Tomorrow (January 24) has been designated as National Give a Compliment Day. I've already written about the importance of learning how to accept a compliment, but today I want to talk about giving them. How often have you been the recipient of a compliment that felt like a thinly veiled insult? This has happened to me more than I'd like to remember. Since I try to give people the benefit of the doubt, let's pretend they didn't mean it to come across that way.
I'm sure I've probably been guilty of doing this myself, sometimes without meaning to (and maybe on purpose from time to time). Our words have such power. I'm not one to make resolutions with the coming year, but one thing I do want to be more conscious of is how I speak to people. Since our words can have such an impact, I want mine to bring encouragement and peace....not doubt and self-loathing. This applies to what I say to others as well as my own inner dialogue with myself.
I bet that if we really took the time to look with our hearts at the people we encounter, we wouldn't soon run out of compliments to pay them. And doesn't it feel so good when someone takes the time to positively acknowledge a small thing about your behavior or appearance? Let's do the same for others.
Last year had its fair share of challenges for all of us, I'm sure. One of mine was a work situation. In it, I learned that folks are often unable to pay others compliments because their own self-worth is lacking. I am learning that the best way to feel better about yourself is to make someone else feel good about himself. It's like a big ol' contagious warm fuzzy love fest whose impact can spread beyond our wildest dreams.
Each day, I want to look for opportunities to give compliments. I hope you'll do the same. I'm just one person and so are you. But our words have power and we can make an impact for good if we just look for small ways to do so.
