There’s nothing wrong with complaint as long as it is merely noticing. “Ah, that’s something I do not prefer.” It’s the emotion behind the complaint–the frustration, worry, guilt, and sense of hurt justification–that confounds us and those around us.
We think it is natural. We are so used to being in this binding state of complaint that we can’t see how it is so detrimental to our goals. Bound up in what’s wrong, we push away both the the ideas and the people who would help us.
And we become blind to how quickly we can bounce away from complaint and into creative, helpful solutions directed at the object of our complaint. It is quite simple and quick, really.
The first step is to catch ourselves feeling how bad complaining feels. Next, we flip or ladder our way to feeling good. Thus freed, we can see and take advantage of the clever solutions that had been around the whole time, waiting for us to be ready to use them.
In your corner,
Mike
Today’s photo credit: silverfuture via photopin cc