What do you do when you're given a backhanded compliment? Are you tempted to throw a zinger back? Was it a veiled insult, a subconscious microaggression, or a misunderstood comment? When gifted a compliment that left us unsettled or even hurt, we can examine with curiosity how we receive the comment, to then have a discerned response, rather than an emotional reaction. We can choose how to take it regardless of how they intended to give it, and also have grace and awareness when we also give a compliment that could have a dual meaning. Compliments are the gifts that they are; depending on the giving and the receiving.
