Compliments: Turn The Light Back On

In a world that’s sometimes quite fake, receiving genuine compliments can be a blessing. With National Compliment Day just over, I thought of the following story and realized that they are a way to turn the light back on – for ourselves when we receive them graciously and for others when we give them sincerely.

According to a Hawaiian story, each child is born with a perfect bowl of light. The light represents her true essence. When a child grows and learns to respect her light – then she will grow towards her highest state of being. However, if she starts to distrust the world around her and resists the light because of fear, shame, guilt, the light begins to dim. Every time she resists the light, she drops a stone into the bowl until the bowl becomes full of stones and her light goes out.

Turn The Light Back On

Compliments when given sincerely manage to reach a person’s soul. Fake ones are pretty easy to spot – sometimes given when a person wants something from us, and often when the person wants to be complimented in return. To my mind, false compliments and what my cousin called ‘airy-fairy’ kisses go well together! 😉

Also, authentic compliments don’t need a lot of explanation – they’re simple and when given in person they’re accompanied with a warm smile that reaches the giver’s eyes. It’s not for nothing that compliments are known as ‘positive strokes’ – they have the ability to make people feel good about themselves.

Having said that, some of us have a hard time receiving compliments. I think receiving a compliment graciously takes practice too.  We need to take them with open arms, not feeling the need to put ourselves down or be pressured to return it. The best way to receive a compliment would be to say a sincere ‘Thank you’ with a warm and open smile.

So every time to you praise someone, do so sincerely, remembering that you’re helping to remove a ‘stone’ from someone’s bowl of light and don’t resist the them from removing a stone from yours – take compliments graciously and shine!

Remember this, dear readers: