Compliments - apparently hard to give and receive. Make a real compliment to someone who has shared their creativity ]. Remember the point is to give our, not to expect the reward of reciprocity.

For many it seems, giving and receiving compliments is not as straightforward as you’d imagine a pleasant interaction might be. Its difficult to get it right I guess, especially these days when most compliments we may receive come online through social media from people unknown, and very often lead into some kind of advertisement for a product or service. Not entirely flattering really, if you love my photos so much then why do you think they may need your expensive retouching skills? Perhaps you didn’t actually look at my work at all?

I love to compliment people’s creativity when it connects with me or I find something special in it. But I don’t seem to get the tone right it seems, as no-one ever says that they appreciated the positive feedback or starts any kind of conversation. Typically I look to myself to take the blame for this, was I too effusive? Did I send it to the wrong address? Maybe for some people its difficult to hear positive words or else the opinions of anonymous strangers mean nothing, as often these are not pleasant or affirming. I can understand that position too.

So, today I would be interested to hear the experiences of others, in both accepting compliments and praise for your creative endeavours, and also strategies or guidelines you may use to initiate positive, complementary interactions by giving praise and compliments.