My mum sent this photo a few days ago, marvelling at how something so amazing came from a tiny seed, dropped by a bird as he flew over her garden. She welcomed it as a promise that one day she too will be given a new, lasting life to replace the old tired version she has right now.

On this rainy day I’m noticing how the smallest of gestures can turn your life around; someone stepping in to type in a code at the self-service aisle when you’ve lost your balance, the dog making the end of your blanket into her bed, a robin landing on the fence opposite, the persistent tweeting that starts before the light, an impossibly happy smile from a baby. For the giver, these things might go unnoticed but for the person on the receiving end, these tiny things can mean the world.

That bird who dropped the seed, the man who entered the code, the robin who perched and the baby who smiled may not have known the changes they brought about. But you do.

It cost them nothing, but to you it meant everything. So next time you lend a hand, open a door or even just smile, remember that you may have had a sunflower’s impact on someone else’s day.