The other morning, my husband said to me, “I love you” and my normal response would be “I love you”; however, I instead said, “Why?” I think he was surprised by my response, knowing it was out of the ordinary for me to reply in that fashion. Even with the slight change in the conversation, he began to mention just a few reasons why he loves me. Although my intention was not to ask for why he loves me, it was interesting what happened next. I began to hear words like “you are caring”, “I love your smile”, and “because you love me.” As I quietly wiped a few tears from the side of my eyes, I began to truly think about the kind of person I am and want to continue to be. Even though I did not disagree with anything he said to me, it has become much easier for me to accept compliments when they come my way. I was not always that way. Does this sound like someone you know? Maybe that someone is you? Do you consider yourself worthy of compliments when they are expressed to you? My new favorite way to greet those special people is, “Hello, gorgeous!” Who doesn’t like being called that?? I even said it this morning to a stranger who was fixing her as she left the restroom. She will never see me again but maybe it just made her day. Are you one to give out compliments to others? Isn’t it just fun to watch their expression as they stop and stare at you? When someone says something nice about you, how do you respond? Are you one to quickly dismiss they way someone thinks about you? Why or why not? Do you think you are not worthy of the nice words that are shared with you or about you? I read a story that asked women to share their greatest accomplishment and the women had a very difficult time in starting that sentence with, “I did a great job at ….” Why do we do that? Are we afraid of someone else seeing who we really are and how we interact with the people around us? We need to be proud of who we are and accept those compliments when they come our way. Too many times, there are people out there that will put us down and find a way to keep us down. Believe that when someone tells you something nice that they believe those words represent you well. Oh, and I did tell my husband, “I love you” and smiled at him.
Michelle Homme 2013 ©
