We all get affected by criticism, don’t we! It could be a critiquing comment from someone, a strange expression on someone’s face or a disapproving nod by someone.

How about praise and compliments? Do we know how to deal with them? How easily we get carried away by accolades and achievements.

Are these two different things or are these just two sides of the same coin? If we learn to deal with one, will we know how to deal with the other? Well, experts say that if you deal to handle one, you have learnt to handle the other too.

I came across a rather funny story of how affected we get by compliments. How our ego reacts to praise, even under dangerous circumstances . This made me realize that it is probably more difficult to handle flattery.

Read on and let me know what you think.

Long ago there lived a sculptor. He was known as the best sculptor in the country. The idols that he carved out, were as perfect as real. His name and fame travelled far and wide.

He was once summoned to carve the idol for a temple that was being built by the King.

When the sculptor arrived, the temple priest looked at him and told him that he had very little time left to live. 3 months to be exact. The sculptor was taken aback and cried to the priest to show him a way out. The priest told the sculptor that the way out of it was through his own skills. The priest asked the sculptor to build 3 statues of himself before the date and time mentioned by the priest. He then had to stand along with the 3 statues when the messengers of death arrived. The Messengers of Death would get confused, and in the confusion, they would get past the specific time of his death and, he would this be saved.

The sculptor did exactly what he was asked to. He sculpted out 3 statues of himself and stood amongst them on the predicted day of his death. The messengers of death arrived at the exact time and stood there, confused. They did not know whom to take away with them.

The messengers of death returned to the God of Death and reported the incident. The God of Death told his messengers that the sculptor’s death will now happen in a couple of month’s time, and then, there was a technique that the messengers could use to become successful in their effort.

In the meantime, the sculptor visited the priest to thank him for the great boon of life that the sculptor had received. The priest had to break the bad news once again. He told the sculptor that in a couple of months the sculptor had to repeat the exercise.

This time around, the sculptor, and unfortunately the messengers, were better prepared. The sculptor took his place amongst the statues. The messengers stood there looking at all of them in awe. They started praising the maker of the statues. They went on and on about how beautifully the statues were made, how real, and full of life they looked, etc etc. This went on for some time, and then, suddenly, the sculptor bowed down to accept and acknowledge the praise.

The messengers of death immediately caught hold of him and left. They took him to the God of Death.

The End….

And we thought handling criticism was tough! 🙂

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