Back in the era of my schooling, being greeted with my name ‘Panda’ first thing in the morning made me self-conscious. My heartbeat would race, hoping my teachers would not call my name during question time!
It’s comical having such a name. Why did my parents name me Panda – a bear with two GIANT black dots surrounding its eyes!!! I know they treasure me but they could have picked a different name. This thought was with me growing up…
Moving to Britain, I though my English name would free me from this Panda saga. But it did not end there. The name business goes on. This time it’s my surname! Whenever I am asked to spell it, the other person repeats ‘WHY U’? What? Two letters ‘Y’ and ‘U’!
This is a Double Whammy.
I am stuck with my comical name forever!!!
My name is Polly Yu. I learnt to find pleasure in my name as age kicked in, and transmute emotions emanating from the demands of modern life through humorous imaginations – a character such as Kokoro – she has been living vividly in my mind, aka ‘Satellite’ for a long long time. Not taking things personally deflates emotional reactions. It is easy to be trapped in negative thoughts when met with destructive words or actions.
We can learn to reframe our thoughts but others won’t know about your inner feelings. When noticing others in a downbeat mood, we may not be sure what we can do to make them feel our presence and support.
Having lived in different countries and navigated through cultural differences, how we express our empathy or compassion in one culture may not work with another.
Communicating our emotions can be challenging as we do not necessarily want to verbalise our true feelings. Labelling our emotions with special expressions and showing our support through humorous cartoon characters can bring some laughter to us. It’s consoling, and it allows us to connect with others in an entertaining way.
Hence, Piksy and Brucie were born. I see a connection between our brain and their antennae – their functions carry GREAT power and enable us to communicate with the outside world and with ourselves.
I hope that they together with their confidants will deepen your interactions with others and yourselves, and make everyone smile! Embrace your emotions and share your compassion with others through Piksy and Brucie.
Our empathy can be expressed in silence through charming cartoon characters and such kindness creates profoundness for you and others. (A quote adapted from Lao Tzu).
“Your kindness in thinking creates profoundness.”
Best wishes
Polly
