life have you gifted a sunflower — or two sunflowers? A simple flower, yet it denotes so much positivity. It doesn’t always mean gifting a sunflower in the literal sense — it can simply mean radiating warmth and positive energy to someone who may need it.

𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫?

Many times, I guess…
Every success, every moment of happiness fills us with warmth and good energy. We become bright, stand tall and radiate that richness of life.
We focus on the positive and the light, seek growth and warmth, bring brightness to others and stay oriented towards hope even in difficult times.

But instead of only giving a sunflower to someone — or being a sunflower ourselves — 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞’𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞?
• Encourage when someone feels low
• Support when someone struggles
• Appreciate instead of criticising
• Bring warmth into everyday interactions
• Light up someone’s face with a smile through your behaviour
• Walk into a room and bring sunshine with you
• Bring happiness into someone’s day
• Be a person who turns toward the light — and helps others see it too

𝘚𝘶𝘯𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘯 — 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘪𝘵.
𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺.

𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐠𝐢𝐟𝐭 𝐚 𝐬𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 —
𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞’𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞.

I leave you to this sunflowery thought on this 𝑾𝒆𝒅𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒚........ 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒈𝒖𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒅𝒅𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒌... 𝑹𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒆... 𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 '𝒃𝒍𝒖𝒆𝒔' 𝒏𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒆 '𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝑮𝒐𝒅' 𝒇𝒐𝒓! 😊

#𝖶𝖾𝖽𝗇𝖾𝗌𝖽𝖺𝗒𝖶𝗁𝗂𝗌𝗍𝗅𝖾𝗌

𝗜𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗲... 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗳𝗮𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗲.

 𝐖𝐞𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐬 #180

𝗜𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗲... 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗳𝗮𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗲.

“𝘖𝘩𝘰 – 𝘪𝘴𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘥𝘦 𝘬𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘯..... 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘩 𝘴𝘦 𝘬𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘩𝘪 𝘳𝘦𝘩𝘵𝘢”

“The boys cant play – Couldn’t win a simple match”

“The park is littered with paper… cant they even clean it properly”

“What a waste of time – I could have done this better than them”

Oooooffff --- don’t want to spoil the mid-week but these are just a few type of criticisms we hear quiet often

--Things don’t go as desired, and we start criticizing the person responsible for it

--Day doesn’t go well- we blame and criticize the person whom we saw on the mirror first

--Get stuck in a jam and the criticism for the government and what not flows more easily than the traffic

It is so easy for us to criticise that we often forget that we may the reason of the problem, or the problem may be a very temporary one or a minuscule one – 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨!!

But beyond criticism what can we do?

So here’s a mid week pause :

👉 Beyond criticism… what action can we take to make things better?

Doing a car pool to avoid jams, cleaning the area once an event is done, helping the organisers rather than criticising the mismanagement, encouraging what ever is being done, 

--looking at the good side of things rather than focusing on the bad things only.

So much could be done to make things better than to criticise

Because spectators criticise.

Contributors execute.

And progress is always built by contributors.

I leave you to this thought on this 𝑾𝒆𝒅𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒚........ 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒈𝒖𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒅𝒅𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒌... 𝑹𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒆... 𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 '𝒃𝒍𝒖𝒆𝒔' 𝒏𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒆 '𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝑮𝒐𝒅' 𝒇𝒐𝒓! 😊

#𝖶𝖾𝖽𝗇𝖾𝗌𝖽𝖺𝗒𝖶𝗁𝗂𝗌𝗍𝗅𝖾𝗌

The art of losing

𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀. 𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲.

 𝐖𝐞𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐬 #178

𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀. 𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲.

This weekend, I participated in an inter-society women’s cricket tournament and our society’s internal badminton tournament.

I didn’t win the badminton match, and our cricket team won 1 out of 3 matches.

It left me with mixed emotions — 𝘵𝘩𝘦 “𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳”, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘧 𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘦𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘱.

A conversation with a friend followed — about whether one should appear for a game only after sufficient practice, versus taking the courage to participate anyway. The debate ended over a cup of tea, with wins and losses momentarily 

forgotten — but the thought stayed with me.

Practice matters.

In sports, academics, or any field — practice helps us learn, improve, and perform better. Stepping into a tournament or exam without enough preparation may not always give the desired results.

At the same time, quitting something altogether because we feel “out of practice” isn’t the answer either. Along with FOMO, we may regret not showing up — missing the chance to learn, the experience, the fun, and the possibility of surprising ourselves.

𝗕𝗼𝘁𝗵 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲. 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗹𝘆, 𝗜 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗯𝗼𝘁𝗵 — practicing to be better and showing up despite imperfections.

Maybe it depends on the situation and what’s at stake. Sometimes we need to be fully prepared. And sometimes, it’s enough to just be present.

Because showing up is often the first win. 🌱

I leave you to this thought on this 𝑾𝒆𝒅𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒚........ 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒈𝒖𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒅𝒅𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒌... 𝑹𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒆... 𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 '𝒃𝒍𝒖𝒆𝒔' 𝒏𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒆 '𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝑮𝒐𝒅' 𝒇𝒐𝒓! 😊

#𝖶𝖾𝖽𝗇𝖾𝗌𝖽𝖺𝗒𝖶𝗁𝗂𝗌𝗍𝗅𝖾𝗌