Compliment Kindness

Everyone likes to get a compliment.  Giving compliments is kind!  And sure, sometimes it is a little bit embarrassing for some reason when people compliment us.  And we might not be all that great at accepting compliments…  Many of us “cancel” the compliment as soon as it comes our way: 

     Friend: “Wow, you did such a great job on that ski run!!  You looked like a pro!”

     Us:  “Awwww, ummm, well, not really…  I mean, did you see how I almost fell there making that turn??  It        was pretty sloppy really….”.

I think human beings NEED compliments.  And because that is my belief, I try to GIVE them.  And I do not mean fakey, “blow smoke up you’re a**” compliments. I am talking about honest to goodness sincere COMPLIMENTS.  And maybe it is because of some articles I read about the way we tend to talk to girls (complimenting them only on their beauty, not their skill or knowledge) that I try to notice and compliment people on things other than how they look.

So I decided to do a little experiment.  I made a sheet of tear-off strips entitled FREE COMPLIMENTS.  I hung it up on a telephone pole outside our house.  I wondered if people would take time to pause, read the compliments, and take one.

  

I was a bit excited to see if these compliments would inspire kindness...

Guess what?  THEY DID!  So I made a second sheet and hung it on another telephone pole.  The sheets have been hanging around 40 hours and already 10 compliments are gone!  I love it!!!  I think these random, “secret”, happened-upon compliments are a wonderful way to share kindness! 

I thought carefully about what to write on the tear-off slips.  I wanted them to be compliments that people would actually like to receive.  Things that would make them proud, happy, and content.  I didn’t want to focus on superficial things, but I did throw in a few about how people looked (for good measure).  I was excited to see which slip would get taken first.  I really thought, “No, those pants do NOT make your butt look big” would be the first to go.  It was funny and might make someone laugh.  But I was pleased that “You are a great cook” went first instead!  I bet whoever took it really IS a great cook and doesn’t hear that enough from the people she/he cooks for. "You are wicked smart" was also taken early :) . 

Compliments, free of charge of course!!  Take one!  :)

I am would like to attach the documents I made here, but Blogger does not have a way to attach a file...  Please email me at  kindnessactivist@gmail.com and I will gladly send you the files needed to make it easy for you.  You can use my template - why reinvent the wheel?  Then I ask that you SHARE THE COMPLIMENTS.  Find good spots to hang them!  Mine are on telephone poles in our neighborhood, which has a lot of people taking walks.  You might choose to hang it on a grocery store bulletin board.  Or at your place of worship.  Any place could be a good place to give a compliment! 

Color me SO HAPPY.  This trio stopped and studied the compliments for a long time!!  They had a hard time choosing, so each girl took 2 I think!  One of them took one that said, "Your kids are sure lucky to have YOU as a mom".  I can't wait for them to get home and hand it to their mother!!

I like to think that whoever took the slips from my signs has squirreled them away in their wallet, to be discovered again another day.  I hope that they took the compliments to heart.  I think maybe because they were given anonymously and not in person, they might be more genuinely accepted and not negated by the receiver.

I like that people are accepting the compliments - it makes me very happy

Help me spread some compliments!!!  Email me for the files and start giving out free compliments! And please comment on this piece if you do, and let me know where you posted yours and if people took them!  Because really, everyone could use a compliment, don’t you think?

It worked!  People accepted the compliments!

P.S. – By the way, “No, those pants do NOT make your butt look big” has not been taken yet.  I think people want the GENUINE compliments, ones they wish their friends and family would really say, and not just the silly ones.