Watch “Lessons from the Sunflower” now on TELUS Optik TV channel 8, TELUS Stream+

 

My hope is that this film will inspire you to take steps to live your best life. To share the story of your wellness journey and the way you can help others.

People are fuel. We are inspiration to each other. The vehicle for that fuel is the collectives stories we share. I am incredible grateful and truly honoured to be a part of a documentary film where my story might be one that can inspire others. 

Living my story hasn’t been easy. When I was very young, I lost my mom to cancer. I got sick myself and it took ten years to rebuild Humpty Dumpty. I fell off a very tall wall.

But that is the first lesson from the sunflower, accept the fact that life is never a straight line. There will always be obstacles in the path of your life. A storm to knock you over when you’re growing tall toward the sun. When that happens and it will to all of us, just grow sideways. Keep growing. Bend, twist and adapt until you find the light again. 

 
 

The TELUS original Documentary Lessons from the Sunflower

A short synopsis of the film from the producer and director Ava Karvonen, Reel Girls Media Inc.

The film also weaves in Steven’s love of art and nature and shows how he adopted the sunflower as a symbol of adaptability and resilience in the face of great challenges.  The lessons of resilience from the sunflowers are both powerful and unique. A shift in what resilience truly means.

These three sunflower lessons are woven into the film a subtle way.

  • Lesson One: Accept that fact that life is never a straight line.

  • Lesson Two: Turn Constraints Into Something Beautiful.

  • Lesson Three: Wellness is a Journey. Rise together in that journey

Steven shot 1,000’s of photographs of Sunflowers that he grew 2020 & 2021. Tap to see some of the best.

The body can’t go where the mind won’t take it