Aiming to dish out more compliments? Nice idea!

I liked the little free libraries that started springing up a while back. They were small cabinets on pedestals, where people could pick up a book and maybe leave one in exchange. For free!

Then I saw someone had made a similar box – for rocks! Inviting people to take a pretty stone. Or leave one they thought others might enjoy. Yesterday, I saw another variation on the theme – a “little free art gallery”.

About 2ft high by 2ft wide, and fixed to a wall, it held pencil sketches, watercolour miniatures, Play-Doh figures... The sign said: “Take a work of art – leave a work of art”.

The definition of “art” was left wide open.

And, there’s the challenge! For many of us, seeing the beauty in the day is difficult enough, without actually creating any. But, our souls are helped in the trying.

What would you leave? “People sometimes think their doctors don’t know anything,” Dr Lynsey told me, “or they think they are the font of all knowledge. But, sometimes we learn things from our patients.”

It seems that she’d recently had to tell a patient his condition was terminal and that nothing but palliative care could be offered.

“I met his wife in the street a month later. She was surprisingly happy. She told me he was well. They’d been planning some trips they’d always wanted to take, deciding which charities to support in his will, and rehoming as many of his possessions as they could. Then she patted my shoulder and smiled. She said: ‘It’s all about living now!’

“It’s all about living. Now,” Lynsey repeated. “So, I’m off to see a friend I haven’t visited for too long. Then there are some apologies I’d like to make, bridges to mend...You know. Now.”

He’d been an usher at a wedding recently. He’s not normally a confident person, and the other usher seemed to be doing so well.

So, he asked, what do you say to all these people you don’t know.

The other usher explained. “Everyone here today has made an effort, so find something to compliment them on – their hat, tie, even nicely polished shoes.” He gave it a go and was surprised by the positive feedback. He likes to think he added something to the day.

Afterwards, he complimented the usher on his suggestion. “It really brought out the best in people,” he said. “We should have more opportunities to compliment people.”

The other usher clapped him on the shoulder. “We do!” he said. “Every time we meet someone. Nice socks, by the way!”

Sandra just spent a lovely weekend with her sister in Edinburgh.

Nothing spectacular about that, you might think. But there have been whole decades when Sandra and Susan weren’t talking. It’s only later in their turbulent lives that the sisters have settled enough to appreciate each other’s finer points.

Heading home Sandra decided to buy a book to read on the train. In the bookshop she found a novel about warring sisters. At first it seemed too much like real life and Sandra was about to put the book back. Then she noticed the line on the cover saying, “Write your sister’s weaknesses in the sand and engrave her strengths in stone.”

Sandra admits her own weaknesses had doubtless been the cause of many an upset, but the “strengths” of blood, a common history and that special bond of sisterhood had brought them back to happiness in the end.

Sometimes you have to let your hair down,

Give yourself a treat,

Chase away the frown.

A cup of tea,

Or your favourite cake,

Life is so busy, We all deserve a break.