Kindness Challenge Day 10: Send Flowers to Someone :)

This is Day 10 of the 14-Day Kindness Challenge held in Nov 2012, where we do different acts of kindness for 14 days. The challenge is now over but you can do the tasks in your own time. Visit the overview page for all the challenge tasks.

Hello everyone! :D Welcome to Day 10 of the 14-Day Kindness Challenge! ;)

FOUR DAYS LEFT. Final Chance to Get Involved in Kindness Challenge!!

Time flies. :( In just four days, the 14-Day Kindness Challenge is going to come to a close.

Did you put your best foot forward in the past 10 days? Have you shared your results with everyone in the comments section? Can you say without regret that you have given this Kindness Challenge your all by the time it ends on 15 November? (We will be having a wrap up session on 15 November after the 14th task.)

If not, it’s not too late. You still have four days left. The nine tasks to date and their respective comments sections are as follow:

• Day 0: Get at least ONE Friend / Family Member to Join the Challenge! | 31 Comments
• Day 1: Give a Hug to Everyone You See | 89 Comments
• Day 2: Give Up Your Seat To Someone | 45 Comments
• Day 3: Write 3 Thank-You Notes to 3 People You Appreciate | 49 Comments
• Day 4: Sign Up For Volunteer Work (On Top of Whatever You Have Been Doing) | 53 Comments
• Day 5: Give a Genuine Compliment to at Least 3 People | 38 Comments
• Day 6: Talk to Someone You Don’t Normally Talk To | 48 Comments
• Day 7: Make a Donation | 44 Comments
• Day 8: Pick Up Litter | 30 Comments
• Day 9: Write a Letter to Someone Who Has Made a Difference in Your Life | 19 Comments

Look forward to interacting with you there!

Just ONE Participant Away From Hitting 800 Participants!

We are just ONE participant away from hitting the 800-participant mark!! Can I get some of you latecomers to join in the remaining 4 days of the challenge??

Join us, please! It is not too late to join! You still have four days to enact kindness; besides, the point of this challenge is to make a pledge to uphold kindness in your life, not (just) about doing the 14 tasks in the 14 days!

• Challenge details: https://personalexcellence.co/blog/kindness-challenge/
• Sign up here: https://personalexcellence.co/blog/kindness-challenge/#comment

My Day 9 Review: Letter to Someone Who Has Made a Difference

Day 9’s task was to Write a Letter to Someone Who Has Made a Difference in Your Life.

I selected my ex-manager and ex-mentor from my previous company, P&G (Procter & Gamble). He was my brand manager when I interned back in 2005 (I was still a second year student in NUS, National University of Singapore, then. A little baby!! :D ). I later secured a pre-placement offer with P&G after a successful two-month internship. That was two years before I was slated to graduate. (I later decided to graduate one year earlier and start work early.)

While I never got the chance to work with my ex-manager anymore after I returned to work in P&G after graduation, the internship experience remained etched in my mind as one of the more formative periods of my life.

My letter to my ex-mentor. The final message was about 700 words long.

As my ex-mentor and I are no longer in direct contact (he has been transferred to China for work), I’ve sent him the message via LinkedIn instead, where we are already connected. Our last communication was on LinkedIn and I see his status updates on LinkedIn from time to time, so I know my message is going to reach him (at one point or another).

As I had mentioned in my comment at Day 9’s task post, it felt really good articulating my gratitude to him in a formal capacity. I had previously thanked him from time to time for what he had done for me during the internship, but it was always in a passing remark as part of a late night conversation online, catch-up session in the office, or part of a meeting about something else. I hope he will read the letter soon and know the kind of impact he has brought and will continue to bring to others’ lives.

Now, let’s move on to today’s task!

Day 10: Flowers

Flowers. Aren’t they a beautiful creation of nature?

I think flowers are such a wonderful gift to mankind. And I think that it’s such a joy to receive flowers and to give others flowers.

A beautiful bouquet of flowers I got during a PE Readers’ Meetup in Singapore, earlier this year (June). Thank you so much Ruth for the flowers again! :) Believe it or not, it is still with me in my room (as a dried bouquet)! I’ve kept it for remembrance. :)

The ubiquity of flowers in gift-giving culture has led to a whole slew of meaning to be associated with them. Here are some popular flowers and the meanings associated with them:

• Baby’s breath — Innocence, pure of heart
• Bird of Paradise flower — Liberty, magnificence, good perspective, faithfulness (given by a man to a woman)
• Buttercup — Riches
• Carnation — Fascination; distinction; love
• Clover (white) — “I promise”
• Daisy — Innocence, loyal love, purity, faith, cheer, simplicity
• Forget-me-not — True love
• Hibiscus — Rare beauty, delicate beauty
• Lavender — Devotion, distrust
• Lily (white) — Purity
• Lotus — Purity, chastity and eloquence
• Rose (red) — True love
• Rose (pink) — Grace
• Thistle — Nobility
• Tulip (yellow) — Hopeless love
• Morning glory — Love in vain

(For the full list, check out: Language of Flowers.)

I always think that every girl (perhaps guy) would like to receive flowers from another in his/her lifetime. And that even if someone has received flowers before, it is always still a nice, warm, and pleasant surprise to receive flowers out of the blue, even if there is no reason driving it. 

For those of you guys, have you ever given flowers to your partner, loved ones, good friends, or even colleagues? For those of you girls, can you think of any friends whom you can give a pleasant surprise by way of giving him/her flowers?

Today, your task is to send flowers to someone! :D

Your Task: Send Flowers to Someone

Level 1: Send flowers to one person

Think of one person you want to send flowers to. It can be a guy or a girl (who says you can’t give flowers to guys?).

You can get one flower, three flowers, or a whole bouquet if you feel like it.

It doesn’t have to be an exorbitant expenditure. You can get something simple at a low cost. Or, if you chose to extract the flowers from your garden (if you have one), that would be effectively free! (Be careful not to harm the plant while exacting the flowers by the way.)

In fact, if you are up for it, you can give origami flowers even. Here are a couple of websites to get you started: How to Make Origami Paper Flowers and Origami Fun. (They teach you how to make origami flowers from lily, to rose, to tulip, and more.)

Then, either have the flowers delivered or pass them to him/her in person.

Level 2: Send flowers to more than one person

Same as Level 1, but to more than one person!

For myself, I already have in mind four people to give flowers to. Will be going out later today to shop for flowers, among other surprise gifts for one of the tasks later in the challenge (yes I do have a little head start since I know what are the tasks coming up; sorry about that folks!!). Will update in due time. ;)

(Images: Hands holding red seeds, Flowers)