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How Do You Receive Praise?
How much joy do you allow in yourself?
When someone gives you praise, how do you feel in your body? Do you feel it opening or closing? Do you feel shy to receive praise and want to bury your head somewhere? Do you brush them off? Do you try to say “thank you” but silently dismissing yourself in your head? Try noticing how does your body react to it and what do you say to yourself in your head.
This morning, I gave up a seat for a crying child who wanted his mom to find him a seat. They were not standing close to me but I stood aside and called out to her to let the young boy have my seat. She was grateful and there were people around us witnessing this. The mom smiled at me, I nodded and quickly looked away. I sensed my body tensed up and shy from her acknowledgement. I felt my chest closing up and suddenly, a thought came to me.
Why am I feeling shy about doing something good?
The root reason stems from my sense of inadequacy. As a result, these things happened.
- I denied myself of receiving an acknowledgement fully from someone else.
- I did not acknowledge myself for the good work that I did, thinking it is ok to give more than receiving.
- I denied my good feelings and did not allow my sense of joy, pride and…
