“There is no reality, there is only perception. You can change your perception”
It’s Friday and my wife and I have been invited to go to a cook out at a friend’s house and then for a beer at a local live show. While at the show, my friend asks me why I am wearing this purple bracelet around my wrist. I feel a mixture of embarrassment and excitement. Now is the time that I must explain to someone why I decided to take the 21-day complaint free challenge.
What it is?
The idea is simple. You wear a purple band around your wrist and every time you complain, criticize, or gossip you switch the band to the other wrist. You continue with this until you complete 21 days without switching your bracelet.
If you hate purple, then you can use a coin in the pocket, a different bracelet, a ring, or whatever else you can switch from one hand to the other or one pocket to another.
The idea is that you must physically change the position of whatever object you choose to make that connection in the brain each time you complain.
Why?
I explain the concept to my friends and now it’s time to justify just why I decided to take on this challenge.
I began becoming conscious of my complaining and the complaining of my friends and family ever since I began trying to be a more positive person in general. I then heard about the challenge and now the volume of the complaining has turned up a few more notches.
I began to realize how my brain seemed to be programed to take any situation or moment in time and the first thing I think of is a complaint or criticism.
The mind is very powerful in its way to focus and become hardwired through habit. Like when you get a new car and you begin to see the same make and model of your car everywhere.
Complaining gives you something to talk about and often something to laugh about. But it doesn’t get you anywhere in solving problems or in becoming a better person.
Complaining may feel good at the time, but it is short lived and it solves nothing.
The 4 steps to a complaint free world
- Unconscious Incompetence: You complain and you are unaware or don’t care
- Conscious Incompetence: You begin to become aware of how much you complain
- Conscious Competence: You restrain from complaining but only when you are focusing on not complaining
- Unconscious Competence: Not complaining becomes a habit and you avoid it without even thinking
I don’t see this idea as some type of positive energy attracts positive energy type of thing. Instead it is a refocusing of thoughts and perception. I want to be able to recognize all that is good with a situation or an individual so that I can enjoy my life to its fullest potential.
There is no reality, there is only perception. And I’m determined to change my perception to live a happier life.
