Who of us doesn’t like to receive a compliment? Doesn’t that please us and make us feel good? Doesn’t it make us want to keep doing whatever it is well? Recognition is very similar. A person doesn’t necessarily have to agree with or approve of an opinion or an action when they recognize the effort someone has made.
Now, consider criticism. How easy it is to find the flaws! And, oh how easy it is to be cut to the bone by another’s words!
Validation doesn’t happen because someone is a CEO. Validation occurs when you know you did your best, but when someone recognizes it. Validation often brings comfort and satisfaction. It makes us want to continue on in a similar direction. It is not dependent on race or class, one’s position or on how much money one has. We ALL benefit from positive feedback. Many of us would say we don’t receive enough positive feedback, but few of us give it to others, either.
Think of a time when you were complimented on a job well done. Didn’t you walk a little taller that day, and didn’t you smile a little more? When words of criticism spring to consciousness, let us make, instead, an effort to find something positive that has happened and speak of that instead.
The Prisoner's Prayer Book 