How to Respond to a Compliment and Remain Humble

When you receive a gift for on your birthday, you might not always love what you have been given, but you know that the gift-giver has spent time deciding what to buy for you and hoping they have chosen something that you will love.

Giving a gift makes you vulnerable, you are taking a chance by purchasing something that you think the other person might love, but they might not. They might reject your gift, they might act ungratefully and either say out loud, or show you with their facial expression that they aren’t happily accepting the present. Has that ever happened to you? How bad did it make you feel, and how much did it put you off buying further gifts for that person?

Imagine if you gave a gift to a friend and they reacted by saying “No, I don’t want that”, please don’t buy me any gifts in the future. Total rejection. Feels absolutely rotten for the gift giver. And doesn’t feel good for the gift recipient either. But happily, not many people behave like that, do they?

Have you ever thought of a compliment as a gift? It is an act of love passed from one person to another with the purpose of bringing joy to the recipient.

Take a moment to think about the last time someone gave you a genuine compliment. How did you react? Did you accept their gift with grace? Or did you say, “Oh no I wasn’t that good”, “What, this old thing?”, or “I meant to say something better”.

A reaction like this gives both the giver and receiver the horrible feelings associated with rejecting a gift.

When someone offers you a compliment, they’re saying that they’ve noticed something they love about you. When you deflect or deny it, you’re basically arguing with them. You’re returning their lovely kind words with an insult.

Learning how to receive a compliment is almost as important as learning how to give one. I get why you are humble. No one likes a show off, no one wants to be perceived as cocky or over confident.

So what’s the best response to a compliment? It is as simple as this… Just say ‘Thank you.’

That’s it. Thank you is always a great reply.

However, you can make the compliment giver feel even better by adding a few words after ‘thank you’ to show just how much the compliment meant to you.

“That is really kind of you.”

“I really appreciate you noticing that.”

or my absolute favourite…

‘Thank you, that really made my day’

Add these extra words and you have moved to being a great gift receiver. The giver will feel brilliant and be so happy they took the time to say those words to you - and guess what because they feel great, the next time something lovely about you pops into their head, they are much more likely to say it. You receive more compliments, you grow in confidence, you

Knowing how to accept a compliment becomes a habit with practice. Research shows that it take approximately twenty-one times of practicing something for it to become a new habit, so start practicing now. The next time someone compliments you, reply with “Thanks, that has really made my day” and you’ll definitely notice a difference in the way people behave around you in no time! The more compliments you accept, the more compliments you will be offered, leading to a big increase in your self-esteem and confidence, just by saying

“Thanks, you have really made my day”!

Make it a habit, give out more compliments, people will love being around you, they will copy your behaviour and give out more compliments, people will love being around them - world peace!!! Well maybe not quite, but it will certainly help move the world closer to peace with the amazing positive vibes rippling out into the world.

And if you want a hand, choose from one of the beautiful wordings in the Theta Jewellery with meaning 'Share Your Three' range. Try it, I’d love to know how you get on.

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