The Power Of Compliments

[The Stage is on Fire] is a page-turner in which, much like life, there are no easy answers and yet each step of the journey yields insight and hope. This work of heart must not be missed!

Melanie Faith

Creative Writing Teacher, Essayist & Poet.

Katie Steedly’s first-person piece [The Unspeakable Gift] is a riveting retelling of her participation in a National Institutes of Health study that aided her quest to come to grips with her life of living with a rare genetic disorder. Her writing is superb.

The Society of Professional Journalists

In recognition of receiving the Dateline Award for the Washingtonian Magazine essay, The Unspeakable Gift.

I thank you … It is the authenticity of your “class notes”; and it is the delicacy and skill with which you present the nuances of classroom life and the actuality of your students’ and fellow teachers’ lives.

Maxine Greene

Philosopher and Education Scholar

Enter your email here to receive Weekly Wide-Awake

back

The Power Of Compliments

Compliments are important.

What Are Compliments

If gratitude and generosity had a baby, it might be a compliment. Compliment people when they treat you kindly walking out of an elevator or holding a door. Compliment people when they take time to help you jump your car battery in the grocery store parking garage. Complimenting people might even include returning a smile on a morning run. Compliments harken a sweeter time when we were less busy and isolated. Given the prevalence of snark and mean that oozes from the pores of our world, compliments have never been more important.

Compliments Are Easy

Compliments are simple. They can be reflexive and natural. They can come from a place that knows how great they feel. They don’t need to be rationed to remain sincere and heartfelt. They must be abundant. They must flow from a heart of loving kindness and create a river of generosity that runs upstream against judgement and cruelty. Did compliments used to happen more frequently? I am not sure. I am reclaiming their power now.

We Must Fully Receive Compliments

Receiving compliments is as important as giving compliments. We must take in words that compliment. We must hear every positive syllable as loudly as we hear the negative. That is hard for me when I think about how I can perseverate and stew. We must commit to muscle memory what it feels like to build up rather than tear down.

What Will You Do The Next Time You Can Give Or Receive A Compliment

When someone smiles, smile back. When someone thanks you, say you are welcome. When someone likes something you are wearing, accept that fully and feel a little more beautiful. Tell the people who are kind to you in your day-to-day life how much their kindness means. Make compliments become like breath.