One thing that you can never give enough of is compliments to others. I’m not talking false compliments, but genuinely letting others know how you feel. Far to often we censor ourselves or simply assume that others somehow know how we feel which is often not the case (and even if it is, it’s still good to let them know how you feel on a regular basis).
For those that you may not know well, a genuine compliment can be the difference between a lousy day and one that all of a sudden looks a lot brighter than before the compliment was made. There really isn’t anything like a deep, warm, sincere compliment to make a person’s day.
If you haven’t given a lot of compliments in the past, it can take some courage to do so. I know it still does for me sometimes, but I also know that compliments for the most part are accepted with great joy and almost always brighten up a person’s day. My philosophy is to error on the side of giving out too many rather than too few.
If you get a chance today give someone a genuine compliment. It doesn’t matter if it is someone that you know well or just someone that you just happened to meet. Spend the day looking for good things in all the people you see and when you find them, let the person know. Feel free to share any compliments you make (or have made in the past) in the comments to add an extra 10 cents to the growing microloan fund.
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It’s wonderful to see the reward in their faces when you appreciate them. The best part for people I meet is that I too often forget that I’ve seen their new bag/jeans/etc, which means that I compliment it several times 🙂
Thank you for this blog and for the kitty hell one, they brighten up my days!
Done! I hope it put a little light into their day, I am going to make a point to compliment more often, I always feel pretty great when it happens to me.
The best compliment I ever got was from a homeless man in the neighborhood where I used to work (skid road.) One day he asked me for money because he was trying to get off the streets. I told him I worked down there and I just couldn’t give money to everyone who asked for money. (Heck, my coworkers and I weren’t doin’ that great ourselves.) But I also told him that my great-grandfather and his brother were hobos for many years and they got off the streets and had families and I knew he could do it too. We talked for a little while. I saw him a couple weeks later and he told me I’d really helped him that day for taking the time to talk to him and having faith in him.
I don’t know why, but I feel akward giving compliments. People where I work have become so untrusting they assume you want something and it makes the whole moment akward. However, more compliments to the wife the better both of our day goes, and that seems to hold true with all my family and friends, paticularly the female ones.
-Bill
What a great idea! That makes me realize how much I go around looking for the worst in people instead of the best. It’s a great goal to only look for the best in people that I meet and interact with! Thanks!
A genuine compliment pays emotional currency into another person’s reserve. Empowering passionate people to feel competent and appreciated is fundamental to encouraging them to contribute energetically to the human cause. If every person vocally appreciates and is appreciated by others, the world is instantly transformed into a better place, and the human experience is instantly changed from a self-seeking pursuit of one’s own needs to the self-affirming pursuit of the collective good.
People are very kind to compliment me for the animal rescue work I do. If it means a companion animal finds the perfect home or doesn’t lose the family it has, then that is all I care about. Please SPAY & NEUTER your pets. And you can support the animals through my weblink. Thank you!
i agree, giving someone a genuine compliment, is a wonderful gift , one that they will cherish, long after you have forgotten the words you uttered yourself 🙂