Remember the compliments and forget the insults. This is easier said than done. As soon as I hear a slight, or an imagined slight, I’m readying the chisel and a piece of stone so that I can etch it and drag it round with me forever. Whereas the compliments are as transient as soap bubbles. Why do I etch the negatives in stone and allow the positives to disappear, it makes no sense.
I was re-reading my illustrated journal last night and I’d realised that I’d been making a conscious effort to make a note of compliments. True to form I’d forgotten them immediately but writing them down has meant that I have recorded them in someway. Writing down the negatives also means that I am able to revisit things as I wrote them down at the time, without the later add-ons and interpretations that happen as time passes.
I should also work harder on receiving and giving compliments. I’m terrible at receiving them, I just shuffle nervously and can never think of anything to say, and I also stay just as quiet when I should be giving compliments, lots of nice things swirl around my brain but don’t seem to make it to my mouth! Hopefully the one will help the other.
