I believe insults affect the majority of us most. As humans, living in a negative atmosphere has conditioned us over time to pay more attention to the bad about ourselves rather than the good, whether that be compliments we receive or seeing the beauty in ourselves. Generally, compliments are brushed off and forgotten about whereas criticism lingers in our mind for who knows how long. In my case, I still regularly think about harmful things people have said to me or about me in anger from as far back as my primary school years, and they still affect me.
I can't really help you on being complimentary since nothing is coming to mind at the moment - I just tend to say it as I see it to people in terms of positive things. On the other hand I can help you with avoiding little accidental criticisms. The key thing is to consider how the person you are talking to will read your words, especially over the internet where you can't read body language or tone. The inclusion of some simple words can entirely affect the tone of your sentence, such as "only".
For example:
"I can't believe you drive that car" versus "I can't believe you only drive that car." Suddenly you've got a snarky comment even if you didn't mean it. Think about how *the other person* will read your tone.
OH MY GOD SCOTLAND JUST SCORED AGAINST GERMANY WOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
Most meaningful compliment or most crushing insult ever received?
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I believe insults affect the majority of us most. As humans, living in a negative atmosphere has conditioned us over time to pay more attention to the bad about ourselves rather than the good, whether that be compliments we receive or seeing the beauty in ourselves. Generally, compliments are brushed off and forgotten about whereas criticism lingers in our mind for who knows how long. In my case, I still regularly think about harmful things people have said to me or about me in anger from as far back as my primary school years, and they still affect me.
I can't really help you on being complimentary since nothing is coming to mind at the moment - I just tend to say it as I see it to people in terms of positive things. On the other hand I can help you with avoiding little accidental criticisms. The key thing is to consider how the person you are talking to will read your words, especially over the internet where you can't read body language or tone. The inclusion of some simple words can entirely affect the tone of your sentence, such as "only".
For example:
"I can't believe you drive that car" versus "I can't believe you only drive that car." Suddenly you've got a snarky comment even if you didn't mean it. Think about how *the other person* will read your tone.
OH MY GOD SCOTLAND JUST SCORED AGAINST GERMANY WOOOOOOOO!!!!!!