Without complaining, there would be little for most people to talk about. Susan Jeffers, in her book Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, gave one of her classes an assignment for one week of not complaining about anything. The students came back claiming that they had nothing to say during the week. So much of our conversations concern complaining.

If you want to try an experiment and apply this concept , the next time we are in a conversation and someone is criticizing something, or someone, we can see if we are able to withhold our criticism. It is much more difficult than we might think. We have to remember ourselves to do this.

The problem with being negative, such as continually complaining, is that we lose force or energy. To do this, we have to accumulate energy to make greater efforts than the efforts needed to get by in life. If we withhold the criticism or complaint, we will gain force or energy. We will also feel better. Whether we can control our complaining and other negative states depends upon our ability to know the difference between knowing and understanding.

Why not start practising “not complaining” for one week? Ask someone to help point out when you do the same.

You will for sure know if you are the complaining type.