A Complaint Free World

Hello, everyone, it's Alexandra. Hope you're having a great day. So today's video is on a complaint free world. This is a fantastic book by Will Bowen. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend that you check it out. He's doing some amazing work in the world. And I love this book. It's simple and practical and fantastic. So basically, it is a 21 day challenge to stop complaining, criticizing, and gossiping. And I want to read this quote because I love it by Maya Angelou that he puts in the beginning of his book, which is, if you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't complain. I just love that. So there's a few things that I want to share with you about it. First off, how you actually do it. So number one, make a commitment that you are committed to releasing, complaining, criticizing, and gossiping. And then the second step is to get a bracelet. You can get these@acomplaintfreeworld.org if you want. And. Or you can use a rubber band for the first month or two. I guess. We've been doing this for a while now. My husband and I, we were in Ecuador and had a rubber band, so we just used that. But I have to say that this has taken on a whole new energy and a whole new intention and vitality by actually having this purple bracelet on. So I recommend it. And also, if you dig the concept, dig the idea, I think it's a great way to contribute to Will Bowen's ministry, which is fantastic. So, so you have your band, then you go about your daily life and you see if you complain, criticize, and gossip, and when you do, you switch your band to the other side and you start again. And you keep doing this until you get to 21 days straight of no complaining, no gossiping, and no criticizing. He says that it takes on average about four to eight months to actually complete this challenge. And I'll be honest, when I first started it, I was all about it. I was like, oh, I'm totally gonna do it in like a month. And yeah, I've been doing it for, I don't know, a couple months now. And the longest that I've made it is, I think, five days straight. And this is a great day for the video because I am now on day one again. So I'm starting it again day one. So anyways, also a little note on. Let's say you complain and you're like, oh, I'm gonna. You know, it's kind of like the whole diet thing, you went off your diet and then you're gonna binge for the rest of the day. That's not allowed for this. So as soon as you notice yourself complaining, switch it over and start over immediately. Don't go into a 30 minute rant of complaining, gossiping and criticizing. So that is another note. And another note is if you want to tell somebody that you're playing like I'm playing with my husband, if you want to play with your kids or your family or and some of them are complaining, if you would like to tell them that they're complaining and they should move their bracelet, you then need to move your bracelet along with them because you are complaining about their complaining, which I love. My husband and I have had that as well. So those are the rules. Pretty simple, pretty easy. And what else do I want to share about it? Oh, I want to share what complaining and gossiping is. So to start off in the dictionary, this isn't from his book. Complain is a verb to express grief, pain or discontent. Complaining about the weather, or to make a formal accusation or charge. So that is what complaining is. And he has this great little passage in here that I like of complaining is talking about things you do not want rather than what you do want. When we complain, we are using our words to focus on things that are not as we would like. Our thoughts create our lives and our words indicate what we are thinking. So that's a little idea on complaining. And I was actually shocked how much I noticed myself complaining. So when you actually commit to it and commit to playing full on, you'll be, yeah, it's a great. It's awesome. I love it, I love it, I love it. So also gossiping. He has these great rules of gossiping, you know, just to be clear about what actually is gossip. So Will says there's two rules. What you're saying about the absent person is complimentary. And two, you would repeat word for word what you're saying if the absent person was present. So, so essentially you can appreciate people and that is about it, which is awesome. So that's gossiping. And he also says no cheating by saying what does he say? Calling it positive when you know that the underlying message is critical. So just being mindful of how you're talking about people and if there's an underlying, you know, anger or frustration or disappointment or whatever is underlying, be honest about it and switch your bracelet. So those are the simple rules. And I know somebody is probably thinking, but am I going to be denying my feelings and denying what's true for me and all those things. You are not denying your feelings. I'll say something that you can do is being honest about where you are of I'm feeling angry, angry right now. I'm feeling sad, I'm feeling depressed. And it's more of a kind of neutral energy versus, you know, I'm feeling angry and pissed off right now. That's, you know, the underlying is complaining. So I think that's. I'm all for honoring your feelings and feeling your feelings. And it's one of my big practices of tapping into what am I actually feeling. So I think it's important to acknowledge those, but also just it's a great practice to bring your awareness and your attention to what your underlying intention and motives are around speaking. So it just brings a whole new level of awareness to what's actually being said, what is your energy actually communicating. So I think that is fantastic. And I've also found that I have less things to complain and criticize and gossip about when I'm not engaging in them. Kind of feeds on itself, you know, if we start gossiping and we start complaining and criticizing it, it needs to be fed. And we just get on this cycle of complaining, gossiping, and criticizing. So when we just eliminate that and we stand in appreciation and then if there is something that we don't like, we don't need to speak it per se in a negative, reactive way. We can step back, we can breathe and say, okay, this isn't exactly how I want it. What do I want? And then taking steps to actually do it. I think that's the biggest thing is not being reactive to your life circumstances and to what's going on in the world and actually stepping into your own power, accessing your power and saying, what can I do about it? What can I do about the world? What can I do about my life? And really taking a creator standpoint, an empowerment standpoint, and really rock it. So. So I found that I'm a lot more grateful, a lot more appreciative, a lot more empowered, inspired, excited just doing this. So I will keep you updated. As I said, I'm on day one. I have quite a journey ahead of me, but I am really stoked about it and super blessed that I get to do it with my husband. And also I really, really appreciate Will Bowen from accomplaintfreeworld.org for creating this wonderful challenge. So if you'll join me, let me know. Would love to hear your thoughts and experiences of rocking the 21 day challenge and have a deliciously divine day.