#1: Cold Turkey - No more complaining!

What is complaining? 

Eckhart Tolle says: 

"Complaining is not to be confused with informing someone of a mistake or deficiency so that it can be put right. And to refrain from complaining doesn't necessarily mean putting up with bad quality or behavior. There is no ego in telling the waiter your soup is cold and needs to be heated up--if you stick to the facts, which are always neutral. 'How dare you serve me cold soup...?' That's complaining."

I don't believe I do much complaining, but I am making this commitment: I am going to commit to giving up complaining, criticizing, gossiping, whining, bitching, moaning (you get the idea) - COLD TURKEY for the coming 7 weeks.

According to Christine Kane, "even if you think you don't do much of this stuff, make this commitment. You might be surprised to find out how many of your everyday conversations begin with a seemingly small complaint." 

Three reasons to do this:

1. Attention is a powerful tool: Energy goes where attention flows. 

2. Complaining is a distraction (time waster, energy stealer): You cannot create a better reality by focusing on your current unhappiness and complaining.

3. Complaining makes your ego stronger because it makes someone or something else wrong - and it makes YOU right. You become inflated and puffed up. Well, actually YOU don't -- but your ego sure does! But only in a very superficial way. Letting go of complaining tells your ego that YOU (or your Wise Self) have decided to run the show, not your ego.

A strategy for dealing with things that trigger complaints: "Containerize" your complaint: acknowledge you are doing it, and set a limit, say 2 minutes, and wrap it up by looking for a solution.

For the 49-day period, starting on ___125/17___ and ending on __3/15/17_____, I, ____Deborah Lorraine______, hereby commit to uplevel my life by giving up the following: complaining, criticizing, gossiping and whining. If I catch myself in the act, I will remind myself that I signed this contract, forgive myself, and remember to breathe and move away from negativity. I will remember the power of my attention, and remind myself “Energy flows where attention goes!” I will then start over from Day One, and begin again! In this way, I creatively build my dreams and attract harmony and success.