There was a great project a photographer did where he would take someone’s picture, call them beautiful and then capture their reaction. Placing the photos side by side, it was amazing to see the difference everyone had in how happy and unfiltered their smile was. Looking at this, I decided to try something myself, only not exactly the same and without capturing the before and after. Whenever I had an encounter with someone in person, I would give them a compliment. It was organically worked into the conversation and left at that. Could be telling someone that I liked their shoes, hat, earrings, haircut, hair color or anything along those line. Sometimes it would be a little more personal with eyes, smile or complimenting their laugh. Nothing over the top or creepy. Just a passing compliment to anyone and for no other reason than to give them something positive. I never linger on the compliment or give a long pause in expectation of a response and would just walk away or redirect my attention if it was at the end of the shared moment in life. A few things became very clear. It got easier and easier to find something to compliment about someone and work it into the conversation the more I did it. The biggest thing I noticed is that people didn’t know how to accept the compliment, left just smiling, almost like they were expecting a punch line. Often times the smile got bigger and they thanked me after they saw that I was being genuine. The funniest thing was how much more noticeably appreciative the men were than the women about getting a compliment. Why do you think that is? Are we a society that puts taboos on when a compliment is appropriate, what the hidden agenda there is or who is deserving of them? Are you good at giving compliments? Are you good at accepting them as genuine and deserving? When is the last time you gave someone that you’ve never met, a compliment, for no other reason, than for them to hear it?
