As I read a blog this morning about not being able to accept a compliment it struck me that one of the hardest lessons I ever had to teach myself was to accept a compliment without a "but" or an excuse. The blogger referred to as "sucking the joy out of it" and that is SO TRUE! I started by forcing myself to just say, "Thank You." followed by nothing but a smile and that has worked most of the time. I still have to remind myself that it's not fair to the other person to downgrade the gift they are trying to give you by making excuses for your accomplishments or successes. I've improved a lot in this area, but it is still hard some times... So I wondered, where did I learn this behavior in the first place?!? Took a bit but it came to me that it was part of taking being modest, not prideful, to the extreme and I believe I learned at my mother's knee. It's amazing how hard those early lessons are to let go of, but it sure makes life more enjoyable to honor what you've done and allow others too share a little joy with us!!!