{"id":22206,"date":"2012-09-12T00:08:14","date_gmt":"2012-09-12T07:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/?p=22206"},"modified":"2012-09-12T00:08:14","modified_gmt":"2012-09-12T07:08:14","slug":"take-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/22206","title":{"rendered":"Take that!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

Thanks for stopping by.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Y-O-U just made my day. And I happen to know you look\u00a0absolutely gorgeous right now.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pause ………………………………………………………………………………………………<\/p>\n

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………<\/p>\n

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………<\/p>\n

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Now, tell me the truth, how did you react to my compliment?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I’m hoping you felt a little flower of joy bloom inside your chest.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I’d love it if you thought, “She’s right,\u00a0I DO look great today.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The thing that troubles me is the possibility that you flinched, fidgeted, and started shooting down that compliment before it even got the chance to make you smile \u2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

“What’s her<\/em> motive?”<\/p>\n

“That’s over-the-top.”<\/p>\n

“She doesn’t really mean it.”<\/p>\n

Or.<\/p>\n

“Yeah, right. I’d feel\u00a0absolutely gorgeous if I could\u00a0get my nose straightened, enlarge my eyes, lower my brow, raise my brow,\u00a0tuck my tummy, thin my thighs,\u00a0lift my butt\u00a0…”<\/p>\n

You know the drill.<\/p>\n

If we aren’t doing it ourselves, we’re hearing it from others. Women have a way of fending off praise like it’s poison. Somewhere along the way, we seem to have confused putting ourselves down with politeness.<\/p>\n

I think it’s time for a change.<\/p>\n

Complimenting friends, coworkers, and even the occasional stranger feels as fabulous as doling out daisies.<\/p>\n

Receiving kind words should be as pleasurable\u2014and as easy. Who wouldn’t accept a daisy with decorum?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I’m going to imagine myself pushing the pause button after getting a compliment.<\/p>\n

“What a gorgeous blouse\u2014you look fabulous in that color!!!!”<\/p>\n

Wait \u2026<\/p>\n

Time to catch my breath, bite my tongue.<\/p>\n

Thinking something negative is not an option.<\/p>\n

Instead, I catch hold of that compliment and visualize one of my favorite breathtaking\u00a0iris in its place.<\/p>\n

The response is suddenly so simple:<\/p>\n

Thank you.<\/p>\n

Turn those words loose; let ’em fly.<\/p>\n

Together, they make magic, and the effect is almost startling in its sweetness. As soon as I utter the words thank you<\/em>, I feel\u00a0resplendent!<\/p>\n

But even more satisfying is the expression on the face of the person who paid me some praise. She doesn’t cringe or shrug the way she might if I made a mess of her thoughtfulness.<\/p>\n

Instead, she beams, grateful that her gift was accepted just the way she meant it.\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Thanks for stopping by.   Y-O-U just made my day. And I happen to know you look\u00a0absolutely gorgeous right now.   Pause ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………………   Now, tell me the truth, how did you react to my compliment? … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[385],"class_list":["post-22206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gratitude","tag-gratitude-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22206\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raisingjane.org\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}