World kindness day
If there’s anything the past few years has taught us, it’s that goodwill is the greatest trait of all.This World Kindness Day, we’ve teamed up with hugely successful author and Instagram sensation James Norbury of @bigpandaandtinydragon to celebrate his new title, The Journey. His books are heart-warming tales of friendship, adventure and compassion, drawing inspiration from his personal experiences and time spent volunteering as a Samaritan. We were lucky enough to get an exclusive interview with him, and we’ve asked him everything from where he gets his inspiration from, to how his valuable work with the charity has shaped his books. So, grab a cup of tea, sit back, and join us as we flick through the pages of his story.
Congratulations on the success of your first book. We’d love to hear more about where you get your inspiration…
The pictures normally come from within me. If I’m feeling some type of negativity, then I try to explore that feeling and work out why I feel like that deep down. Then when I have isolated what I believe to be the cause, I try to listen the quiet voice inside me, which normally has a fairly good answer. I then write the dialogue in a format which poses the problem, followed by what I believe to be a helpful answer.
I have studied spirituality and Buddhism for many years, and I think the solutions I come up with are also influenced by these ideas.
Art-wise – I really love east Asian art, particularly sumi-e and ukiyo-e so they have both have a lot of influence.
Tell us more about your time volunteering for the Samaritans and how that’s helped shape your stories…
During my time with Samaritans, I had my eyes opened to the sheer amount of suffering and distress in the world. When I was talking to the callers, I often thought how some of the ideas I’d come across would really help people, but Samaritans don’t offer advice so I couldn’t pass it on. Instead, I created Big Panda and Tiny Dragon as a way to share these ideas with people in a gentle and easily approachable way.
What’s your favourite illustration from the books and why?
I think the one of page 84 in Big Panda and Tiny Dragon which reads:
‘What if I meet people who don’t like me or the things I do?’ asked Tiny Dragon.
‘You must walk your own path,’ said Big Panda. ‘Better to lose them than lose yourself.’
I think this is an important reminder for me not to get caught up trying to please other people and also not to get upset or discouraged by their opinions. This is quite a popular image so I imagine a lot of other people feel the same way.
What do you hope readers will take away from your new book, The Journey?
Overall, I’d like people to come away with a sense of hope. The book is fundamentally about the idea that negative experiences will always come our way, but if we approach them in the right way and realise that they may end up having positive elements to them, it makes it far easier to weather the ups and downs we face daily.
World Kindness Day should be every day – do you have a mantra that you live by that helps you be a ‘good Samaritan’?
Something that helps me is to try to remember that most people are experiencing personal struggles on a daily basis. If you knew their struggles it would be much easier to be compassionate towards them. So even though you don’t know the details, treating them with kindness is a good idea.
As a brand inspired by the British coast, we’re big believers in the positive impact spending time near the water can have on your mental health. If you could spend a perfect day by the sea, where would you be?
Well, I do live by the sea so I walk along the coast most days, which is a real privilege and I do agree, the vastness to the ocean can have a very therapeutic effect. I guess if I could be by any piece of sea, it would be somewhere warm that I could snorkel and see amazing sea creatures, as I used to love doing that when I was younger… perhaps Costa Rica.
Failing that, a cafe on the sea front in a storm is pretty fantastic and living in Swansea, I can experience that fairly regularly.
To celebrate World Kindness Day, we’re running a competition with James to win three sets of his books – signed by the author himself*. Find out more over on our Instagram.
Competition closes on the 17th October 2022. T&Cs apply.