Complaint Department

I complain too much.  I don't usually notice it.  I kind of gloss over it in my daily life as just something I do.  I bitch about the weather, or the people on the other end of the phone.  I bitch about the horrible drivers or my graphic design class. I just bitch in general.  

I don't think I bitch any more than the average person, and I don't put much weight in my complaints.   I complain as a matter of course- everyone does it.  It's how we relate to our coworkers- we often don't share the same successes, but can all commiserate about our frustrations;how we related to our families- oh no, crazy uncle Bill is at it again;  how we relate to our friends- my parents are on my back again about when I'm going to visit/get married/have kids/become straight.  

We as a society deal with our pain by bitching about it.  

But the bitching, even for that fleeting moment makes us focus on the pain, and rather than dealing with it- acknowledging it's existence, accepting it as a part of life- all of a sudden we create suffering around it.  It's aversion instead of compassion.  Like Noah said at Lila 'staying pissed off out whole lives doesn't work'.  

So I'm trying now to stop feeding into that compulsion to complain.  I'm trying to give up that idle bitching, that unhealthy fixation with things I usually can't control.  

Today was Day 1 of that journey.

It's not going well.

But I don't expect it to.

It's incredible once you're aware of it how much we do idly complain.  Being aware of it is the first step in my journey, and I appreciate (if sometimes less than others) the people who have made me aware of it.  I don't think that in the end I'll be any less of a pessimist.  I don't think not complaining will change my view of things, but maybe after a while more of the annoying stuff will roll off my back, and maybe it won't distract from the good stuff.