The Compliment Club
I have a secret. I love to give people compliments! I am a great believer that one of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make someone else happy! There are thousands of ways to make other people happy but, I think, one of the best ways is to give a person a well-deserved compliment! Have you ever noticed the lovely smile that transforms a friend’s face when you give him or her a compliment? It gives me so much pleasure to put a smile on a friend’s face!
When I say I love to give compliments, I mean I love to give a well-merited, honest word of praise to someone who deserves it!
There are several categories of compliments. The least meritorious are the ones that fall into the category I call “Self-Induced Compliments.” These are the ones that you are nudged into giving. A friend will ask you, “How do you like my new yellow plaid dress?” You may inwardly shudder but you do the polite, but dishonest thing, and say you love it! Yuck!
The second category is a sincere compliment about something your friend has bought and you praise it for its attractiveness or usefulness. I call these compliments “Practical Compliments.” “Oh, your new sweater looks so warm and toasty!’
The third kind of compliment stems from how well your friend does an activity or a job. An example could be if you compliment your friend on her ability to take excellent minutes at your antiques club or how much you admire her crocheting!
The best type of compliment, I think, are compliments on qualities or attitudes your friend has like patience, punctuality or being a good conversationalist!
As I said earlier in this blog one of the best ways to make ourselves happy is make someone else happy and giving a well-deserved, sincere compliment is an excellent way to make other people happy!
Wouldn’t it be nice if each of us reading this blog would give someone a compliment every day? We could form our very own “Compliment Club.” Membership is free!
Good bye for now.
Love,
Hope
