Say Anything

I think we sometimes forget how easy it is to make someone feel good.  We forget that the smallest gestures and the smallest acts of kindness are often the most significant. 

Standing in line somewhere today, a woman (a complete stranger to me) told me that my hair was beautiful. Now inside me is still a girl who is traumatized by having her short hair permed when she was eight years old. I don’t look at myself – ever – and think my hair is beautiful. This woman did not have to say that to me but she did (God bless her) and it left me (and my eight year old self) feeling great about me and my hair.

How often I have looked at someone and admired something about them only to keep the compliment to myself - where it usually burns as envy. Why not just say it?  Say what I’m thinking and make someone else feel great, if only just for a moment.

A compliment has the power to disarm the distance between two strangers.  A compliment can connect you with another person and bring out in them a genuine smile.  And strangers aren’t the only people worthy of our admiration.

Far too often I overlook the amazing qualities in those closest to me.  I almost expect them to look great as they always do and I should be saying, “You look great, as usual; I anticipate being greeted with their ever-positive outlook on life and I forget to tell them that I appreciate that about them; I see past their huge, infectious smile because I see it every day and I must remember to tell them, “I wish I had a smile like that”.

Some people (too few) are so good at paying people compliments on a regular basis.  They are always building people up and I love to wallow in their company as I always walk away feeling like I’ve got the world by the…you know.

I am going to try and pay this compliment I received today from that lovely stranger forward.  I am going to stop thinking nice (envious) thoughts about people and actually say them (one must be cautious not to come across as a total weirdo when paying strangers compliments).  And I am going to try and remember to acknowledge the great things I see every day in my friends and family (now that it’s on paper I won’t be the only one holding me to this expectation).

Challenge yourself today to give a compliment to a stranger or somebody close to you. Don’t just say anything, say something to make someone’s day.

***Time lapse*** 

There, I did it. I just told a woman in the pool that she looks fantastic in a bikini (as I’m writing this it seems borderline inappropriate) as she’s toting her two year old on her hip.  What was I really thinking - skinny bitch!