Today’s post is the first in a series of Creativitips: DIY project ideas, sewing tips, and random creative advice including this topic: making and using nice statements.

Every time someone tells me that they like the Blobbies, I feel a giddy relief. Besides contributing to a safer society, saying nice things can promote creativity or be an exercise for the speaker’s creativity. Additionally, translating a nebulous remark into a compliment can be an entertaining project for the recipient. If I had not heard comments following the making of my first Blobby such as “how cute, is it a bib?” and “did you make this pillow?” I probably would not have made any more ever.

Strategy One: Making Creative Compliments

Say something abnormal to reflect the “unique” and “special” quality of that which you are appreciating. Refrain from saying “unique” or “special.” Here are some examples:

• A curator, former go-go dancer, and card-carrying disco queen told me that she had a “disco crush” on me.
• A performance artist complimented my dancing with Spanglish expletives.

Consider using concrete associations. The first time my husband was to meet my family, he came to the door bearing a Ntozake Shange and Romare Bearden book and a bouquet of flowers with a note reading “You are aluminum foil,” the mantra of our courtship. Why am I pleased to be associated with aluminum foil? It’s shiny, it’s versatile, it’s washable. My cats love aluminum foil.

Strategy Two: Positive Spinning

Whenever someone says something to you of a questionable nature, consider their perspective and Weltanshauung. Allow the likelihood that the postal worker who tells me that I always “do such a good job with my packing tape” probably sees proper and thorough packing tape distribution as a skill worthy of aspiration, and that her expert declaration of my victory over USPS regulations is like a trophy.

• After confused contemplation, I have decided that the following two encounters also qualify as kind approvals. First, a nine-year-old who had told me every week for about two months that I look like an elf came up to me and said, “Maria, I have two things to tell you. First, you DON’T look like and elf! And, can I braid your hair?” She then gave me some jelly beans.
• Second, concerning the woman who asked me, “Are you Amish? You sing like an Amish person,” I don’t know what this means, but it can’t be bad or it would be inelegant.

Concluding Thoughts

Do not forget that presentation of your charitable statement can be key. Stellar delivery or display can make up for mediocre word choice: An adolescent girl with excessive blue eye shadow told me standing at the bathroom sink of the Bloomington Golden Corral that she really liked my hairdo.

Finally, be as generous as your sincerity permits: the other night, my husband declared, “The least I can do for you is to not be Pierce Brosnan.”