COMPLAINING! No More. Change your mindset, change your world!

There is a park near my house.It extends over 140 acres.It is loved by our community.Its forest trails, a paved walkway along the beach, several athletic fields… kids and adults playing soccer and baseball!Picnic spots for families and couples to enjoy a meal under the trees and overlooking the sea.Salmon fishing from the shore during the season has curious onlookers like myself cheering on a big catch.A heated saltwater swimming pool which is open during the summer.That is correct! A HEATED swimming pool right at the water’s edge.It is a staple. This delicious park of ours…..Recently there have been talks about turning a broken-down tennis court into new pickleball courts.This addition has a lot of people in the community COMPLAINING.Yes, angry, frustrated people.Over pickleball courts!…..Getting older people out there to exercise.Fixing up the park that has needed to be renovated for decades.Fun-filled sunny day shared with family and friends.Sounds great!NO! The people are saying.Too much noise pollution.Construction trucks may tear up the soil.Why can’t it be tennisThere wasn’t a vote to do it.It may scare off the wildlife.All this negative talk could be turned into a positive.The sound of t ball and little league, swimming laps and other various sports already take place… I don’t witness this as noise pollution.The sound of people getting together outside to exercise… Noise Pollution??The trucks won’t tear up the soil, there is already a paved path.Upgrading of the courts will take away overgrown weeds and debris of the old courts.Pickleball is easier for most to play than tennis.A mixture of wildlife: eagles, ravens, squirrels, deer, and various others coexist at the park with us humans. No one is scared away, just curious.But still, complaining?Why?I believe some people are scared of change.Some people when fearful turn to negative emotions.Outward verbal diarrhea spills from the mouths of some people when they experience negative emotions.Hope of finding allies in their negative army.And they do.They find people to join in on the negativity.It spreads.……Pickleball courts.I still shake my head at this.Serious to pondered why such venom towards such a trivial thing.I’m sensitive to negativity.I talk with many people daily about their lives.I am a trusted friend so I get down and dirty sometimes with their deepest darkest secrets.I get that life is messy, there will always be conflict. Big and small.I recently turned another year older.. celebrating my birthday I committed to seeing things in a positive rather than negative.I practice gratitude daily, sometimes hourly. This is a must for me.Complaining is so common.While it may seem like a harmless venting of emotions, complaining will have effects on our brain and overall well-being.It feels good to complain… at least at the moment, it does.Venting and getting reassurance of being right.I view it like a heavier drinker and their alcohol habit.At first, it feels great.. Self-validation, being the center of a situation. Being right!Just like that first glass of beer, wine, or other mixed drink… It tastes so good… What about another…. and another?But as someone starts to complain the brain wires itself to be more receptive to negativity. This reinforces a pessimistic outlook on life around them.It reduces the brain’s ability to see the positive aspects of situations. The brain craves and wants more… negativity.…..Now we all can clearly see why the “pickleball” situation has so many people complaining.It’s just another thing to tear apart and complain about……After my commitment to reducing my complaints, I set up a plan for myself.If I feel the need to complain, I see whatever the situation is through a different lens. One that can make my world better.This includes how I view myself.I will only speak to myself lovingly.I speak to myself as if I am speaking to my best friend.Complaining usually is how a person perceives the results they get in their life based on the actions of others… Not their own. Meaning they feel out of control.To avoid complaining a person, such as myself, needs to learn to take responsibility for the choices and direction in life they are going.It’s also a must to realize a lot of the day’s actions are out of our control.This was a biggie for me.I AM a control freak but happy to say I am a recovering control freak,I can’t control the car that ran the stop sign and hit my car.I can’t control the grumpy neighbor unpleasantly looking at my dog.I can’t control someone else’s viewpoint differing from mine.I can’t control getting old.But all these things I can’t control I realize I CAN control my actions around them.Complaining… agh.The moment I realized enough… enough of the complaining I noticed I am instantly a happier person.The people around me are happier.I sleep better, not worrying about the things I can not control.The tune of my days is different.Setbacks don’t set me back as long as they used to.I like myself more, I am more confident in my own skin.But most of all, I believe giving up complaining makes the world a better place.Even if it’s just one person giving up complaining at a time… this could make a huge impact.I encourage YOU to try it out.Next time you hear yourself complaining, stop yourself and see if you can change the dialogue.After one day then try it for a week.Observe how you feel at the end of the day.Observe how your family feels and reacts differently.Just one person at a time… we can make our community and surroundings a much more pleasant place to live.