On complaining
I don't know about you, but sometimes when I get tired, well, the world knows my misery!
Being tired is usually the catalyst for a day of incessant complaining... too bright if it's sunny out, too cold if it's cloudy. Cars are too noisy and too bad for the environment, and environmentalists are too passionate... food is undercooked, overcooked, too spicy, too sweet, too loud, too mushy... people in general are just too much. On these days I am, to put it bluntly, unhappy.
Recently my complaints were so extreme that some part within me woke up and splashed cold water on my face: "Self, what a stupid thing to complain about! You usually love Meryl Streep (or some other equally ridiculous object of a complaint)" I realized that I didn't like the world I created when my mind was full of complaints. So why do we do it?
Complaining is good in that it allows us an outlet for our emotions. If we never complained about anything we'd never be angry or upset and therefore never grow or change or think! We'd probably be pretty boring too (though who would complain)!
The flip side of these emotions is that too much complaining can lead one to misery. Think about it... if our thoughts create the way we see the world and our thoughts are generally negative or overly critical, is the universe going to seem like a place full of wonders? Of course not!
When I wake up tired, and I feel myself starting to "grump out" and begin complaining, my new goal is to acknowledge that it's just an outlet for emotion. I acknowledge that tomorrow I might think differently about things... And then I laugh at the way the mind works and the world becomes a (slightly) less miserable place.
What are your favourite things to complain about?
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