Compliments, Kindnesses, and Helping Others Be Their Best
Ironwood Road hanging art mobile by Mark Leary.
On being worthy of love
“But I didn’t do anything special to deserve it,” said bird.
“Your worth,” replied bear, “isn’t based on anything you do; it’s based on who you are at the core.”
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📷: Ironwood Road
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“Our love saves us.” – @stephaniehson
His name was Ron Thiel.
He was an assistant soccer coach.
He smiled a lot.
When I was in the sixth grade, I was on a traveling soccer team. My teammates were all older than me. I was shy and nervous and rarely felt like I deserved to be on such a good team.
A number of those players went on to play professional soccer, including the always-supportive @towbow6, now @sandiegosockers GM, whose dad was our coach.
I don’t know if Ron saw how out of place I felt or my lack of confidence, but at just about every practice he would compliment me.
He would compliment this or that skill, sharing positive affirmations about my decision-making or dedication or quality.
He would often take me aside to give me a compliment, but he also voiced them such that the team could hear as well.
How often in life – when we are young, when we are not – do we shower one another with this kind of, well, kindness?
More often than not, we find a world that seeks to criticize rather than lift up, knock down rather than reinforce.
At the top of @towbow6’s profile, he writes “Helping others become the best version of themselves.” And I love this.
That’s why I’m asking for you to tag someone you care for below (this was done on Instagram and Facebook) and share 3-5 words that come to mind when you think about who that person is at their core.
* This is an exercise from this week’s @NewHappyCo book club with @stephaniehson. I found it wildly difficult to ask anyone to reflect words back to me about me – so I didn’t.
I’m hopeful that by tagging someone below, you will be able to surprise a loved one with your reflections on who they are. As Stephanie said today, “our love saves us,” and in giving others this gift of 3-5 words, you offer a small – yet powerful – way to share your love with one another.