Compliments

Hello there! Glad you could drop in and glad to have you. You're looking very nice this evening.

Didn't that make you feel good? Of course! Everybody likes a friendly attitude and an honest compliment... you and me both. And, with the right attitude, there's always something positive and good to say to somebody or about somebody.

When I was a kid, my mother would browbeat me, slapping me on the head, yelling "Stand up straight!" Which made me feel bad, retreat and slump even more. If instead she would have said "You're a handsome fellow!" I would have felt ten foot tall, and would have acted like it.

Not much came from my ex but commands and criticism. The only compliments I ever got from her was after she left, in Dear John emails (I'm sure she felt magnanimous). Wish she'd left years ago.

It is always our choice to criticize or compliment each other. Putting me down made my mother and my ex feel better about themselves, who were both failures in life.

[An aside: There is a possibility of entering a co-dependency relationship while complimenting, so I've got to watch it, and give the compliments but always put the monkey on their back to feel better on their own.]

I finally "got it" only after leaving home as a young man: the Secret To Life is to smile, have a positive attitude, and compliment each other!

A corollary to that is not just to compliment but also to make the other person look good too... but that is for another day's blog.

What does smiling cost you? What does giving a compliment cost you? Nothing. How does it make you and me feel? Happy!

It's all about the attitude, and which attitude you pick is your choice. Love others, and choose a positive attitude. If you can't love them, then leave them, because they don't need your put-downs.

'Nuffsaid.

-©2007 by Willy
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