“Hey, your hair looks amazing today!”
“Oh, thanks. I guess I get lucky once in a while.”
It was erroneous thinking; that to be humble one must reject compliments or reply with self-deprecating humor. Or worse, thinking that the compliment wasn’t genuine. I don’t know about most people, but I don’t give insincere compliments. If I don’t think something, I just don’t say it. But when I say something nice to you, it’s heartfelt and sincere. It’s something I noticed about you and felt strongly enough to give it voice. One day I said “I’m tired of feeling unworthy. From now on, I’m going to accept whatever compliment I receive and just say ‘thank you’.” What a life-changing day that was and I have never felt better about myself.
The second component, of course, is accepting the compliment. How wonderful is it that someone gave you a compliment free of charge? I mean their sole purpose was to build you up! Why wouldn’t you accept it? Certainly you wouldn’t reject it just because somewhere along the line society said that was humility. I think real humility is graciously accepting a compliment for the gift it is and being truly grateful for it.
Whatever the compliment was, you were worthy of it. So take it, internalize it, and believe it!