Hi AzulOscuro,

Sadly I don't have any special insight or wisdom in this area. What follows is just my fallible opinion . . .

I think people give compliments for all kinds of reasons, some they are aware of and some they are not aware of. There seems to be degrees of sincerity in the giving of compliments from no sincerity to complete sincerity and everything in between. There's mathematics to this since you mention mathematics.

I think that we are often influenced by conditioning we received in the past. If a child is criticized more than praised, perhaps he or she will grow up doubting the truth of compliments. That is my personal experience too.

Some people, I think, were raised to believe they were no good. This leaves a deep pattern in their mind which then generates automatic thoughts of being no good.

I also think, some people were raised to believe that anything less than perfection is no good. And this also has effects.

In my opinion, every human being is unique. There never was and never will be someone exactly like them in all of time, history and eternity. This uniqueness is not something they "have." It is written into their very being. It doesn't have to be acquired and cannot be lost. It doesn't have to be earned or proved. This uniqueness is the basis of every person's inalienable worth and dignity. There is good in you because you are absolutely unique.

If a person was raised to have low self-esteem, that person could also "doubt" this by automatic reflex. Some parents and others believe that praising children leads to pride and that it is only good to criticize their children. Perhaps they think this because of the way they were raised. This is just my opinion, but perhaps there is some truth in it.

I think it can sometimes be very difficult to undo the conditioning which one has received early in life. Early life conditioning is perhaps very deep and hard to overcome.

You are a unique person and some of that uniqueness reveals itself to me in your posts here on the Forums. So I can "see" your goodness. I look forward to reading your posts here because I see the goodness in you. Today, for example, I was happy when I saw that you posted something. It put a smile on my face.

But it might be difficult for you to see it or believe others when they compliment you on it. I also have this problem sometimes.

The brain is very mysterious.

Hopefully others here will have better opinions than mine.