Sweet Words for Strangers

How many times have you been out with your friends and you say to them (or they say to you) "Wow that is a cute outfit!" or "You look really good!" or even "I love your new hairdo!" Just the other day I was out with my girlfriends and noticed that one of them had colored her hair from blonde back to brown and I told her, "Your hair is cute! But your lucky, your hair looks cute either way!"

Most of the time when you receive a compliment it makes you feel good about yourself, sometimes even making your whole day. Here's another example: Another one of my girlfriends and I take our kids to the library every week for story time. One day she came in with her two kids in a kind of fitted 3/4 sleeve shirt. I told her "Wow! You look good...you look so tiny in that shirt!" Her midsection was looking really fit. Sometimes its hard to tell how people really look when their normally wearing t-shirts or something that flows a little more away from the body. She got this big grin on her face and told me thank you. Later that evening when I was checking my email I had received one from her. In it she told me thank you again for noticing and how good she felt after I told her that and how it made her whole day. I was happy that I was able to make her feel so good about herself.

Now I know there are many of us that can get catty when we're out with our friends and see someone walking by and think "OMG what is she thinking wearing that?!" I know I'm guilty of it...I can be very cynical. It's probably the worst when my girlfriends and I are sitting on the beach getting some sun and watching all the people walking by. But in that same breath there are times when we're sitting there and say "Wow...I wish my body looked like that" or "that is such a cute swimsuit...it really flatters her figure."

Thinking about things like this got me thinking, instead of just saying nice things about people to our friends, why don't we ever just go up to a perfect stranger and say "I just thought I'd let you know you look very nice in that outfit" or "Your hair looks gorgeous!" Why don't we compliment others?

How would you feel if some random person came up to you and said "I was just admiring your outfit and thought you should know how nice you look." If someone came up to me and told me they thought I looked nice I would love it! Just as a few wrong words can ruin your whole day, a few nice words can turn it right around and make it so much better.

So think about it next time you are out and about...complimenting someone might make them go from being down in the dumps to on cloud nine with just a few sweet words.