watch your low thoughts

“Constant complaint is the poorest sort of pay for all the comforts we enjoy.” —BEN FRANKLIN

When Franklin wrote this, there was no poorest sort of pay for all the comforts we enjoy.” When Franklin wrote this, there was no electricity, aspirin, penicillin, air-conditioning, indoor plumbing, air travel, or many more of the thousands of modern niceties and so-called necessities we now take for granted. Nonetheless, he felt that his contemporaries were far too cavalier about how good they had it. Franklin’s generation had much less than we do, and yet we, like them, still find ample reasons to complain.

Think of your mind as a manufacturer and your mouth as a customer. The manufacturer produces negative thoughts that are purchased by the customer when they are expressed as complaints. It goes like this: The manufacturer (your brain) produces a negative thought, which the customer (your mouth) purchases by complaining. If the customer will stop buying what the manufacturer produces, the manufacturer will retool. When you stop complaining about what you perceive to be wrong and begin to speak about what you are grateful for and what you desire, you force your manufacturer brain to develop a new product line.

When you commit that what comes out of your mouth will be positive, your mind will become more aware of positive experiences to be used as raw materials to supply positive thoughts. As a result, the fundamental focus of your mind will shift. Your attention will be on what you want, and this is important: You will begin to draw more of what you want into your experience. Further, as you shift your focus away from the challenging aspects of life, you lessen their occurrence. What you call reality will transform. This sounds simplistic, but it works. There is no reality, only perception. And you can change your perception. A complaint is distinguished from a statement of fact by the energy expressed. “It’s hot today” is a statement of fact. A heavy sigh followed by the lament “It’s hot today” is a complaint. In A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle summed it up this way, 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.

There is negative energy being expressed with a complaint. Most complaints have a “This is unfair!” or “How dare this happen to me” quality. It’s as if the complainer feels attacked by the actions of someone or something and counterattacks with complaints. Complaints are counterattacks for perceived injustices. A statement of fact is a neutral comment intended to inform (not berate) the listener. Complaints are counterattacks for perceived injustices. A statement of fact is a neutral comment intended to inform (not berate) the listener.

The four stages to competency are: 1. Unconscious Incompetence 2. Conscious Incompetence 3. Conscious Competence 4. Unconscious Competence

hopefully you are at level 2.

If we are honest with ourselves, life events that lead us to express grief, pain, or discontent are exceptionally rare. Certainly there are individuals around the world who are facing very difficult lives, and everyone goes through hard times here and there. However, many people today are living in the safest, healthiest, and most prosperous time in all of human history. And yet what do they do? They complain. To be a happy person living life by design, you need a very, very high threshold for what leads you to expressing grief, pain, and discontent. The next time you’re about to complain about something, ask yourself how your situation stacks up to something that happened to me.