Category: Appreciation

This week’s QUOTE FOR STRESS:

“I can live for two months on a good compliment.” Mark Twain

Do you enjoy receiving a compliment? I know I do, but I didn’t always …. There are many people who just seem unable to accept compliments. When a friend or colleague compliments you on your shirt or a dress, do you tend to reply something like this “Oh, this old thing. I just pulled it on because I couldn’t find anything else to wear.” Well these might not be your exact words, but you get the gist of what I’m saying. Essentially you’re rejecting your friend’s compliment.

When someone gives you a compliment they are really giving you a gift. And the appropriate thing to do when anyone gives you a gift is to say thank you. You don’t decide whether you like the gift or not before saying thank you, do you? And you don’t return the gift to the giver if you don’t like it. So when someone gives you a compliment, just remember that this is a gift and say thank you. It really doesn’t matter whether you agree with the compliment or not. Use it is an opportunity to show love to your friend. It’s a wonderful chance to make your friend feel appreciated.

If you reject compliments enough times, they’ll stop coming your way. Mark Twain can survive for two months on a good compliment. Make a conscious effort to accept compliments when they come your way, and keep your negative thoughts to yourself! Your happiness level will start spiraling upwards!

THIS WEEK’S QUOTE FOR STRESS:

“Appreciating each other is a true family value, one that will bail out much of the stress on the planet and help strengthen the universal bond all people have.” Sara Paddison

Isn’t it true that we all like to be appreciated. When someone appreciates what I’ve done, it certainly motivates me to go the extra mile in a relationship. Relationships are marked by something called mutuality. I feed good things into your life and you do the same for me. Stephen Covey in his book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, refers to this as the ’emotional bank account’. You first have to make deposits into the other person’s emotional bank account before you can make any withdrawals. Withdrawals are times when you are thoughtless or lacking in appreciation towards that person. You can only get away with this if you’ve made enough deposits of good-will, loving actions and appreciation.

What a change we could make in this beautiful planet of ours if we start looking out for the good in people, rather than just focusing on the negative. What a wonderful universal bond this will create in our world!