Clean Up in Aisle Life

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Ephesians 4:8)

          Two days ago (because I’m writing a little ahead!), a friend shared a post about not complaining for 24 hours. I also shared it, along with some suggestions. I began by considering forgetting the 24-hour bit. That takes too much concentration. Try one minute, several times per day. You might try one minute during an upset, when you’re most likely to complain.

          I also suggested that you replace the complaining with something, because “I will not complain” is likely to end with you complaining about your complaining. One option is to find something to do that will help solve the problem you want to complain about. Another is to use the energy generated by the emotion and/or cause of the complaint. Walk, craft, clean, do something about whatever you want to complain about, sing along with praise music, or dramatically read the Bible aloud.

A third possibility is to turn your attention away from the situation far enough to break the emotion’s power. In other words, think about something that is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and/or praiseworthy.  This may not be easy, especially at first, but again, you have all the energy your agitation has produced. It doesn’t have to take you all the way to bliss or nihilism (“Nothing really matters”). It just has to take you to self-control.

Ultimately, complaining and worrying are habits. Sometimes we think we have a right to them, just like any drunk thinks he has a right to drink. Complaining makes us feel in control or superior to those who caused the problem. Sometimes, we seem to think that complaining is the right thing to do. After all, if we don’t tell someone about the problem, how are they going to know they need to do something? But there’s a difference between telling someone there’s a cleanup needed in aisle Life (“Just the facts, Ma’am”) and 3-10 minutes of expression of dissatisfaction or annoyance, with a description of the problem, assignment of blame, comparison with others who do better, etc.