kossack -> RE: Compliments? (8/27/2007 6:24:12 AM)
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There's a quote, wrongly attributed to Nelson Mandela, but I don't remember who actually said it, something about "It is not our darkness that scares us. It is our light. Who am I, you think, to be so beauitful, intelligent, wonderful. Who are you not to be? Your playing small doesn't serve the world. When you let your radiance shine, you give other's permission to do the same." (Bad paraphrase, but I'm sure you know the quote.) This has been true for me. I had a very interesting moment a few days ago. I've trained myself that the 'only attractive' or polite way to respond to a compliment is with "thank you." But I was on a date with a man and he looked at me with this gaze of incredible, intense, present longing. Every other time I've seen that look in a man's eyes, I've looked down or defused it with a laugh or changed the subject. This time, I started to look down, then took his gaze full-on and just beamed--I saw myself the way he saw me and I don't think I've ever let anyone see that intensity or beauty in me and it was utterly profound. I don't know why it happened with this man, but it touched my core in a way I never expected. But, if I hadn't been saying "thank you" for years now, I couldn't have accepted this far more intense compliment. Look into his eyes, and see your reflection there. That is what he sees. Start with the verbal 'thank you's and let the true ones develop.
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