27 December 2020
What does it say about you when you are not able to give someone a genuine compliment? I know that I can be stingy at times – holding back my recognition of the talents and accomplishments of others for fear of exposing my own shortcomings. But that’s not necessarily something to be ashamed of. When you recognize the strengths of others, you are acknowledging areas of your life that you can work to improve.
To give compliments, to express appreciation, to recognize when others do well (even when their abilities surpass your own) is helping you learn about yourself! Each human has remarkable gifts, and you are no different. There are things you can do that no one can do better. If you find yourself struggling to celebrate in the good fortunes and abilities of others, you’ve got some work to do. If finding a compliment of genuine truth is hard, it’s because you are afraid to expose the frailties of your ego. No need to protect your ego because fear is never a means of progress. Truthfully, when you find strengths in people, you’re bound to find weaknesses in them as well. And this is why we often have trouble in delighting in the strengths of others – because it has a way of shedding light on things within ourselves for which so much work needs to be done.
Exposing areas of yourself that ned improvement is definitely a good and wholesome thing. Complimenting others shouldn’t make you feel inferior, it should help you to be reflective about your own strengths and weaknesses. So give it a try – find something positive, encouraging about someone, and dole out compliments aplenty, today. Don’t feel ashamed of your weaknesses, feel empowered about recognizing all of those things you can do to improve yourself. Feel empowered to celebrate in the strengths of others without fear of exposing your inferiority. That’s nonsense. Compliment and celebrate someone today – you’ll be so surprised at the benefit it has for you too.