"You Look Nice Today!"

--by Aljay, posted May 31, 2013

About seven years ago, whenever I would notice that someone looked nice, I started telling them that they looked nice. Shorty afterwards, I came up with an observation:

If you tell five people during the day that they look nice, at the end of the day, six peole (you have to count yourself!) feel great.

Over the years, I've had many fruitful experiences with this. Here are a few:

One day, I was riding around town with a friend when we rolled to a stop at a traffic light. As we waited for the light to turn green, a man walked across the crosswalk. He looked very together, so I called out, "Hey, you look sharp today!"

Pointing towards a building, he said, "Thanks, but I was more sharp in there." His comment puzzled me. But before I could ask about it, the light turned green, and we drove on. I ask my friend who was driving, "What did he mean?"

My friend informed me that we were at the corner of a radio station and the man crossing the street was the voice on the radio.

Then I understood. But no matter who he was, the biggest thing for me was that he was smiling when he accepted my compliment. :)

Later that day, there was a woman standing on the corner where we were turning, and I yelled the compliment again:"You look nice!"
She was just taking a sip from a bottle of water and started to laugh. I felt good to get a laugh. After all, laughter is just an intensified verbal smile. :)

Another day, while seated at a restaurant, there was a young lady sitting near me. I really did not care for the shirt she was wearing, but she did look nice in it, so I told her, "You look nice today."

She looked at me and rolled her eyes a little. Well, her friend sitting next to her told her, "He just gave you a compliment. Say thank you."I don't remember if she said "thank you" or not, but what I did notice was that her friend was smiling from my "You look nice today" compliment. I call that "Smile Success!" :-)

7766 Reads

Posted by Aljay
May 31, 2013
Comments (14)

Readers Comments

vitus wrote: Thats great. When you tell someone that he or she looks good then you also feel good with-in you.

Loretta wrote: Aljay, it never fails to bring a smile to someone's face when you compliment them. Keep spreading the joy!

nayana wrote: I love your do-ing. I do this also, alot to mummys, especially mummys with new borns. Mums are such selfless souls, giving much of their energy and love to their children. I know from experience that as a new mum, with all the things to do/learn/take care of, it was hard to find the time to take care of myself aas i did pre baby and often id leave the house not feeling so great about how i looked. To get a compliment like you are offering would make a mummys day. Thing is mummys in my opinion, glow brightly we just dont see it in ourselves enough. Keep up the amazing kindness, and thank you for sharing your love around.

Davinci pharaoh wrote: A graceful compliment is so nice, but remember : praise loudlu, but blame softly.

crazydane wrote: I like this, but you have to be careful, people don't misunderstand. I complimented an older guy and he followed me the whole store around, until i told him i was happily married, just trying to spread smiles. He was not amused by me "leading" him on. :-(

Klmr wrote: For quite some time, when i see an elderly woman in the supermarket, i will (genuinely) compliment her on something she is wearing or her hair or whatever, and it is such a thrill to see a smile spread across her face, and her eyes crinkle. For all i know, those might be the only kind words she's heard in a while. To those who might wonder why my compliments aren't addressed to both sexes. One time i did compliment an elderly man's jacket and i think he misconstrued my compliment as an opening line! ;-)
Oh, gosh, i just read the comment before this and someone had a similar experience!

Tamilyn wrote: I love this. Soo simple and it truly brings smiles. I love nothing more then to compliment a pretty sweater or handboag on a lady or a sharp suit or neatly dressed gentleman. Thanks for reminding me i am not alone in my randomness xo

shalarx wrote: Success!

MakeSomeoneSmile wrote: That is wonderful, keep up the great work!

jsmc10 wrote: I often think this and have to work on actually getting the confidence to tell people. I have done it a couple of times and it feels good. Just, I dont want people to take it the wrong way I guess :/

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