Compliments

Today in class we looked at feedback, particularly in the form of compliments.

We had to get into groups of 4, then go round and give each person a compliment that was superficial and then one that was deeper. It was hard work both from a giving and receiving point of view!

Here are what people said about me:
SUPERFICIAL
You are beautiful
We all like your infectious smile, you've got good teeth and appear friendly.
Nice eyes

DEEP
You're open
You're very real, genuine
Great sense of humour
Shining personalitly
So patient
Really caring
You're passionate
You are very organised.

I've written these down here as so often I find it difficult to remember my good points when put on the spot - so I can remind myself by looking on here!

As I received the compliments I felt myself get really hot and red. I tried to brush the compliments off by joking about my heating up etc and making a laugh out of it all (something I'm discovering I do quite a lot to hide what I really think/feel).

We then fed back to the group how it felt. We had all struggled with the exercise. We agreed that the British are quite reserved and don't always talk openly about this kind of stuff. We also agreed that we should compliment our friends and people more and point out their strengths (and possibly weaknesses too). Another interesting thing we discussed is whether when our friend are new, we see more of their qualities, then as we get to know them better we start to take these things for granted and don't see them so clearly unless we really think about it.

I also think that I just don't register in my brain people's good points and qualities. That doesn't mean I can't see them, I just don't very often think about them. Perhaps something I need to practice. I kind of just instinctively know whether I'd get on with someone and don't analyse it down to their individual qualities. It's nice to be able to compliment someone though.