Whenever you complain about a negative situation in your life, you reinforce your connection with that negativity. Your complaint actually directs your attention and energy toward perpetuating and empowering whatever you’re complaining about.
A much better strategy is to pause for a moment. Interrupt the attention that’s on the negative situation. Come up with a positive alternative, and then to act on it. Instead of merely reinforcing what is wrong, you can choose to change the situation for the better.
Complaints, because of their negative nature, are usually met with some degree of defensiveness. Whereas positive alternatives will more likely be met with cooperation and appreciation.
The next time you have the urge to complain, stop and ask yourself what it is you really want. ‘Do I simply want to complain or do I want to do something that will improve the situation?’
Somewhere within each complaint is a genuine desire to improve the situation, but the complaint itself is never enough to do that. So skip beyond the complaint, create a solution and use your efforts and resources to bring about a positive change.
The next time you notice you are complaining, make the choice not to aggravate a bad situation with further complaints. Choose instead to pause for a moment. Think about what you really want. Then transform the situation with your positive thoughts, ideas and actions. See what a difference that makes!
